3073 - SONJA SEKULA

SONJA SEKULA (Lucerne 1918–1963 Zurich) The Old Gods. 1943/44. Oil on canvas. Signed lower center: SEKULA. Inscribed on the back of the stretcher: “The Old Gods.” 49 × 61.5 cm. Provenance: Private collection, New York, acquired in 1996. Originally from Lucerne, Sonja Sekula was part of the emerging New York avant-garde in the 1940s. She moved in the circle of European Surrealists in exile around André Breton and, as early as 1943, participated in “31 Women,” the exhibition conceived by Peggy Guggenheim together with Marcel Duchamp for Guggenheim’s legendary Art of This Century gallery. Her first solo exhibition at the same gallery followed in 1946. Painted in 1943–44, “The Old Gods” belongs to this early, experimental phase of her career. Bold areas of color, black lines, spirals, and geometric shapes interweave to form a dense, rhythmically structured composition. Amid the abstract forms, fantastical shapes emerge that are reminiscent of figures and mythical creatures, lending the painting an enigmatic vitality. Sekula’s painting during these years was strongly influenced by Surrealism and its principle of “écriture automatique,” in which forms and lines emerge spontaneously through the creative process. In “The Old Gods,” figurative and abstract elements combine in a distinctive composition of intense color. * The full tax is charged on this item marked with an asterisk (*); that is, VAT is charged on the total amount but will be refunded to purchasers who provide a validly stamped export declaration.