Meret Oppenheim (1913-1985) - "Autoritratto"

4-color lithographic reproduction of Meret Oppenheim's original self-portrait, created expressly for the Signed Portraits Collection. 5000 numbered copies (our no. 372). Handwritten autographic monogram by the artist. In excellent condition. Rare to find paired with the magazine. Auction without reserve!!!

Meret Oppenheim (Berlin, October 6, 1913 – Basel, November 15, 1985) was a Swiss artist of German origin. Considered a "muse and inspirer" of the Surrealist movement, of which she became a member, Oppenheim is remembered for being one of photographer Man Ray's favorite models, as well as the author of the work Déjeuner en fourrure (1936), which remains the best known piece of her repertoire.
Biography
Born to a German father and a Swiss mother, Meret Oppenheim moved to Paris in 1932, where she produced abstract paintings often bearing inscriptions and pasted objects.[2] In 1933 she met the artists Alberto Giacometti and Hans Arp, who, fascinated by her appearance and extroverted attitude, decided to make her a member of the Surrealist group. With them she participated in several exhibitions, including the Salon des Surindépendants (1933), and she also became the sentimental partner of Max Ernst (though briefly) and of Man Ray, who made her the protagonist of many of his works.
In 1938 she undertook a journey to Italy together with Leonor Fini and the writer André Pieyre de Mandiargues.[3][4] The artist's "fetishist" style marked at least two famous works: Breakfast in Fur and My Governess, both from 1936. The former is a cup with spoon and saucer covered in fur, while the latter consists of two inverted shoes placed on a tray. According to reports, these works "determined a new approach to the theme of fetishism and sexuality, all the more interesting because viewed from a female point of view".
After returning to Switzerland at the end of the decade, Oppenheim remained inactive until the early fifties and began drawing and painting lessons at the Basel School of Design. In the early fifties she resumed her artistic activity, engaging in the design of stage costumes and decorative works. In 1959 she created, first in Bern and later at the EROS exhibition in Paris, the famous happening Festino di primavera: a banquet laid out on the naked body of a woman with whom the participants interacted directly. The work is cited as a precursor to body art.[5] Meret Oppenheim died in 1985 at the age of 72.
The Fountain of Oppenheim designed by the artist in 1983 and located in Bern
Although she is known for her "transfigured fetishes in a dreamlike key" such as Breakfast in Fur, Meret Oppenheim was the author of numerous dream sketches and projects that would reflect many of her premises. According to reports:
«One discovers a great decisiveness in the stroke, a fascinating naivety, a healthy dose of humor, and, overall, a new kind of strangeness even within the Surrealist production.»

In a tribute by poet André Pieyre de Mandiargues to the artist, it is written:[6]
«For Meret Oppenheim art is inseparable from everyday life... and both are characterized by the contrast between playfulness and seriousness understood in their most extreme sense, by a stupefying mix of sweetness and hardness felt, with the same intensity... Meret... nourishes a passionate interest in nature, but it is important to stress that her tenderness and curiosity are directed toward what is more unsettling and repulsive (for the average man)... Far from a blind realism midway between abstraction and poetic figuration... Meret makes visible the very old relationships that exist between the forms of the external world and the movements of what has come to be called the human soul. Humor underscores, in this case, the depth of vision.»