Etching on wove paper. Signed, numbered 24/60, and dated in pencil along lower edge. 21-3/4 x 16-3/4 inches (55.2 x 42.5 cm) (sight); Framed Dimensions 27.5 x 21.75 Inches.  Mild to moderate light and time staining to the sheet. Matted and framed in brass under glass, unexamined out of frame. Provenance: Property from the G.E. Corporate Art Collection.

Victor Brauner’s multi-media practice is now most closely associated with Surrealism. During his training at the School of Fine Arts in Bucharest, Brauner had in fact developed an expressionist style, which he later abandoned during his involvement with various Dadaist and Surrealist art publications. It was Yves Tanguy who formally introduced Brauner to the Surrealists and instigated his involvement with the movement. His practice, which included painting, drawing, and printmaking, drew from disparate symbolic systems like Tarot Cards, Egyptian hieroglyphics, and ancient Mexican texts. Brauner asserted that all of his paintings were autobiographical in some way. He led a turbulent life of constant displacement; anticipating the danger of World War II, Brauner reduced the dimensions of his canvases such that each could fit in his luggage for emergency travel—he called these his “suitcase paintings.”