I saw the other side of the sun with you The world’s first survey of female Surrealists from Eastern Europe

Upon hearing the term surrealism, the images that initially resurface from our memory are melting clocks, giraffes on fire and dreamy landscapes of the likes of Salvador Dalí or René Magritte. But the movement, which began in the early 20th century and is still very much present in art, has spanned generations worldwide.

“I saw the other side of the sun with you”, an exhibition presented at Cromwell Place in London last month, was the world’s first show dedicated exclusively to female Surrealist artists from Eastern Europe. Commissioned by European Arteast Foundation and curated by internationally renowned Anke Kempkes and produced by Jonathan Tybel, the Foundation director, presents  a comprehensive survey of the often-overlooked artists from the 1930s to the present day.

“Bringing underrepresented artists from Eastern Europe to the fore has been one of our foundational and guiding principles since the establishment of the foundation in 2017. We’re thrilled to present this exhibition of often marginalised or forgotten women artists to a London audience and to show their contribution to Surrealism from the 1930s to the present day and the region’s burgeoning contemporary Surrealist art scene,”
says the European Arteast Foundation’s director Jonathan Tybel.

Beyond reality

At the core of surrealist concepts, lies the freedom of thought and expression, reaching beyond reality and tapping into the subconsciousness. It provides a language able to express ideas and feelings unknown to spoken words. Taking from the symbolism and motifs of their Western counterparts, Eastern European artists produced new meanings marked with experiences unique to the region, which became especially prominent in the aftermath of the Second World War. 

For many, surrealist art became a way to process the trauma brought about by the war. Erna Rosenstein, a Polish painter and Holocaust survivor, portrayed her decapitated parents playing ball with their heads in one of her most renowned works, Screens (Ekrany) from 1951. The violent symbolism present in many post-war paintings, emphasises the magnitude of the impact the traumatic experiences had on Eastern European artists, many of whom were of Jewish descent and became displaced after the war. Teresa Żarnower, a prominent member of the Polish pre-war avant-garde and one of the founders of the first Polish constructivist artistic group in Poland, fled to New York where she remained until her death. Her 1940s paintings are drastically different to her earlier work, depicting violent scenes of imprisonment and devastation influenced by the artist’s wartime experiences. Untitled from 1945 features an isolated female figure, a motif popular with other Surrealist artists, here placed in a nightmarish world full of despair and suffering. Despite moments of recognition, like Żarnower’s solo exhibition organised at Peggy Guggenheim’s gallery, the forced emigration of this and other artists of the time was filled with financial hardship and loneliness.

Behind the Iron Curtain, art had to find a way to navigate the difficult political climate. Social Realism was the doctrine dominating the artistic world of Poland and other Eastern European countries – “Choosing Surrealism in opposition to official programmes and doctrines prevalent in the region during the Communist era is a testament to their artistic independence,” comments Anke Kempkes. One of the featured artists, Maria Anto, painted Warsaw’s factories with smoking chimneys, impersonal and devoid of any glorification prescribed by the official Social Realist doctrine. Surrealist artists were often put under scrutiny and pressure by the complacent artistic community who followed the official agenda and stigmatised their methods – one such event was documented by Erna Rosenstein in her painting “Untitled (The artist getting defended in front of a meeting of the Union of Polish Artists and Designers)” from 1954.

Lasting legacy

“This exhibition, a world first, showcases the pioneering aesthetic language they developed, creating a Surrealism all their own, and their undeniable impact on younger generations of artists. The exhibition highlights the transhistorical dimension of the Surrealist language as a strong female lineage in Eastern European art history, still vital and newly relevant today,” says Kempkes. The defining figure of the movement and perhaps the most famous artist showcased at the exhibition, was Toyen, a Czech painter who chose to create under a gender-neutral pseudonym. Their work influenced Surrealist iconography, introducing motifs of transgressive sexuality and gender issues. Toyen’s paintings, such as Růžový spektr (Pink Spectre) from 1934, feature disembodied female figures representing both pleasure and pain, reclaiming the thus far male-dominated narrative of the movement.

In the decades that followed, female artists continued to develop individual styles building on the Surrealist tradition. Ljiljana Blazevska, a recently rediscovered Serbian artist, created ethereal, almost naive paintings which she called herself “poetic infantilism”, reflecting the idea of a child’s mind having access to the subconsciousness that the first Surrealists wrote about. Her works, such as Deo Zaborava from 1974, show French influences in the use of light and vibrant colours but are also deeply personal visions of dream-like landscapes and mysterious human figures.

Today, the Surrealist lineage is still alive and visible in the works of contemporary artists such as Margo Litvinova and Oleksandra Tsapko, the youngest artists exhibited at Cromwell Place. The two work in film, painting and performance, using the media as an outlet for the feelings and trauma caused by the war in their home country, Ukraine. The Bee, a collaborative short film from 2023, uses Surrealistic themes and language to process the experiences of Ukrainians forced to flee their homes in the face of the war. Almost a century after its birth, Surrealism once again becomes a tool to express the unimaginable and proves it hasn’t lost its relevance. 

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The exhibition titled “I saw the other side of the sun with you”, curated by Anke Kempkes, was commissioned by European Arteast Foundation.

April 12th 2023 – April 30th 2023
4 Cromwell Place,
London SW7 2JE

European Arteast Foundation

The European ArtEast Foundation, founded by Artur Trawinski in 2018, has been focusing on the re-discovery of Eastern European artists and bringing them to western audiences.