“New York Movie” and “Nude at the Window” are, as Breton acknowledges, an unlikely pair. It is remarkable that it should also be between curtains, the one lifted, the other raised by itself, that Hirschfield’s nude appears in that unique light of a magician’s act which has been so well captured by this artist (the first great mediumistic painter). The beautiful young woman, lost in a dream beyond the confounding things happening to others, the heavy mythical column, the three lights of “New York Movie,” seem charged with a symbolical significance which seeks away out of the curtained stairway.
#Socialite family trial#
Nothing seems to me to face this trial better than two pictures, both chosen as far apart as possible, and outside of surrealism: “New York Movie” by Edward Hopper, and Hirschfield’s Nude (at the window). Elaborating on this possibility, he turns to two American paintings: … As always in such periods when socially human life is almost worthless, I think we must learn to read with and look through the eyes of Eros - Eros who, in time to come, will have the task of reestablishing that equilibrium briefly broken for the benefit of death.” A perspective informed by love and desire would, according to Breton, help counter the nihilism and hopelessness of the war. In a front-page interview, the newly arrived refugee predicted that “A new spirit will be born from the present war. The celebrator was Breton in the pages of View, a New York-based art and literary journal that promoted surrealism to a largely American audience. Though it does not explain the high cost of “Nude at the Window ,” Guggenheim would have known that the painting had been celebrated in print within months of its completion in 1941. Her collection was based firmly in the European (and later, American) avant-garde, which makes her acquisition of Hirshfield’s painting - and the price paid for it - all the more noteworthy. “Nude at the Window” was the only work by a self-taught artist among the more than 250 paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, collages, and sculptures in Guggenheim’s possession in 1942. Morris Hirshfield, “Nude at the Window (Hot Night in July),” 1941 In the words of Alfred Barr, the founding director of MoMA, Janis was “the most brilliant new dealer, in terms of business acumen, to have appeared in New York since the war.” The sum Guggenheim paid for the painting speaks to the promotional skills and aesthetic intuitions that would make Janis, who opened his own gallery in 1948, one of the most successful art dealers in America. Given the lack of a significant base of Hirshfield collectors at the time, it is difficult to understand how a little-known self-taught artist commanded more than 12 times that of a now-canonical painting by Magritte.
Given the lack of a significant base of Hirshfield collectors at the time, it is difficult to understand how a little-known self-taught artist commanded more than five times the price of a Mondrian and 12 times that of a now-canonical painting by Magritte. Two years prior to that, she bought Mondrian’s “Composition” for $160.
That same year, she acquired René Magritte’s “The Key of Dreams” for $75.
We are left with the slightly kinky juxtaposition of female nudity, bejeweled slippers, and velvet curtains.Īccording to an inventory of her collection drawn up for tax purposes in 1942, Guggenheim purchased “Nude at the Window” for $900. No other accessories or garments are visible.
The heeled shoes near her feet only draw more attention to her nakedness. Far from covering her body, she opens the curtains to expose it. Hirshfield’s original title for the painting, “Nude at the Window (Hot Night in July) ,” suggests an explanation for the figure’s nakedness (relief from a sultry evening) while alluding to the elevated sexual charge - or heat - that energizes the picture. This article is excerpted from Richard Meyer’s book “ Master of the Two Left Feet: Morris Hirshfield Rediscovered.”
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