NEWS

By LIBBIE HOUGH
Ackland Art Museum

Chapel Hill -- Two artists’ fascination with the natural world will be presented in "From the Molecular to the Galactic: The Art of Max Ernst and Alfonso Ossorio," Jan. 23 through March 26 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Ackland Art Museum.

The exhibition’s paintings, relief-sculptures, drawings, prints and artists’ books also will examine the artists’ interpretation of nature and provide insight into the relationship between science and art.

"I hope ‘From the Molecular to the Galactic’ challenges the notion that art and science are on opposite ends of the spectrum," said Ackland exhibitions curator Barbara Matilsky. "Artists and scientists share the interest and ability to study the natural world’s complexity; it is the method of expression that separates the disciplines."

German-born Ernst (1891-1976) was a pioneer of the surrealist movement in early 20th century art; Phillippine-born Ossorio (1916-1990) reflected surrealism’s influence in his work. Both used existing art techniques and created new ones to express their inspiration.

Ernst’s vehicle was called frottage: rubbing pieces of wood, seashells, leaves or other natural material on paper or canvas to obtain images. Ossorio created collages by embedding objects -- shells, bones, driftwood, jewels, ceramics -- into his paintings.

"From the Molecular to the Galactic" was made possible largely by Dr. William and Mrs. Phyllis Koehnline of Chapel Hill, who offered their collection of Ernst material to the Ackland for study and loan. Researching the collection, Matilsky identified parallels between Ernst and Ossorio, and the idea for the exhibition was born.

Dr. Koehnline, a retired community college system administrator, earned a master’s degree in English from Carolina in 1949 and a doctorate from Ohio State University in 1965. He discovered Ernst in 1941 when Fortune magazine published some of the artist’s work.

"I was in high school at the time, and was captivated," Koehnline said. His first acquisition was a lithograph in two shades of blue, "The Forest at Dawn" (1958). He went on to create an extensive collection of the artist’s work, including most of the Ernst prints in the new Ackland exhibition.

The Menil Collection of Houston loaned the exhibition one Ernst painting, "Design in Nature." The Ossorio Foundation in Southampton, N.Y., loaned Ossorio’s work.

The Ernst pieces include "Histoire Naturelle" ("Natural History," 1926), a portfolio of 34 collotypes -- prints made from hardened film of gelatin or similar material. Ernst transformed wood, leaves and metal textures into images. One of them, "Les éclairs au-dessous de quatorze ans" ("Teenage Lightning"), employed the rough texture of a burr and the veined outline of leaves to form an image of a dragonfly. An introduction to "Histoire Naturelle" written by Jean Arp, an artist and poet in Ernst’s day, describes nature’s intricacies and points to common threads throughout the natural world.

"Maximiliana or The Illegal Practice of Astronomy" (1964), a collaboration between Ernst and Russian poet Ilia Zdanovich (known as Iliazd), is a tribute to 19th-century German astronomer Ernst Wilhelm Leberecht Tempel (1821-1889). A self-taught astronomer, Tempel discovered numerous comets and asteroids. Ernst’s etchings enable the viewer to experience the awe of Tempel’s discoveries.

Born in the Philippines of Spanish, Filipino and Chinese descent, Ossorio was attracted to surrealism, psychoanalysis and the art of the mentally ill. His stint as a medical illustrator during World War II furthered his interest in anatomical imagery.

"Breaking Chain" (1963) is one of Ossorio’s congregations -- his term for the three-dimensional reliefs and freestanding sculptures he began in the late 1950s. Ossorio delighted in transforming junk into sometimes glorious, sometimes grotesque compositions. Central to "Breaking Chain" is a slightly off-kilter face with a pair of searing eyes; an image that reappears in much of Ossorio’s art.

In 1984, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York commissioned Ossorio and Lewis Thomas (1913-1993) to collaborate on a work. The two produced "Could I Ask You Something?," a limited-edition book of 14 poems by Lewis and nine etchings by Ossorio.

Ossorio’s works, inspired by pictures taken by electron micrographs -- graphic reproductions of the images objects present when under microscopes -- indicate a dynamic life force and suggest life’s processes and complexity.

The Ackland is on South Columbia Street near Franklin Street. Hours are Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday 1-5 p.m. For more information, call (919) 966-5736 (museum office) or (919) 962-0837 (Telecommunications for the Deaf).

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