Surrealism in America: From Exile to Abstraction

 March 6, 8, 10 - 5 p.m.

This series explores how European Surrealism shaped the development of modern American art, focusing on Arshile Gorky, Jackson Pollock, and Mark Rothko. As artists and intellectuals fled war-torn Europe in the 1930s and 1940s, Surrealist ideas—automatism, the primacy of the unconscious, myth, and psychic symbolism—took root in New York, transforming the direction of American painting.

Lecture 1: Gorky and the Poetics of Memory
We begin with Gorky, whose biomorphic forms and fluid line reveal a deep engagement with Surrealist automatism while remaining grounded in personal memory and cultural displacement.

Lecture 2: Pollock and the Unconscious in Action
Pollock absorbed Surrealist techniques—especially automatic drawing—transforming psychic spontaneity into physical gesture and giving painting a deeply personal significance as a record of his presence.

Lecture 3: Rothko and the Mythic Sublime
Rothko’s early engagement with Surrealist myth and archetype gradually evolved into luminous color fields that invite a deeply meditative experience.

Structure: Each lecture is a live event via zoom: a brief check and introduction, to ensure that participants have been able to connect, followed by a slide-presentation of about 50-60 minutes, and a Q&A discussion of about 20-30 minutes. Participants do not have to sign up for a zoom account. The link to the lecture is sent on the day of the event.

Fee: 20 USD per lecture, per person/ 60 for the series