Surrealism is one of the most provocative art movements of the 20th century. Surrealist artists sought to depict a destabilized reality through shocking juxtapositions, biomorphic abstractions, theatrical excess, and comic satire. Collector and art dealer Julien Levy (1908–81) embraced not only Surrealist art but also a Surrealist way of being. He was friends with and participated in the lives of the artists he represented, made Surrealist films, and initiated a Surrealist “fun house” for the 1939 New York World’s Fair. He also collected Surrealist work including books, paintings, sculptures, toys, photographs, posters, and may other objects.

Levy was one of modernism’s preeminent art dealers, operating the Julien Levy Gallery in New York for 19 years. He was mentored by famous American dealer and photographer Alfred Stieglitz. Levy’s other mentor was the ultimate surrealist artist, Marcel Duchamp, with whom Levy shared his love of graphics, gizmos, and games. The Julien Levy Gallery showcased a large number of women artists, and his collection includes Leonora Carrington, Dorothea Tanning, Leonora Fini, and Mina Loy, to name a few. Surrealist artists embraced women as fetish, viewing and depicting them as muses in all kinds of compelling and unrestrained activity.

The exhibition also demonstrates Levy’s love of cartoon imagery. His gallery was among the first to show Walt Disney in a fine arts context. Other artists in the exhibition include Salvador Dali, Max Ernst, Dora Maar, and Man Ray, to name a few.

top image: Herbert Bayer, Studio Beach, June 28, 1928, gouache and collage on paper, 11 3/4 x 7 1/2 inches, Courtesy of the Jean Farley Levy Estate © Estate of Herbert Bayer

second image: Andre Kertesz, Clock/Rope, 1928, gelatin silver print, 8 7/8 x 5 1/2 inches, Courtesy David Raymond, New York © Estate of André Kertész

third image: Roger Parry, Untitled (Photogram), 1930s, gelatin silver print, 9 1/2 x 7 1/8 inches, Courtesy David Raymond, New York © Estate of Roger Parry