In the collection of Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia — check current display status with the museum.
FROM THE BARNES FOUNDATION’S CATALOG
The German-born artist Wols created this small gouache-and-pen image while living an increasingly chaotic life in the charged cultural milieu of postwar Paris. Per the title, the central motif is quasi-abstract: feather-like, but not a feather. It has a vertical stem that blooms into a dark core and radiates hairy black lines; watery circles and irregular polygons spangle the composition. The myopic confrontation of this motif recalls Wols's quotation of the famous existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre, his occasional supporter: "Objects shouldn't touch, for they do not live. And yet they touch me: It's unbearable."
Be the first to share your thoughts.
Sign in to join the discussion.
Piet Mondrian — Composition trees 1 (unfinished)
Berthe Morisot — Goose
Piet Mondrian — Dying sunflower II
Charles Demuth — Bermuda: Houses Seen Through Trees
Edvard Munch — Blood Waterfall
Charles Demuth — Bermuda Landscape No. 2
Edgar Degas — Seated Woman in Bonnet and Shawl
Henri Matisse — Palm Leaf, Tangier
Edvard Munch — The Human Mountain: Sunrays
Piet Mondrian — Color study with pink, blue, yellow and whit
Edvard Munch — Alma Mater: Fragment with Playing Children
Anonymous, British, 18th century — Design for a Baroque Styl
