Kristians Tonny

KRISTIANS TONNY (Amsterdam, 1907-Paris, 1977)
Untitled.1927.
Oil on cardboard.
Signed and dated in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 90 x 71 cm; 112,5 x 93,5 x 6 cm (frame).

We are before a composition of strong symbolic load and surrealistic character, where human figures, oversized insects, fantastic birds and schematic architectural elements coexist in a fragmented space and nocturnal atmosphere. In the center, a figure of totemic resonances concentrates the expressive tension, while the environment is articulated in intense chromatic planes that combine the archaic, the ritual and the dreamlike.

Despite being a work of youth, the plastic language is already solid and visionary, with a personal iconography that anticipates the imaginative complexity of his later production.

This early mastery is even more significant if we consider that Tonny had already participated in 1925 in the first great surrealist exhibition held at the Galerie Pierre in Paris.

By 1929 he was recognized as an established figure of the Parisian avant-garde. Linked to the circle of Gertrude Stein - of whom he made a portrait in 1930, being the second artist after Picasso - he also played an active role in the dissemination of surrealism, organizing in the late thirties the first international exhibition of the movement in the Netherlands, with the participation of André Breton and Max Ernst.

In 1937, a trip to the United States and Mexico with Paul Bowles and Jane Auer marked a decisive turn in his imaginary: the Mexican landscape, of intense symbolic force, was integrated from then on as a recurring element in his work.