Nagas presents the exhibition Surrealism (on paper), running from September 2 through October 24. The show brings together works by Victor Brauner, Toyen, Leonor Fini, Max Walter Svanberg, Bona de Mandiargues, Myriam Bat-Yosef, Suzanne Van Damme, Reuben Mednikoff, and Grace Pailthorpe.
Paper played an important role in Surrealism, particularly as a medium for experimentation. Automatic drawing, collage, frottage, decalcomania, and the cadavre exquis all developed through works on paper. There, artists could work quickly, test unfamiliar procedures, and incorporate chance into the process. For many Surrealists, drawing was not simply a preliminary stage for painting, but an autonomous form of expression in its own right.
Spanning six decades, the exhibition follows this process from the 1930s to the end of the twentieth century. Rather than tracing the history of a style, Surrealism (on paper) examines the persistence of a method. Across different generations, geographies, and artistic positions, the works reveal a shared commitment to expanding the possibilities of representation through works on paper. Hybrid beings, unstable landscapes and prophetic figures emerge across the exhibition.
Seen together, these works on paper demonstrate the remarkable continuity of Surrealism across generations. Whether through the solitary act of drawing or collective practices such as the cadavre exquis, paper remained the place where the movement could question its own methods, absorb new ideas, and renew itself.
