The Sublimation of Humor in the Work of Meret Oppenheim: a defense mechanism

Karen Clardy

Gabriela Sotomayor, Director, School of Art History

Academy of Art University

Midpoint Review

Proposed Thesis Advisor: Professor Anna Glaze

November 3, 2017

Meret Oppenheim’s Object (1936) and My Nurse

(1936) are most often analyzed

through the lens of feminism,

which omits the psychoanalytic

aspects of humor.

Meret Oppenheim, Object, Paris, 1936, Modern Museum of Art, New York 130.1946.a-c.

(Photo: Copyright 1996 The Modern Museum of Art, New York)

This research studies the theories of Sigmund Freud and Carl Gustav Jung as applied to Oppenheim’s life and work from the perspective of feminism to form an analysis of how humor was

used as a defense mechanism.

Meret Oppenheim, Ma gouvernante - My Nurse – Mein Kindermädchen,

1936/1967, Modern Museum of Stockholm, NMSK 1972 (Photo: Pralan Allsten/Moderna

Museet)

The use of humor in Meret Oppenheim’s work evidences the contradictions and

challenges she faced as an artist and as muse.

Man Ray, Erotique Voilée, 1933, photograph, The Museum of Fine Arts,

Houston, 2002.1580 (Photo: Man Ray Trust)

Literature Review

Three Interviews with Meret Oppenheim give valuable insight to her personal philosophy, personality and anger at the inequality and commodification of women.

§ Robert Belton “Androgyny: Interview with Meret Oppenheim” (1984)

§ Margot Mifflin, “An Interview with Meret Oppenheim” (1983)

§ Alain Jouffery, “Conversation between Meret Oppenheim and Alain Jouffery” (1973)

Meret Oppenheim, Paper Dress, and Half-Sunglasses 1975-76 (Photo: Claude Lé Anh)

The Basic Writings of Sigmund Freud, edited and translated by A.A. Brill, 1938

§ Wit and Its Relation to the Unconscious§ “Rebellion Against Authority Through Wit”

§ “The Pleasure Mechanism and the Psychogenesis of Wit”

§ “The Motives of Wit and Wit as a Social Process”

§ “The Relation of Wit to Dreams and the Unconscious”

§ “Irony and Negativism”

§ “The Unconscious as the Psychic Stage of Wit Work”

§ “Humor”

Meret Oppenheim, Hamburg 1984 (Photo: Karin Székessy)

The Collected Works of Carl Jung

§ Creation and Play§ Anima and animus: the androgyny of

the soul§ Collective unconscious § Analysis of dreams§ Creation as an unconscious activation

of and archetypal image

Man Ray, untitled, (Marcoussis and Meret Oppenheim), 1933 (Photo: Man Ray Trust)

Women and Surrealism

§ “The Problematics of Women and Surrealism,” Gwen Raaberg

§ “Surrealism and Misogyny,” Rudolf Kuenzli

§ “Seeing the Surrealist Woman: We are a Problem,” Mary Ann Caws

§ “From Déjeuner en fourrure to Caroline: Meret Oppenheim’s Chronical of Surrealism,” Renee Riese Hubert

Man Ray, Meret Oppenheim, 1932 (Photo: Man Ray Trust/ Adagp, Paris)

Feminism and Contemporary Art: The Revolutionary Power of

Women’s LaughterJo Anna Isaak

Meret Oppenheim and Iréne Zurkinden in Paris in the Café du Dome, 1932.

§ Feminist analysis § Comic critique§ Freudian theory of

humor

Possible Expansion of Topic and Research

§ Analysis of the Dadaist influence on Oppenheim in light of a recently found interview in which she comments on the humor in Duchamp’s work and his influence on her as well as the influence of Picabia

§ Translation of Oppenheim’s letters

§ Analysis of later artwork by Oppenheim

§

Meret Oppenheim, Stone Woman, 1938 Oil on Cardboard, Private Collection,

(Photo: Artists Rights Society, New York/Pro Litteris, Zurich)

Meret Oppenheim, The Couple, 1956,Private Collection

(Photo: Artists Rights Society, New York/Pro

Litteris, Zurich)

Meret Oppenheim, Spring Banquet, 1959, (Photo: Bibliothéque Kandinsky, Centre

Georges Pompidou, Paris)

Other areas of interest and possible expansion of research

§ Analysis of Oppenheim’s poetry

§ Analysis of Surrealist concepts of humor: André Breton’s Anthology of Black Humor

§ Additional theory of humor by other Psychoanalysts

§ Acquisition of primary source anti-feminist text from the 1930’s

§ French Philosophy of the 1930’s: Simone de Beauvoir The Second Sex

Conclusion

Man Ray, Portrait of Meret Oppenheim at the Café Flore in Paris, 1933/34