Gunther Gerzso (1915-2000)

K. Masrour, Paris
Private Collection, Paris
Sale: Sotheby's, New York, Latin American Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, Part I, May 17, 1995, lot 39, illustrated in color
Acquired from the above

New York, Mary-Anne Martin Fine Art, Gunther Gerzso: 80th Birthday Show, September 28-October 28, 1995, no. 8, p. 18, illustrated
Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara Museum of Art; Mexico City, Museo de Arte Moderno; Chicago, Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum, Risking the Abstract: Mexican Modernism and the Art of Gunther Gerszo, July 19, 2003-June 27, 2004, pl. 44, illustrated in color

Gunther Gerzso is often viewed within the context of Mexican modern art as somewhat of an outsider given his cosmopolitan and multicultural background (born in Mexico to a Hungarian father and German mother and raised in Europe), his dual parallel career as a successful film set designer and visual artist, and his distance from the prevailing style of Social Realism espoused by his fellow compatriots—the Mexican Muralists. Indeed Gerzso’s exploration of European modernism including his experimentation with surrealism and his eventual embrace of geometric abstraction placed him at the margins of Mexico’s strong figurative tradition. Yet, Gerzso emerged as a key figure in Mexico’s vanguard movement and a pioneer of non-figurative art. Likewise Gerzso’s art represented an alternative to the equation of Mexican folkloric scenes and subjects with notions of national or cultural identity through a more personal search for self-identity anchored in a desire to establish a connection between Mexico’s indigenous past and recent developments in European modernism.

Paisaje is indicative of Gerzso’s mature work, a particular style of abstraction that combines aspects of Cubism, Surrealism, and Constructivism along with his passion for Pre-Columbian architecture and mythology. Gerzso’s iconic use of the square reflects his study of ancient cultures and is particularly related to the belief in the four cardinal points or cosmic regions of the Universe—a highly significant and recurring symbol among Pre-Columbian cultures. The square operates as a unifying force in Gerzso’s abstract landscapes, whether painted alone or layered and contoured, the quad imbued Gerzso’s work with a quiet poetry—a meditative and centralizing quality that suggest the mystery of infinite space and the possibilities of redefining indigenismo through the visual language of abstraction.