In a conversation with Dr. Salomon Grimberg, he recalled interviewing Gunther Gerzso about this piece. Gerzso remembered going to the Calle Gabino Barreda* to visit the British painter Leonora Carrington and the Spanish artist Remedios Varo, both having arrived in Mexico in the early 1940s after fleeing war-torn Europe. He found the two young artists laughing and having a great time as they worked on a project for a
“surrealist dollhouse.” Their idea was to create a dollhouse in which the actual furniture was made out of dolls. Varo gave this maquette for a sofa to Gerzso, who kept it in his studio his entire life. It was stored in a box, labeled in Gerzso’s handwriting, “Sofa maqueta, Autora: Remedios Varo, Fecha ~ 1945.”
*Calle Gabino Barreda was home to many surrealist émigré artists from Europe, including Benjamin Péret, Remedios Varo, Leonora Carrington, Esteban Frances, Edward James, Chiki Weisz, and Kati Horna. The art that members of this group produced greatly affected Gerzso’s own painting and led him to experiment with Surrealist themes and techniques. In 1944, Gunther Gerzso painted a painting titled Los Días de la Calle Gabino Barreda (The Days of Gabino Barreda Street). Depicted in this work are Carrington, Varo, Gerzso, and Péret.
- Gift of the artist to Gunther Gerzso, c. 1945
- Estate of Gunther Gerzso
- Acquired from the above
