The Tranquility of Previous Existence
Walter Quirt
American, 1902–1968
1941
An oil on canvas dreamscape in which Walter Quirt arranges mask-like figures, dancers and odd birds to evoke memory, myth, and a vanished past.
What hits you first is the airy, sand-colored backdrop studded with a parade of playful, elongated figures and floating birds—like a child's invented ritual captured in a softly washed, otherworldly landscape.
By mixing surrealist dream logic with folk, primitive motifs and modernist abstraction, Quirt opened a lyrical, narrative strand in American modernism that explored personal myth and collective memory on the eve of World War II.
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
24 1/8 x 32" (61.3 x 81.3 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Purchase
Accession
163.1942
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
