Óscar Domínguez Retrospective at Picasso Museum Highlights Overlooked Surrealist Master

It's time to truly recognize Óscar Domínguez (1906-1957), a major figure in the 20th-century international avant-garde. Despite his importance, he's often been overlooked.

The recent "Óscar Domínguez" retrospective at the Picasso Museum in Malaga, which closed on Monday, aimed to change that. Further highlighting Domínguez's significance, a recent Sotheby's auction in London saw two of his works, "Le piano" (1934) and "Exacte sensibilité" (1935), from the Pauline Karpidas collection, sell for a combined total of over 3.3 million euros.

Curated by Isidro Hernández from TEA Tenerife Espacio de las Artes, the Malaga exhibition was only the third major retrospective of Domínguez's work outside of his native island. It came almost 30 years after the 1996 show at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, "Óscar Domínguez. Anthological. 1926-1957," curated by Ana Vázquez de Parga. Vázquez de Parga also curated the 2005 exhibition at the Musée Cantini in Marseille, the first of its kind in France, with Isidro Hernández's collaboration.

About half of the pieces in the Picasso Museum exhibition were loaned by TEA. Other contributions came from the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, the Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, the Galician foundation Abanca, the Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno (IVAM), the Fundación Telefónica, the Fundación CajaCanarias, the Fundación Mapfre, the LM collection of La Laguna, the Fundación María José Jove (A Coruña), and the collection of the Government of the Canary Islands. The Fundación Canaria de Formación y Mecenazgo, from Gran Canaria, also participated.

International institutions like the Musée Cantini, the Ulla and Heiner Pietzsch collection from Berlin (housed in the Berlinische Galerie), and the Henie Onstad Kunstsenter from Oslo also lent pieces. Private collections and galleries, such as Leandro Navarro and Guillermo de Osma from Madrid, and Applicat-Prazan from Paris, also contributed.

"It was a very complete journey," Isidro Hernández told DIARIO DE AVISOS, "starting with Óscar Domínguez's early works from around 1928, and then focusing on his key period in the 1930s." He emphasized, "We were fortunate to have pieces from 1934, 1935, 1936... representing crucial moments in his career, including works like 'Sewing Machine Electrosexual' (1934-1935, Henie Onstad Kunstsenter)." Hernández calls it Domínguez's masterpiece, explaining its symbolic representation of desire and sexuality, which is fundamental to surrealism. He says it embodies Lautréamont's surrealist poetic image: "the chance meeting of a sewing machine and an umbrella on a dissecting table."

Hernández also highlighted "Abrelatas" (1936), which was featured on the cover of the 1996 Reina Sofía exhibition catalog, and an untitled surrealist composition from 1935 from the Ulla and Heiner Pietzsch collection. "We secured very important loans from private institutions and international museums, which is increasingly difficult. These works rarely travel, only for significant projects like this one," he stated.

The Malaga exhibition was divided into seven sections: "L'amour fou: Óscar Domínguez, surrealist"; "At the height of the imaginary"; "Almost chance: the game of decalcomania"; "The subversive image: trends in surrealist painting"; "Nostalgia of space," "Under the sign of occupation," and "Schematism and triple stroke."

Hernández explained that one section, "Nostalgia of Space," explored the artist's cosmic period, referencing his famous painting of the same name at MoMA in New York.

Another section focused on decalcomania, Domínguez's major contribution to art. A further section placed him alongside contemporaries like Jacques Hérold, Victor Brauner, Kurt Seligmann, Dora Maar, and Roberto Matta, illustrating his artistic context. Hernández also mentioned the section covering Domínguez's life and work during the Nazi occupation of France, his involvement in the Resistance through the group La Main à Plume, and his later years.

The exhibition also highlighted the artistic connection between Domínguez and Pablo Ruiz Picasso. Hernández described it as an "almost father-son relationship." Picasso (1881-1973) was 25 years older than Domínguez and greatly influenced him in the 1940s, evident in many of Domínguez's works from that period. Hernández added that Domínguez visited Picasso almost daily and felt a strong connection to him.

In letters from 1949 to Eduardo Westerdahl, Domínguez wrote, "The little I know, I owe 80% to Picasso. He is a person who constantly opens your eyes and shows you new horizons." He also stated, "My position towards Picasso? One hundred percent with Picasso, who is the genius of the atomic age and a dear friend."

Hernández noted that Picasso, in turn, felt a certain fondness for Domínguez, welcoming and supporting the artist from the Canary Islands. This relationship, as mentioned, became a significant influence during the 1940s.

The Picasso Museum in Malaga held a lecture series, "Surrealism and its double," every Wednesday in October, co-directed by Eugenio Carmona and Miguel López-Remiro.

Isidro Hernández and Emmanuel Guigon, director of the Picasso Museum in Barcelona, opened the series with talks dedicated to Domínguez ("Óscar Domínguez at the height of the imaginary") and Lichtenberg ("Lichtenberg's slippers"). Additionally, the film "Óscar, a surrealist passion" (2008) by Lucas Fernández, was screened at the Albéniz Cinema in Malaga on September 18.