WILDEVIEW

Work on Paper

-

DePaul Art Museum

Name/Title

WILDEVIEW

Entry/Object ID

2017.18

Description

This lithograph depicts a figure staring outwards into a barren surrealist landscape from atop a geologic vantage point. Behind lie the bones, hollow shells, and emaciated corpses of various bird, rodent, and aquatic life baking in the sun behind him. Adjacent to his line of vision the figure of nude woman stands on the horizon, her face contorted into a silent shriek and her hair blends with the clouds above. The landscape while itself desert-like seems to hold more promise than the foreground of skulls, appendages, and corpses.

Artwork Details

Medium

Lithograph

Context

This piece was made two years after Wildes's retirement from academia. He revels in the Surrealist notion of sublimation and subconscious where each object seems to possess its own ego and logic unknown, yet still legible. Nude figures chase one another in front of mountains made of breasts and while mountainous vegetables are juxtaposed next to the not yet decayed carcass of a bird, while another flies above head still alive. Wildeview possesses all of the secret codices and sly, knowing smiles of a Picabia, while retaining the awe, drama, and dark mystery of a Tanguy landscape.

Acquisition

Accession

2017.18

Source or Donor

Shirley Wilde Trust

Acquisition Method

Gift

Credit Line

Gift of Shirley Wilde Trust, Courtesy of Tori Folliard Gallery

Made/Created

Artist

Wilde, John

Date made

1985

Ethnography

Notes

North America US

Inscription/Signature/Marks

Location

BL

Transcription

"Wildeview"

Notes

Inscription Type: Graphite

Location

BOTTOM CENTER

Transcription

"LXXIII/LXXXV"

Notes

Inscription Type: Graphite

Location

BR

Transcription

"John Wilde 1985"

Notes

Inscription Type: Graphite

Lexicon

Getty AAT

Concept

Surrealist, European, nudes (representations), figures (representations), visual works (works), landscapes (environments)

Hierarchy Name

Styles and Periods (hierarchy name), Visual Works (hierarchy name), Visual and Verbal Communication (hierarchy name), Settlements and Landscapes (hierarchy name), Built Environment (hierarchy name)

Facet

Styles and Periods Facet, Objects Facet

LOC Thesaurus for Graphic Materials

Surrealism

Dimensions

Dimension Description

overall

Width

35-3/4 in

Length

23-1/2 in