Hazel Janicki , Surreal Dancers Magic Realism - Ballet Mirage, 1944

Dazed dancers are seen twirling languidly on primal rock formations. The rocks, eroded by the sands of time, are shown as cutaways and serve as a platform or outdoor stage for the dancers. They float in an earthy, dream-like landscape of the artist's imagination. The females are entwined in diaphanous, see-through veils that drap their upper bodies. Anchoring the scene to civilization are two barley-twist columns that sit atop the central rock platform. They support a suspended, semi-transparent veil that hangs effortlessly over a crevasse. In the center right of the composition, distant dancers are captured in peak moments of performance. Their scale gives a sense of the endlessness of time and the viewer's metaphysical dialectic with it. The intent in Hazel Janicki's picture is to be unclear, ambiguous, and illogical. It's 1944, and World War II is raging in Europe. In Ohio, USA, female Surrealist / Magic Realist Artist Hazel Janicki is immersed in the poetic stimulus of Surrealist doctrine and expresses it through this masterfully conceived and composed picture. Her technical skill in delineating form, crafting the correct color palette, and constructing a dreamy design is unparalleled. In recent times, female Surrealist artists such as Remedios Varo, Leonora Carrington, Dorothea Tanning, Frida Kahlo and
Gertrude Abercrombie has been plucked from obscurity and elevated to perches of great importance in the art world. Is Hazel Janicki's moment next?
Signed and dated in the lower left corner and on the verso. Framed size 26.5 x 24.5. Housed in a heavy, ornate wood frame
Exhibited: Cleveland Museum of Art, May Show 1945
The Butler Institute of Art, Youngstown, Ohio, 1945 New Year Show
Tregoning & Company
Wolfs Gallery Cleveland
Hazel Janicki, ‘Nature Walk Magic Realism in Dreamlike Setting’, 1960
Hazel Janicki, American, 1918–1976
Oil and encaustic on wood panel
26.6 - 24 inches - signed and dated 1944, lower left
US$40,000