Eva Sulzer (born 1902

Winterthur , neighboring_municipalities = Brütten, Dinhard, Elsau, Hettlingen, Illnau-Effretikon, Kyburg, Lindau, Neftenbach, Oberembrach, Pfungen, Rickenbach, Schlatt, Seuzach, Wiesendangen, Zell , twintowns = Hall in Tirol (Austria ...

, Switzerland – died 1990 in Mexico City) was a photographer, musician, collector, and filmmaker who is most renowned for her photographs of

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, ...

sights through Central and North America, including

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...

, and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. She also had a substantial collection of pre-Columbian artifacts and indigenous art pieces. She worked closely with the artist

Wolfgang Paalen Wolfgang Robert Paalen (July 22, 1905 in Vienna, Austria – September 24, 1959 in Taxco, Mexico) was an Austrian-Mexican painter, sculptor, and art philosopher. A member of the Abstraction-Création group from 1934 to 1935, he joined the influ ...

and other surrealist emigres in Mexico during the early 1940s. Artists who participated in the ''DYN'' circle with Wolfgang Paalen enriched their work collaboratively by expressing their personality as an artist. Eva Sulzer became a part of the ''DYN'' Circle in Mexico, where they were influenced by scientific discoveries and Mexico's pre-Columbian movement to practice expressionism. Paz, Octavio, et al. “MEXICO IN SURREALISM: Transitory Visitors.” Artes De México, no. 63, 2003, pp. 65–80. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/24315376. Accessed 16 Apr. 2021.

Photographs

Many of her photographs were published in the '' DYN'' surrealist journal written and published by

. Sulzer was the primary financial backer and photograph contributor for ''DYN''. Sulzer's intimate images and subtle focuses on feminine icons in pre-Columbian art ring a strong feminist undertone to her images and set her aside from her male contemporaries in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

and New York. While mainly referred to in context of Paalen, Sulzer was an artist in her own right and continued to live and work in Mexico as a photographer and filmmaker until her death in 1990. As well as contributing to the artistic sensibilities of the ''DYN'' surrealist circle, Sulzer also implemented archeological and anthropological aspects to her and her colleagues writings and works. Sulzer also contributed from her collection of pre-Columbian art to

Miguel Covarrubias Miguel Covarrubias, also known as José Miguel Covarrubias Duclaud (22 November 1904 — 4 February 1957) was a Mexican painter, caricaturist, illustrator, ethnologist and art historian. Along with his American colleague Matthew W. Stirling, h ...

popular anthologies about Mexican anthropology. In 2012 an array of Sulzer's photographs were displayed in an exhibition entitled “Farewell to Surrealism: The Dyn Circle in Mexico” as an homage to the debut publication of the Dyn circle's journal. The exhibition brought Sulzer to light as a seemingly under-researched and unknown 20th-century woman artist. Much more research is still to be done on Sulzer as a singular entity working in the art world and in the mediums of photography, film, and music.

Wolfgang Paalen and Eva Sulzer

Paalen and Sulzer met at a Baltic resort in 1931. Sulzer then decided to return to Paris with Paalen, and they remained close for the remainder of Paalen's life. In 1939 Sulzer traveled with Paalen and Rahon to visit pre-Columbian sites in Northwest Canada, Alaska, and Mexico. Many photographs taken on this trip are the ones published in ''DYN''. Although Paalen was married to the artist

Alice Rahon Alice Phillipot (Alice Rahon) (8 June 1904 – September 1987) was a French/Mexican poet and artist whose work contributed to the beginning of abstract expression in Mexico. She began as a surrealist poet in Europe but began painting in Mexico. ...

, it has been stated that Rahon, Paalen, and Sulzer were involved in a polyamorous triad, which is highly representative of the open minded sensibilities of the Dyn circle.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sulzer, Eva 1902 births 1990 deaths Swiss women musicians Swiss filmmakers Swiss women photographers