A gem of an exhibition, The Prismatic Eye: Collages by Anne Ryan, 1948-54, is on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art through September 6.  In addition to the paper pieces there is one painting by Ryan and two works by Kurt Schwitters. It was the visit to an exhibition of collages by Schitters in 1948 that prompted Ryan to leave off most of her other efforts and concentrate on this medium for her six remaining years.

The Metropolitan reports that she made about four hundred pieces.  Easily half of these are in permanent collections across the country. Here, in addition to the Met’s treasures, there are fine examples at the New York Public Library and The Museum of Modern Art. We have two at the Gallery.  Our Number 117 relates very closely to the Met’s Number 116.  Both are about seven inches square on a dark blue/black paper.  The white, cream, or grey bits and pieces arranged in grid-like patterns are paper, cloth, or even string.  These are from early in Ryan’s journey, before these small, delicate layers were further integrated into the background as they are in our second piece, from 1951. It is somewhat larger at 8 x 12 inches and its base is a hand-made, sepia-colored Douglass Howell paper. Bonding with this sheet are earth-toned paper strips, rectangles, half-moons, and triangles. They float on their own or sometimes touch or over-lap.

The Metropolitan’s show was extremely moving.  There was even a sympathetic guard who apologized to visitors that the show was so hard to find.  The closest stairway was closed off and signage abandoned.