Aloïse Corbaz spent most of her life in a Swiss psychiatric hospital, where she produced artwork characterised by a Surrealist notion of the infinitely revelatory nature of romantic passion, employing the rudimentary materials she had available, including toothpaste, thread, and juice from plants as well as coloured pencil and oil pastel. Cloisonné de théâtre [Theater partition] (1941–1951), a multipanel epic depicting a series of fervent embraces set in florid surroundings, is structured into “acts”. As in many of her works, female figures regaled in splendour or sensuous nakedness act as the protagonists. In 1936, Aloïse’s practice was brought to the attention of her physician, who passed it on to Jean Dubuffet; as a result, her work became a key presence within his collection and theorisation of Art Brut, admired by Breton and other key Surrealists and modernists of the twentieth century.
This is the first time the work of Aloïse is presented at Biennale Arte.
—Sybilla Griffin
