Prelude to a Civilization

Mediums: wood board, wax, oil, ink.
Location: The New York Metropolitan Museum of Art (the USA).

After the artist left the group of Surrealists, his art increasingly reflected the relics of archaic and primitive civilizations. In his studio in Montmartre, visitors were amazed by the Oceanic collection of cult objects, artefacts of Native Americans and Egyptians. A white animal stands firmly on blue-green soil against a clear sky, the images of forty animals, figures, masks and abstract symbols are placed on its body. Brauner created this work in the technique of encaustic when the paint is mixed with molten wax. Then, the artist put the figures in ink on the hardened surface.