BONE NECKLACE WITH MOUTH

The original brass prototype resides in a private collection and the necklace has been realised from cut gold sheet. This necklace shows Oppenheim’s ability to collage materials and subjects: at the centre of the defensive row of bones is a feminine mouth.

Collage was the perfect Surrealism medium and this piece also illustrates one of the artist’s lasting themes: bones were featured in works throughout her career. Take, for example, her self-portrait from 1964 X-RAY of M.O.’s Skull (M.O. 1913-2000); the x-ray image suggests that the viewer might see the artist’s essence. Meret Oppenheim, however, teasingly pre-empted her own death in the work’s title and hid behind her earrings, rings and necklace – the metal objects that would endure for many decades thereafter.