Kurt Seligmann

From Grove Art Online: American painter, printmaker, sculptor, stage designer and writer of Swiss birth. He studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Geneva (1920) and at the Accademia de Belle Arti in Florence (1927). In 1929 Seligmann moved to Paris, where he remained until 1938 and where he became associated with Surrealists. While in Paris he also became a member of Abstraction-Création and an acquaintance of Le Corbusier as well as Hans Arp. Although he did not formally join the Surrealist movement until 1937, he participated in Surrealist exhibitions throughout the 1930's and made use of organic and fantastic forms, often fusing natural with artificial elements. In 1939 he emigrated to the USA, settling on a farm in Sugar Loaf, NY and later acquiring American citizenship. While living in the USA he also designed costumes and sets for ballets and modern dance performances. See research file for full citation.