Michael Snow at Art Toronto 2019
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In the late 1950s, Michael Snow was exploring various media including painting, sculpture, drawing and film. He was impressed by Willem de Kooning’s early figurative paintings and collage works and wanted to explore the figure / ground relationship in his own work. In 1956, Snow made a series of 5 or 6 knife-drawn collages that feature female figures entwined in their abstracted backgrounds.
While a student at OCA, Snow was introduced to Kodak photographic dyes which were less intense than watercolours. In the collages from 1956 Snow dyed the individual layers of paper with these photographic dyes, building up the image of the collage by cutting, arranging and layering the individual pieces of paper. The resulting image is a mesmerizing, sensuous figure that is knitted into the dream-like background.
Michael Snow has been quoted as saying “I’m still proud of how integrated and fused all the elements of these works are… In fact, the original Walking Woman is absolutely a daughter of these early collages as it was cut of cardboard using the same type of mat or exacto knife as the collages and drawing the same kinds of forms.”
“Enchanted Woman” is catalogue #144 in The Michael Snow Project Catalogue (illustrated)
Enchanted Woman, Photo dyes on paper collage, 1956, 21 x 25 in.