Unica Zürn
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Unica Zürn (born July 6, 1916 in Berlin-Grunewald; died 1970 in Paris) was a German author and painter. She is remembered for her works of anagram poetry and exhibitions of automatic drawing.
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[edit] Biography
Zürn began writing after World War II, writing short stories and radio plays. In 1953 she met surrealist painter Hans Bellmer in Berlin. She moved with him to Paris, becoming his partner and model.
Together with Hans Bellmer, Unica Zürn frequented surrealist circles and befriended people such as Man Ray, André Pieyre de Mandiargues, Henri Michaux and Max Ernst. From 1957 onwards she suffered from depression and was treated at various clinics in France. One of her doctors was Gaston Ferdière, a friend of the surrealists, who was also psychiatrist to Antonin Artaud. Her illness inspired much of her writing, above all Der Mann im Jasmin, written between 1963 and 1965.
She killed herself in 1970 by jumping out of the window of the apartment she shared with Bellmer.
[edit] Works
- Hexentexte [The Witches' Texts] (1954)
- Dunkler Frühling [Dark Spring] (1970)
- Der Mann im Jasmin [The Man of Jasmine] (1977)
English translations of The Man of Jasmine and House of Illnesses available from http://www.atlaspress.co.uk
[edit] External links
[edit] Sources
- Bloomsbury Guide to Women's Literature
