The exhibition “Giorgio de Chirico and America” originated as part of the Curatorial Studies program at Hunter College, and it is impressive and good looking.[1] Professor Emily Braun and graduate students in art and art history have mounted a show that devotees of modern art and, in particular, Surrealism will find of interest. “De Chirico and America” takes as its basis the critical fortunes of Giorgio de Chirico (1888–1978) as they have played out in the United States. De Chirico’s standing as “The Father of Surrealism” rests on his early work, the “Metaphysical” paintings created roughly between 1910 and 1918, and there has been an almost unanimous critical consensus that it does, indeed, constitute his finest period and true achievement. His later paintings, however, are usually dismissed as an embarrassing descent into self-parody. Take into account ...

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