The Renee And Chaim Gross Foundation

PRESS RELEASE
Foundation re-opens with new exhibition Hands Cannot Hold: Fantasy Drawings by Chaim Gross
Nov. 4, 2021, New York City—The Renee & Chaim Gross Foundation is pleased to announce the opening of Hands Cannot Hold: Fantasy Drawings by Chaim Gross, coinciding with the re-opening of public House & Studio Tours. The exhibition will be on view until February 19, 2022.
Chaim Gross (1902–91) is primarily known for his sculpture and accompanying graphic, flowing sculpture studies. Lesser known are his private Fantasy Drawings in a completely different style and handling of pen and ink. Gross’s drawings and watercolors from this body of work stretch over five decades and were often done at home in the evenings while seated in his easy chair. These Surreal drawings were created through a stream-of-consciousness method, allowing for overlapping, webbed imagery and deliberate obfuscation. Images are often hopeful and sensual, but also sometimes violent and disturbing. Works can be difficult to look at, especially when they reflect on the Holocaust and Gross’s own memories of his experiences during World War I. The drawings were the subject of the 1956 publication Chaim Gross: Fantasy Drawings, which included an analytical essay by psychoanalyst Samuel Atkin, MD.
Hands Cannot Hold: Fantasy Drawings by Chaim Gross includes materials from the Foundation’s archives, sculpture by Gross and unknown Dan and Kota artists from the Foundation’s historic African arts collection, and 50 works on paper by Gross. A selection of Fantasy Drawings was shown most recently in 2012 at the Seligmann Center in Sugar Loaf, NY following the exhibition Fantasy: Chaim Gross Drawings, 1944-50 in 2010-11 at the Foundation. The pieces are light sensitive and will only be on view for a limited period of time.
All objects are from the collection of the Renee & Chaim Gross Foundation. This exhibition is curated by Sasha Davis, Executive Director, and Brittany Cassandra, Collections and Programs Manager.
526 LAGUARDIA PLACE NYC 10012 (212) 529-4906 WWW.RCGROSSFOUNDATION.ORG

About Chaim Gross Chaim Gross (1902-91) was an American sculptor whose prolific career spanned seven decades. He is known primarily for his direct carvings in wood as well as his bronzes, often of families or acrobats. His work is in public and private collections throughout the United States, with a significant portion at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. A philanthropist as well as a collector, Gross donated hundreds of objects to museums around the world. He collected broadly, with a focus on the work of his American contemporaries and African arts. About the Foundation The Renee & Chaim Gross Foundation is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization incorporated in New York State in 1989. The Foundation’s mission is to further the legacy of Chaim Gross through high-quality research, exhibitions, and educational activities around the historic building and art collections for audiences in New York City and beyond. For more information, please visit the Foundation’s website at www.rcgrossfoundation.org.
For more information about the Renee & Chaim Gross Foundation, please contact Sasha Davis, Executive Director, at [email protected]
526 LAGUARDIA PLACE NYC 10012 (212) 529-4906 WWW.RCGROSSFOUNDATION.ORG