Sonja Sekula was born in Lucerne, Switzerland in 1936 and soon moved to New York with her parents, where she studied at Sarah Lawrence College and later at the Art Students League. In the vibrant New York art scene of the 1940s and 1950s, Sekula connected with expatriate Surrealists André Breton’s circle and befriended Abstract Expressionists including Robert Motherwell and Jackson Pollock. She was close to Merce Cunningham and even designed his dance costumes. Sekula first exhibited at Peggy Guggenheim’s Art of This Century gallery in the landmark exhibition “31 Women” in 1943. She later showed at Betty Parsons Gallery from 1948 and had five solo exhibitions there over the following decade. Her work was also included in the influential 9th Street Show in 1951.

Sekula developed a highly experimental and poetic visual language. Her paintings combined biomorphic forms and painterly approaches influenced by European modernism, moving between Surrealism and emerging Abstract Expressionism. She was inspired by New York’s urban environment, and travels to Mexico introduced influences from North American Indigenous cultures.

Struggling with mental health issues, Sekula returned permanently to Switzerland in 1955, where she took her own life in 1963. Only recently has her significant contribution begun to receive wider recognition.

Photo credit: Portrait of Sonja Sekula, André de Dienes