Suzanne Perlman | Catching The Ephemeral

A student of Oskar Kokoschka in Salzburg and Sidney Gross in New York, 95-year-old artist Suzanne Perlman has carved her own distinctive career spanning seven decades and three continents. This exhibition will display around 25 major works at the prestigious new Dutch Centre in the City of London.

Driven by a desire to ‘express and articulate the world around her’, art for Suzanne Perlman is a ‘form of communication’ that allows her to spread her ideas to the outside world. Perlman’s paintings are revelatory and introspective reflections of people, places and situations that evoke a fervently passionate colour scheme, fusing together the expressionist and the abstract.

The exhibition title CATCHING THE EPHEMERAL refers to Perlman’s express aim to capture the ‘fleeting moment of insight’ in her work. A feature that she feels is the ‘intrinsic quality’ of a work of art. She refers to her time working with Oskar Kokoschka: "The very first impression of a vision is crucial to retain.”  She remembers Kokoschka saying.  “This cannot be taught, but you (Suzanne) can do it.”  

This exhibition features paintings and works on paper from three main periods: pictures made in Curaçao between 1941 and 1971; those created in the United States between 1970 and 1978; and works painted in London between 2002 and 2018.

“Perlman is painter who continues to possess a valuable and urgent vision of singular power, delicacy and poetry.” Philip Vann, Art Historian and Author.