Executed circa 1945. This surreal graphite drawing depicts a slim figure seated on the right reading a newspaper, seemingly unaware of the disturbing, faceless figures that surround him. Created at the end of World War II, the present work embodies palpable anguish with the flattened and stretched faces of the biomorphic figures. Furthermore, the sitter’s ambivalence amid the turmoil may speak to broader themes of trauma and disassociation in the aftermath of the war.

Between the 1940s and 1970s, American artist Gray Foy created a diverse body of meticulously rendered works. Initially inspired by both Surrealism and Magic Realism, Foy adopted what he referred to as a “hyper-realism” technique, which required intense concentration and preparation, the result of which are complex compositions that invite sustained observation. Foy was recently the subject of a solo exhibition at the Menil Collection in Houston, Hyperreal: Gray Foy, which celebrated two recent gifts to the Menil Drawing Institute of nearly 80 drawings by the artist.