Between the Covers

A collection of 74 original artworks by New York-based surrealist and fantasy artist Sidney Garber, consisting of a series of 26 watercolor paintings (titled “Naissance” on a separate sheet); an untitled series of 37 pen and ink drawings; and 11 other stylistically similar pen and ink drawings, six of which were exhibited at the Opportunity Gallery on 56th Street in New York City. The artwork document Garber’s psychotherapeutic journey (inspired by Carl Jung’s “confrontation with the unconscious”), dating from when he was a young man in his early 20s.

The 26 watercolor images measure about 14.75” x 10.5” on thick textured paper sheets (19.5” x 15”). All were numbered and captioned at the bottom margin with thin typed paper labels. The series of 37 pen and ink images measure about 11” x 8” on Bainbridge Illustration boards, and are numbered and captioned in pencil at the bottom margin. The series of six pen and ink images exhibited at the Opportunity Gallery are on textured paper sheets mounted in mat frames, and the remaining five unidentified pen and ink images are on boards. The watercolors have small glue stains to the bottom margins from the paper labels (now detached or missing), the paintings in mat frames have light glue stains on the backs (one mat frame has gone missing), near fine.

A remarkable collection of striking images, consisting of surreal scenes of macabre fantasy characters and monsters; fantastic scenes of the artist passing through various stages of “naissance,” spiritual conflicts, and awakenings; and both fantastic and tender scenes of the artist renewed and in a state of harmony with a woman and child. All 74 images dramatize the Jungian Individuation process of integrating conflicting drives, including the conscious with the unconscious, which first became popular in the mid-1930s among a growing group of American followers. (After a trip to New Mexico in 1924-25, Jung made two more trips to America: in 1936 to give lectures in New York and New England, and in 1937 to deliver the Terry Lectures at Yale University).

Among the themes and subjects as noted in the captions, we note but a few: “Deep down, away, within I go” – “And mount the cord thru victorious jaws” – “And make with death, a growing fire.” The pen and ink drawings prepared for exhibition have the artist’s name “Sidney S. Garber” and address written on the back, along with printed labels (most or partially removed) indicating that they were exhibited in the Opportunity Gallery at the Art Center, an important venue (opened in 1927) subsidized by the City that provided “opportunity” to artists to show their work. The friendship between Mark Rothko, Milton Avery, and Adolph Gottlieb originated at the Gallery, where all three began exhibiting their work in the late 1920’s.

About Sidney Garber's relatively short life, little is known. The son of Russian Jews, he was born in Queens in 1916, and killed off the coast of Tunisia at the age of 27 during the Second World War. According to a 1945 syndicated article on “War Widows,” he married the “fair-haired, dark-eyed Helene Garber, who lost her husband … when a transport was torpedoed in 1945 … .” Several paintings in the collection dramatize their courtship and the nature of their love: “Resistance”, “I will destroy what you are,” “Thru tears she comes,” “Reflected in the crystal clearness of my soul is she.” One of the pen and ink drawings depicts a man and woman holding an infant aloft.

A remarkable and historically important collection of innovative paintings, being among the first by an ‘ordinary’ young American man to depict Jungian psychological themes and concepts. A detailed list is available upon request.

Item #412031