Susana and the Old Man

In 1931, Berni returned to the country after almost six years in Europe, where he had begun work on a series of paintings inspired by French surrealism and the Italian metaphysical school. The next year, he exhibited a group of those works, which made use of magazine clippings, postcards, and photographs, at the Asociación Amigos del Arte, an institution with great influence on the local scene. Viewers and critics alike were perplexed by a show they did not understand; three of the eighteen works were taken down in an act of censorship. Susana y el viejo was one of the works on exhibit. The collage is inspired by a biblical story about an innocent and God-fearing young woman accused of adultery by two elderly judges in Babylon—the judges had, in fact, molested her. The woman is ultimately saved by the prophet Daniel. In Berni’s work, the woman figure—her face a photograph of Greta Garbo—is observed by an aristocrat donning elegant suit and well-groomed moustache and hiding in the dark on the left side of the canvas. To heighten the dramatic effect, Berni challenged “good taste” with an oversized composition in clashing colors.