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Interpreting MoMA: The Surrealist Book

November 5 @ 5:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Free

Please join us for The Museum of Modern Art’s bimonthly program welcoming individuals who are Deaf or hard of hearing to participate in an ASL–interpreted private gallery talk focusing on one of MoMA’s special exhibitions, along with a wine and snack reception.

In November, we will explore The Surrealist Book: Tomorrow Lives in Mirrors with the curatorial team. The exhibition showcases a trove of rare artists’ books including special editions printed on unusual papers or enhanced with supplementary materials, unique maquettes and singular sketchbooks filled with collages and fantastical drawings, sculptural bindings that turn books into hybrid, interactive artworks, and much more. Whether sparking disquiet or delight, books, the Surrealists insisted, “are doors.” Whoever “opens them is immediately thrown into a higher realm.”

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Audience (by age)
Adults (Ages 18 and up)
Program Image Caption
Ray Johnson. Th Thee for and Lai Book. c. 1955. Book with cut-and-pasted printed, colored, and metallic paper and hand-lettered text in ink on irregularly shaped paper leaves, some with cutout holes, foldout flaps, synthetic leather, and partially erased handwritten text in pencil; cover with cut-and-pasted printed, colored, and metallic paper on paper over boards. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Helen and Sam Zell © 2026 Ray Johnson Estate / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Program Image Description
A book lies open displaying two pages of collaged images and paper cutouts. At the center is a black and white photograph of Marilyn Monroe below the handwritten text “you’re having a ball?” At the center of the right page is a newsprint cutout of James Dean above the text “i like cars”. Along the right edge is a partial black and white photograph above a fragment of text. On the center of the left page is a golden metallic rectangular paper with smaller white square sections of text “this little golden book belongs to Remy Charlip”. Along the left edge is a cutout of Venus from the painting The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli. Pairs of circles in various colors are collaged on the top and bottom edges of both pages.

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