"Friedrich Schröder-Sonnenstern: From Barefoot Prophet to Avant-Garde Artist"

Like many outsider artists, Friedrich Schröder-Sonnenstern (1892–1982) comes with a fascinating backstory. He was born in East Prussia, where his youth was marked by unruly behavior that earned him an incorrect diagnosis as a schizophrenic. He was essentially a dropout from society until 1919, when he reinvented himself as "Professor Dr. Eliot Gnass von Sonnenstern"—a professional quack and snake-oil salesman noted for giving away his ill-gotten gains to the poor. Thirty years later, and with no formal training, he reinvited himself once again as an artist whose fantastical colored pencil drawings won him the admiration of André Breton, Jean Dubuffet, Marcel Duchamp and other members of the avant-garde. Despite this recognition, Schröder-Sonnenstern's work remains little-known today. This show represents his first major exhibition in the Untied States