Gallery Edition – Winged Mercury seated on a stone cube in the pose of a messenger by Alexis Louis Pierre Housselin – 44×53 Interior Architectural Study

Curatorial Narrative The Winged Mercury seated on a stone cube in the pose of a messenger, created by Alexis Louis Pierre Housselin between 1844 and 1861, occupies a unique position within the surrealist tradition. Characterized by its linear brushwork and black-and-white palette, this work challenges the conventions of modern art historical narratives, which often privilege color and expressive gesture over representational precision. By opting for a monochromatic scheme, Housselin creates an unsettling tension between the object’s presence and the void that surrounds it, imbuing the artwork with an eerie atmospheric weight. As we scale up this print to 44×53 inches, its compositional structure takes on a more monumental quality, its spatial rhythm and chromatic structure interacting in unexpected ways. The stark black-and-white palette creates an almost palpable sense of contrast with the surrounding environment, while the linea