Mexican-French artist Alice Rahon (1904–1987) may not be as well-known as Leonora Carrington, Frida Kahlo, and other Surrealists who worked in Mexico. However, her star is swiftly ascending, as her first US solo exhibition in more than forty-five years at Gallery Wendi Norris made clear. The seventeen pieces on display revealed the extraordinary arc of a career that is almost impossible to categorize. Bringing her shape-shifting vision to bear, Rahon created poetics, cave art, and geometric abstraction to create works of incandescent mystery.

The French-born artist didn’t begin to paint until