Harris defines surrealism as an "avant-garde movement established in the early 1920s by the French writer Andre Breton". He also states that Breton's definition of surrealism was "pure psychic automatism, by which it is intended to express verbally, in writing or in any other way, the true process of thought. It is the dictation of thought, free from the exercise of reason, and every aesthetic or moral preoccupation." He continues to explain that surrealism is "the name mainly for a group of painters whose strange and sometimes disturbing images became, and remain - ... - extremely popular." (2006, p. 313)
In the following essay, the I will be talking about one piece of work from the interwar period, and one piece of work from the post-war period. The piece of work I have chosen to discuss from the interwar period is The Lugubrious Game. This was painted in 1929, by Salvador Dali (b.1904 - d. 1989), who was a prominent Spanish surrealist. The work from the post-war period I have chosen to discuss is Jabberwocky, which was made in 1971 by the Czech film-maker and artist, Jan Svankmajer (b. 1934), who is a self-labelled surrealist.
The Lugubrious Game is a part oil painting and part collage on cardboard. It depicts a large collection of objects and stones which are raised in the air above a set of steps. Among these objects are a collection of hats, items that appear to be seashells, items that appear to be sexual in nature, or depicting genitalia, an umbrella, a grasshopper, and a hand holding a cigarette. There are also a selection of portraits, including a large profile in the centre of the painting, which leads down to an area showing multicoloured swirls, and a human backside. In the background of the painting there is a sta...
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...ctably contradictory and base," (Biles, 2007, p.75) because even when we, as the viewer, are seeing something that is considered beautiful, in reality it is still hiding something ugly under the surface.
In conclusion, in both the work from the interwar period and the work from the post-war period, we can see that surrealist art has a tendency to juxtapose the poetic and beautiful and the abject and distasteful together.
Works Cited
• Adamowicz, E. (2003). Exquisite excrement: the Bataille-Breton polemic. Available: http://www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/aurifex/issue2/adamowicz.html. Last accessed 18th Jan 2014.
• Biles, J. (2007) Ecce Monstrum: Georges Bataille and the Sacrifice of Form, USA: Fordham University Press.
• Harris, J. (2006) Art History: The Key Concepts, London: Routledge.
• Noys, B. (2000) Georges Bataille: a Critical Introduction, London: Pluto Press.
Moliere, Jean-Baptiste Poquelin. "Tartuffe." Norton Anthology of World Literature: 1650 to the present. 3RD ed. Volume D. Puchner, Akbari, Denecke, et al. New York, London: W. W Norton, 2012. 144-197. Print.
France, Marie De. Lanval. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. M.H.Abrams. New York: W.W.Norton & Company, Inc., 2000. 127-140.
Before beginning our discussion on the chosen Australian surrealists, background discussion of surrealism, its influence and impact, is necessary. Surrealism is the first international art movement in Australia. In fact, European surrealists perceive Australia as a “surrealist place” because of its vastness, its distance from the other continents and its appeal as a “down under”. When the surrealist movement b...
Due to the subjective nature of the impressionistic art and literary style, both mediums possess an ambiguous quality. According to Bernard Dunstan, in Painting Methods of the Impressionists, impressionism “has come to have overtones and associations which can obscure its true meaning,” (11). This is also true for impressionistic literature. However, Metz argues that “ambiguity surrounds the process through which the impre...
Rochette-Crawley, S. (2004) James T. Farrell. The Literary Encyclopedia. April 2, 2004. Retrieved on May 13, 2009 from http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1487
Surrealism is a form of painting that Dali started using next. The purpose of this kind of art was to mirror society and show it what was wrong with it. For example, Dali was not friendly with the aristocrats of his time, in fact he hated them. So one of his surrealist paintings showed an aristocrat with no face. This was supposed to symbolize that aristocrats did not listen to anyone. It was also during Dali's surrealist
The begging of World War II not only changed countries, economic structures and politics but also had an enormous influence on different sides of life of people and societies. Well-known from the historical experience is the fact that every single of such size as World War always has its resonance on arts, as culture is an inseparable part of people’s lives. Talking of WWII, the response within artistic communities was so strong that artists became a part of the ideological war of the time (Martin). The position of lots of creative people was at the same time very fearful, as they found themselves in occupied countries under the threat of totalitarian regimes and had to immigrate
Surrealism was considered a cultural movement of the time and started in the early 1920s. The aims of the Surrealists of this time seemed to follow day to day life and all they tried to show in their works were to target dream and reality. It targeted the inconsistent of the reality and dreams. They also aimed to target the element of surprise.
In today’s generation, Surrealism isn’t looked at, to many, as works of art with valuable back stories. They are broadly judged by the complex drawings of imaginative objects of the artist’s subconscious because they don’t make sense to simple minded viewers. In the 1920’s, Surrealism was introduced to the world. The movement had a large amount of critics because of its unique techniques of making the viewer think outside of the box. What got Surrealism it’s more positive views was the era it blossomed. The *DADA time period, where art was released at every time of the day, expressing the artists’ harsh feelings of the war. Whether it was paintings, political cartoons, or graffiti.
Surrealism, who has not heard this word nowadays? World of the dreams and everything that is irrational, impossible or grotesque, a cultural movement founded immediately after the First World War and still embraced nowadays by many artists. In order to understand it better it is necessary to look deeper into the work of two outstanding artists strongly connected with this movement, and for whom this style was an integral part of their lives.
When Dali was born in Spain, in 1904, Matisse’s masterpiece Luxe calme et volupté was shown at the first exhibition of the Fauves group. Four years before that Freud’s publication, The Interpretation of Dreams, and around this time Albert Einstein discovered relativity. Einstein’s relativity composed with Plank’s quantum quark theory destroyed the structure of the now out dated Newtonian theories. With the plexus of art and science making quick advances they were destined to collide, and with the surrealists firm approach to the scientific method, it’s seems simple to concur that the studies of Einstein and other strong nuclear physicists would have influenced the group. Looking in Dali’s Persistence of Memory and expounding on the w...
Max Ernst’s work has several dimensions and characteristics, most notably the dubious character of his illustrated worlds that have contributed to the appeal of the audiences. His prime concern was to present irresolvable isolation. As his father inspired his son a penchant for challenging the authority whilst being interested in painting and sketching nature, Ernst was motivated to take up painting himself. Moreover, he studied philosophy and psychology in 1909 at the Bonn University but also later dropped out. Most notably, during the course he visited an asylum and studied the work of the insane, a study inspired by Freud’s theory of the unconsciousness. This proved to be absolutely crucial in his development as an artist and took many ideas incorporated in Freud’s work and used them in order to identify himself – like other surrealists, he used it...
Surrealism and the surrealist movement is a ‘cultural’ movement that began around 1920’s, and is best known for its visual art works and writings. According to André Berton, the aim was “to resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream and reality into an absolute reality, a super-reality” (Breton 1969:14). Surrealists incorporated “elements of surprise, unexpected juxtapositions and ‘non sequitur”. Hence, creating unnerving, illogical paintings with photographic precision, which created strange creatures or settings from everyday real objects and developed advanced painting techniques, which allowed the unconscious to be expressed by the self (Martin 1987:26; Pass 2011:30).
Moliere, Jean-Baptise Poquelin. 'Tartuffe.' The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Ed. Maynard Mack. New York: W.W. Norton " Company, 1995. 307 -356.
Surrealism first developed in the early 1900s. 1917 is the when it first appeared. It first appeared in Paris, France. André Breton is usually referred to as the person who initiated this art movement first. He is considered the founder of surrealism. He wrote the Surrealist Manifest document. This document initiated the movement. He thought it was important for someone to understand the power of dreams. It developed during both of the World Wars. It initially started in poetry and writing and it started getting more and more popular in the art world. It was also used in a speech by the President of Council ...