Surrealism Research Task

Artists: Andre Breton (1896-1966): A French writer and poet, best known as the â€Å"Founder of Surrealism†. Rene © Emigrate (1898-1967): A Belgian Surrealist artist who became well known for his witty and thought-provoking images that challenges observers' preconditioned perceptions of reality. Marcel Decamp (1887-1968): A French- American painter, sculptor and writer who challenged conventional thought about artistic processes and art marketing through subversive actions.He famously dubbed a urinal art and named it Fountain. Max Ernst (1891- 1976): A German painter and sculptor who was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and Surrealism, and famous for his declaiming works. Man Ray (1890-1976): an American modernist artist best known for his experimental photography and as creator of the Ray-O- Graph. Joan Mirror (1893-1983): Catalan Spanish painter, sculptor, and ceramicist known for his childlike, colorful paintings and as the inventor of automatic drawing.Giorgio De C horizo (1888-1978): A Greek-born Italian artist who founded the Metaphysical art movement, characterized by his dreamlike works with sharp entrants of light and shadow which often had a vaguely threatening, mysterious quality. Yves Tangy (1900-1955): A French surrealist painter known for his nonrepresentational surrealist paintings which of vast, abstract landscapes, mostly in a tightly limited palette of colors. Salvador Dali (1904-1989): A Spanish surrealist painter best known for the striking and bizarre images in his surrealist work.Friday Kohl (1907-1954): A Mexican painter, not strictly part of the surrealist movement, best known for her self-portraits which offer an uncompromising depiction of the female experience and form. M ©ret Oppenheim (1913-1985): a German-born Swiss, Surrealist artist, and photographer, best known for her sculpture series of a teacup, saucer and spoon covered with fur from a Chinese gazelle. James Gleeson (191 5 -2008): An Australian artist best kno wn for his works that delved into the subconscious using literary, mythological or religious subject matter. 2.Andre Breton surrounded himself with a group of artists with similar interests and together they formed the concept of surrealism. The social relationships between these prominent surrealist artists were important to their art making as hey collaborated with each other and received feedback and ideas from each other. Breton was especially important as he was the leader of the surrealists, and it was under his guidance and charisma that they created their art, and developed the idea of surrealism. It has also been said that at times the group was only held together by the personality of Breton. . The initial response to surrealism was that the wider public did not understand it, or were shocked and offended by it. Art critics made fun of it and saw it as very poor. Despite this the movement soon gained a devoted following and audience. . Surrealism can be defined as a 20th-c entury literary and artistic movement, developed from Dadaism that attempts to express the workings of the subconscious and is characterized by fantastic imagery and incongruous Juxtaposition of subject matter. Two Surrealist Manifestos were issued by the Surrealist movement, in 1924 and 1929.They were both written by And © Breton. The First Manifesto defined Surrealism as: â€Å"Psychic automatism in its pure state, by which one proposes to express verbally, by meaner of the written word, or in any other manner the actual functioning of thought. Dictated by the thought, in the absence of any control exercised by reason, exempt from any aesthetic or moral concern. † Group of 20th century surrealists The Surrealists wished to create art that was completely free of rational thought or censorship.They promoted freedom of expression and art that was not limited or altered by personal or societal morals or decorum. They were attempting to spark a revolution in consciousness that would â€Å"change life† and society. 5. Surrealism started in Paris, with the first Manifesto being released in 1924. Although principally literary to begin with, the movement quickly expanded into the usual arts (Breton courted Picasso assiduously, to no avail), and its first painting show – La Painter Surrealists – was staged at Galleries Pierre in 1925. The movement continued to thrive in Paris during the late sass.The movement was introduced to the international stage during the sass with major shows in Brussels, Copenhagen, London, New York and Paris. It rapidly became a worldwide popular phenomenon with branches in England, Czechoslovakia, Belgium, Egypt, Denmark, Japan, the Netherlands, Romania and Hungary. Between 1930 and 1935, Salvador Dali and Rene Margarita produced some of their most memorable works and helped establish the usual style of Surrealism. By 1939, many of the major surrealists, including Andre Breton, Max Ernst and Andre Manson, had re located to the United States so as to avoid the impact of World War II in France.After World War II, Andre Breton returned to Paris, though society mood of post-war depression was not receptive to the whimsical style of Surrealism. Despite this, major surrealist exhibitions were held in Paris in 1947 and 1959, and surrealist ideas and techniques made their mark on many of the post-war art movements. There is no clear agreement about the end of Surrealism. Some art experts consider that it dissolved after the war; others mark the death of And © Breton in 1966 or Salvador Dali in 1989 as the end of Surrealism as an organized movement. 6.Surrealism started in Paris by Andre Breton, and quickly grew as a movement to accommodate many different artists in Paris. Just prior to World War II, a number of significant Surrealist artists moved together to New York to avoid the impacts of war, and Surrealism became a popular movement in the U. S. A. Also, while there was no organized surrealis t movement in Australia, many Australian artists adopted the style ruing the sass's. 7. Surrealism came about as a movement due to many factors and surrealist artists were influenced by many different sources.The surrealist movement grew from Dadaism, but had a more positive take on Dadaism fundamentally negative message. The most prominent intellectual influence on the idea of Surrealism was the theories of Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), the neurologist and founder of psychoanalysis. Andre Breton and other surrealists were very impressed with Fraud's insights into the unconscious, which they thought would be a major source of untapped pictures and imagery. They used his theories to get past the boundaries between fantasy and reality.Surrealist artists were also rebelling against bourgeois society acceptance of the horrors of war and their general complacency towards social, cultural, and political issues. The Surrealists wished to shock, offend or provoke a reaction in society in an at tempt to make them think more about their conforming to society expectations and acceptance of their nation's governance without question. They were attempting to spark a revolution in consciousness that would â€Å"change life† and society. A section of The Garden of Earthly Delights, by Hieronymus Busch A section of The Garden of Earthly Delights, by Hieronymus Busch 8.Surrealist artists got their inspiration from various prior movements and artists. The Surrealists wanted to create art that was marvelous and mystical. The detailed fantasies of Hieronymus Busch (1453-1516) and the menacing engravings of prisons by Giovanni Battista Praises (1720-1778) were significant sources of inspiration. In terms of nineteenth century styles, surrealists thought Impressionism too naturalistic, and preferred Pre-Raphael and Symbolist works, such as the astigmatism etchings and strange paintings by Max Clinger (1857-1920), and the vivid Oceanic primitivism of Paul Gauguin.Aside from Dada, two other significant painting style influences on Surrealism were the 19th century Symbolism movement, and the Italian school of Metaphysical Painting, originated by Giorgio De Chorizo. Surrealists also got inspiration from several different writers. One such writer the surrealists claimed they owed much inspiration from was Gallinule Billionaire, who compose hallucinated, luminescent poetry and also who provided the name for the surrealist movement. Other writers included the Gothic 18th century English authors, whose novels depicted mysterious happenings, cruelty, madness and eroticism. . Surrealist artists use numerous techniques to provide inspiration for their imaginative artworks. Many of these are said to free imagination by producing a creative process free of conscious control. The importance of the unconscious as a source of inspiration is central to the nature of surrealism. Popular techniques include: Frontage: a method of creation in which one takes a pencil or other drawing tool and makes a â€Å"rubbing† over a textured surface. The drawing can either be left as is or used as the basis for further refinement. Invented by Max Ernst in 1925.Declaiming: A process of spreading thick paint upon a canvas then?while it is still wet?covering it with further material such as paper or aluminum foil. This covering is then removed (again before the paint dries), and the resultant paint pattern becomes the basis of the finished painting. Involuntary Sculpture: Surrealism describes as â€Å"involuntary sculpture† those made by absent-minded manipulating something, such as rolling and unrolling a movie ticket, bending a paper clip etc. Photometer: The making of a composite picture by cutting and Joining a number of photographs.Automatic Drawing: Invented by Andre Manson, Joan Mirror, and Paul Sleek, the technique of automatic drawing involved using a pen or other drawing instrument and letting it wander over the page without any conscious plann ing. Exquisite corpse: a method by which a collection of words or images are collectively assembled. It is played like a game in which players wrote or drew on a section of paper, folded it to conceal part of the writing or drawing, and then passed it to the next player for them to continue it on.Paranoiac-critical method: a technique invented by Salvador Dali in which the artist invokes a paranoid state (fear that the self is being manipulated, targeted or controlled by others). The result is a deconstruction of the psychological concept of identity, so that subjectivity becomes the main aspect of the artwork. Found Object: art created from undisguised, but often modified, objects or products that are not normally considered art, often because they already have a non-art function. 10. Many experiences and events from their culture or era influenced the surrealist artist's art practice.Salvador Dalais artworks often included symbols of war and violence, in reference to the war brewi ng in his home country of Spain. He also often included soft objects such as the clocks in The Persistence of Memory' or his self portraits, which were most likely influenced by Dalais feelings towards his own impotence. Max Ernst is well known for his absurd illustrations cut out of books of grotesque hybrids of humans and birds, an ongoing theme in Errant's work throughout his life due to the childhood trauma of his pet cockatoo dying night his sister was born.Rene Margarita's works featuring people with cloths covering their faces is said to have been influenced by the state Margarita's mother was found in after committing suicide by drowning-with her dress covering her face. Marcel Duchess's Futurism inspired piece The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even (The Large Glass) was inspired by a performance of the stage adaptation of Recourse's novel Impressions diffuser which Decamp attended in 1912. 1 1 .The surrealists were rebelling against what its members saw as the destr uction brought on by the â€Å"rationalism† of European culture and politics in the past and had deed to the horrors of World War l. They were also rebelling against many conditions of their culture, such the complacency of bourgeois society, sexual repression, as well as current political theories or figures such as capitalism, Fascism, and fascist leaders such as Doll Hitler and Franco. Margarita's Treachery of Images (This is not a pipe) 12.Surrealist artists intended to revolutionize the human experience, by freeing people from what they viewed as false rationality, and restrictive customs and social structures. As Andre Breton claimed, the true aim of Surrealism is â€Å"long live the social evolution, and it alone! â€Å". For example, Margarita's â€Å"The Treachery of images [This is not a pipe)† aimed to challenge the linguistic convention of identifying an image of something as the thing itself, and was a reaction to the â€Å"Rationalism† that surre alists believed led Europe into World War l.Margarita intentions in creating his work â€Å"The Rape†, which depicts a woman's head with breasts and genitals on the face instead of facial features, was to comment on the common view of women at this time as simply compromised objects that exist only for male satisfaction. Duchess's intentions in reading his artwork â€Å"fountain† which was a urinal laid flat on its back rather than it usual upright position, was to challenge society and the art world's idea of what was or what could be art.He wanted to bring about the idea that art did not have to be created by the artist, it could simply be an everyday object selected by the artist and altered so it no longer had a practical use. 13. Many of the Surrealist artists developed a trademark style, technique or motif that appeared throughout their works. Joan Mirror has become well known for his colorful, biomorphic forms, roughly metric shapes, and barely recognizable obje cts expressed in multiple media, from ceramics and engravings to large bronze installations.Yves Tansy's artworks usually feature vast, abstract landscapes, mostly in a limited palette of colors, only occasionally showing flashes of contrasting colors. Typically, in these alien landscapes are various abstract shapes, sometimes like shards of glass, sometimes like giant amoebae. Man Rays trademark was that of rich photographs depicting nude women who exuded a sense of subtle eroticism as well as strength and strangeness. His nudes were also often in interesting positions or posed with objects to add to the sinister tone.De Chorizo was known for his use of motifs?empty arcades, towers, elongated shadows, mannequins, and trains among others?that he arranged to create â€Å"images of forlornness and emptiness† that also convey a feeling of â€Å"power and freedom†. Salvador Dali used many symbols in his works. The motif of the â€Å"burning giraffe† in many of his p aintings represented a premonition of war, his roaring Siberian tigers symbolized Dalais wife Gala when angered, the wooden crutch homebodies death and resurrection as well as possibly impotence, and grasshoppers were symbols of decay. 14. Art Practice refers to the way in which an artist creates their artworks.The two predominant styles of practice in surrealism was the technique of abstract surrealism, often with the use of automatism, or the realistic, dream-like form of surrealism. Joan Mirror became well-known for his use of automatism, while Salvador Dali gained worldwide success for his realistic, dreamboats paintings. Salvador DALi Soft self-portrait with grilled bacon 1941 oil on canvas 1. Xx. 0 CM Salvador DALi Salvador Dali was born May 1 1, 1904 in Figures, Spain. From an early age Dali was encouraged to create art and later went on to study art at an academy in Madrid.During his studies, he was influenced by several different artistic styles, including Metaphysics and C ubism. In the sass's Dali went to Paris and began interacting with Picasso, Emigrate, and Mirror. During his time in Paris, Dali painted a number of works that displayed Picasso influence, and did much experimentation with his art, leading to his first Surrealist phase in 1929. He created oil paintings which were small collages of his dream images. His work employed a meticulous classical technique, influenced by Renaissance artists, which contradicted the â€Å"unreal dream† setting he created with strange hallucinatory figures.Even before this period of his art, Dali was an avid reader of Sigmund Fraud's psychoanalytic theories. As his style matured, Dalais works became more and more affected by Freud and were increasingly shaped into dreamlike illustrations. In 1929, Dali met the Russian Gala, who would become his wife and muse. By 1930, Salvador Dali had become a tortuous figure in the Surrealist movement, with his painting The Persistence of Memory (1931) being produced to much acclaim. The painting shows melting pocket watches in a landscape setting.As war approached in Europe, specifically in Spain with the rise of the fascist leader Franco, Dali clashed with members of the Surrealist movement. In a â€Å"trial† held in 1934, he was expelled from the group, but that did not prevent him from continuing his painting, which took on a technical brilliance combining meticulous detail with fantastic and limitless imagination. Joan Mirror The Nightingale's Song at Midnight and the Morning Rain 1940 Joan Mirror (1893-1983) was a world renowned Spanish Catalan painter, sculptor and ceramist who was born in Barcelona.Mirror moved to Paris at an early age, where he began to develop his unconventional style of art making. He soon became known in the art world as a Surrealist because of his love for automatism and the use of sexual symbols in much of his work. Joan Mirror was against the established painting methods of the time, and is often said to ha ve been the founder of automatic drawing. During his career, Joan Mirror experimented with many different types of art arm, refusing to commit to one artistic movement, even experimenting with tapestry.Joan Mirror also began to delve into other aspects of media, including ceramics and window paintings. At the time of his death, Joan Mirror was bedridden from heart disease and respiratory complications. He died at his home in Palm, Mallory on December 25th, 1983. He is buried in his home town of Barcelona, near a museum that is dedicated entirely to his work. Today, his works are displayed in museums and galleries all over the world, and sell for anywhere between $250,000 and $17 million. By Lucy McKnight