SURREALIST MOVEMENT

SURREALISM








SURREALIST MOVEMENT

The surrealist movement was founded by Andre Breton, at first surrealism was a literary movement it consisted of poetry and writing in where it manifested itself in a juxtaposition of words that was unanticipated because it was determined by a psychological, unconscious, non logical thought processes. It made no rational sense and in turn this made it very difficult for some people to comprehend because the writer's focus was more on the associations and implications of the words then their literal meanings.
The movement became official in Paris when Breton published his manifesto of surrealism in 1924. In the manifesto he defines surrealism as "Pure psychic automatism, by which it is intended to express, verbally, in writing, or by other means, the real process of thought. Thought's dictation, in the absence of all control exercised by the reason and outside all aesthetic or moral preoccupations". (Breton, 1924)
Developed from Dadaism, Surrealism was a reaction to the first world war and the chaos and senseless destruction which followed it. To those who embraced it surrealism was far more than an art movement it became a way of life. A rebellion aimed to revolutionize human experience, designed to shock bourgeois attitudes and its personal, cultural, social, and political aspects. Targeted at family, nationalism and religion, being frameworks of a stable society in order to free people from what they saw as false rationality, and restrictive customs and structures. Although the surrealists were nonconformist they were not as extreme as their predecessors (Dada) and where often associated with anarchism and communism.
Breton saw the unconscious as the source of the imagination, as Sigmund Freud would say “A dream that is not interpreted is like a letter that is not opened,” (Moffat). Surrealism was heavily influenced on theories adapted from Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, who wanted to explain how the mind worked through an analysis of the symbols in dreams. Surrealism was a means of reuniting conscious and unconscious realms of experience entirely so the world of dream and desire would be joined to the everyday rational world in an absolute reality. The surrealist's would make an artistic depiction of a dream, the artist would re-create the dream as it came to them, allowing various images that are not rational and may not make sense, to exist in one place. For example Dali's "The Persistence of Memory" obviously, this image depicts something that could never really take place in reality. It may be a subconscious message or memory of something that truly did happen in reality and has somehow triggered a connection or event in a dream that make sense to the artist. Only the dreamer can truly explain the meaning behind their dream, but as a viewer it is interesting to question the meaning behind it.
One of the techniques which surrealists experimented with was automatism, the form of creating without conscious control. The purpose of this was to break into unconscious imagery. Some Surrealists would often drink, take drugs or starve themselves in order to achieve a state in which they hallucinate. By doing so it opened the door to the unconscious mind and allowed them to take a dream like form while being awake.
Salvador Dali, was along with Rene Magritte, Frida Kahlo, Man Ray and Max Ernst, one of the most famous Surrealist artists, He was known for his eccentric art which complimented his personality. Dali’s art was known for its realistic qualities, he often used symbolic images to suggest his subconscious. His paintings were odd, influenced by his dreams and his fears this is evident in many of his works for example Dali would use ants to symbolise death, because when he was a boy his pet bat was eaten alive by ants. Dali rejected induced sleep used by other surrealists and like some created his own technique which he called the paranoiac-critical method, this helped the ability of the brain to perceive links between things which rationally are not linked. Even though he is one of the best know surrealist artists, Dali over political beliefs, came into conflict with his fellow Surrealists and was expelled from the Surrealist group, by Breton who felt that he had become too commercial. Dali's response to this was "Surrealism is me."(Urton, n.d.) Breton then made up an anagram by which he referred to Dali as "Avida Dollars," and the Surrealists criticized him from this time onwards talked about him in past tense, as if he were dead. Despite his shameless self-promotion, the particular style and realistic detail of his paintings made him one of the best.
Another pioneer of their own techniques was Max Ernst he was also involved in the dada movement and was one of the primary artists that helped develop Surrealism. Ernst invented a graphic art technique called frottage which uses pencil rubbings of objects as a foundation of images. He and Joan Miró also created another technique called grattage in which dry paint is scraped off the canvas. doing so reveals imprints of the objects placed beneath. Ernst also investigated the technique of decalcomania which involves pressing paint between two surfaces.
Rene Magritte, is also a well known surrealist. Magritte was quite the opposite to that of Dali and his personality. He lived a "normal" life, Though connected to the movement, he preferred working at home in his dining-room, and in a well dressed suit. regardless of his bourgeois lifestyle, his works are surprising in their sense of fantasy and surreal reality. "The Lovers" I believe is a visual metaphor of the idea that love is blind. Magritte constantly challenged any presumptions about reality, His works contain extraordinary juxtapositions of normal objects or an unusual background that gives new meaning to familiar things, his work made me question reality, and ask what if? A true surrealist. He often used the window frame as a suggestion of the fantasy in our reality, for a painting in itself can be seen as a window on some other world. The concept of someone looking into a mirror to see the back of their own head also plays tricks with the mind.
I am quite captivated with the idea of surrealism and I believe the movement has influenced graphic design. Surrealism introduced new techniques to the world in order to create new art and revolutionize society it also added a dream factor to visual communications. I feel surrealism contributed greatly to the symbolic and interpretation aspect of graphic design, and helped to approach work in different ways. It allowed designers to not only be inspired by their dreams, but to take them and make them exist (on paper and reality in possible cases).
Surrealism was an innovation that opened the doors to a style of art that the world had never seen before. Abnormal techniques were used to paint and interpret images of the subconscious and the dream world. Despite the fact that many Surrealist artists used traditional means of painting, the art was not traditional at all with a mix of metaphors and meanings. This art received a great deal of rejection by the art world, but was accepted in time and eventually spread across the globe and it has influenced artistic practices from painting and sculpture to pop music and film directing.
Though Surrealists didn't revolutionized society as extremely as they had hoped, they did leave a permanent mark on the world, in particular art and literacy. The surrealist movement remains a foundation of artistic inspiration.
 


 
Reference List:
 McNeese, Tim. (2006). Salvador Dali: The Great Hispanic Heritage.
 Haslam, Malcolm. (1978). The Real World Of The Surrealists.
 Moffat, Charles Alexander. (n.d.). "The Origins of Surrealism". In Lilith Gallery. Retrieved from http://www.lilithgallery.com/arthistory/surrealism/Origins-of-Surrealism.html
 "Surrealism." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. In Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved from http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-surreali.html
 "Surrealism". (2010). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/575336/Surrealism
 "surrealism.org". (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.surrealism.org/
 "Surrealism". (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.surrealist.com/
 "ANDRÉ BRETON, from Manifesto of Surrealism 1924". (n.d.). Retrieved from http://andrebreton.org/manifestosurrealism1924.html
 "SURREALIST ART". (2005, updated 2007). Retrieved from http://www.cnac-gp.fr/education/ressources/ENS-Surrealistart-EN/ENS-Surrealistart-EN.htm
 "Surrealism and Marxism". (2006). Retrieved from http://libcom.org/forums/thought/surrealism-marxism-02032006
 KENNEDY, MAEV. (2007). "How the surrealists sold out". The Guardian, p11. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2007/mar/28/topstories3.artnews
 HOFMANN, IRENE E. "Documents of Dada and Surrealism: Dada and Surrealist Journals in the Mary Reynolds Collection". In Ryerson and Burnham Libraries, The Art Institute of Chicago. Retrieved from http://www.artic.edu/reynolds/essays/hofmann3.php
 The lovers, 1928, Rene Magritte. https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0YN-iU5N-T_raa6knFgpbgHbN1oJhRYRly6phT9eIpt4ZY-7cXX4u4ewa9dmfbD6sU4etw740aa2NInZZP73Td_K4tIVm6RlhhhCyLl68XHMSxAAb2IjHc_jEZLPnraOdgg3yidLsbuwb/s1600/lovefaraway_calvino.jpg
 The Persistence of Memory, 1931, Salvador Dali.
http://www.closedfast.com/images/the_persistence_of_memory_1931_salvador_dali.jpg
 Mujer de cabello largo, 1929, Man Ray. http://www.clubcultura.com/clubfoto/expovalencia/img/man_ray.jpg
 Swans Reflecting Elephants, 1937, Salvador Dali. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f6/Swans_reflecting_elephants.jpg
 Urton, Robin. (n.d.). "Surrealism". Retrieved from http://robinurton.com/history/surrealism.htm
 Ries, Martin. (1991). "Salvador Dali". In Martin Ries. Retrieved from http://www.martinries.com/article1991SD.htm