Dada And Surrealism for Beginners

For Beginners

by Joseph Lee, Peter Bethanis

The unapologetically mad mood and tone of Dada and Surrealism began as a response to the horrors of World War I. From entering a urinal in an art competition to declaring their own Pope to creating a telephone from a lobster, the Dadas and Surrealists -- Tzara, Arp, Duchamp, Dali, Man Ray, and others -- defied convention, sneered at traditional sensibilities, and embraced, even flaunted, nihilism. This colorful overview examines the art, artists, legendary pranks, and philosophical underpinnings of two of the most irreverent, imaginative movements in 20th century art, as well as their continuing influence on contemporary art and culture.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction

200 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2007

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. This profile may contain books from multiple authors of this name.

Other authors writing under this name are:

Joseph Lee, Recreation advocate
Joseph Lee, War poet
Joseph Lee, born 1942
Joseph Lee, born 1975
Joseph Lee, M.D., Surgeon

Reviews

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Salad with AMOEBAS soaked in butter...diamonds hidden in ice; go check the frozen lake until you freeze! Gold roasted cinnamon flakes inlayed on a CRAB...and where does the SPARROW go when winter gets cold! If poor Yorick were Hamlet would Hamlet let him kiss his SKULL? (sorry - could not resist - great introduction to this important movement).

[Singleton Makin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good visual overview as the illustration makes it more about the extreme views these art movements had similar but yet different and at the same time it really explains in short creative ways why these movements were able to take form due to social economic issues and the shock of war and later the need for extreme escape in the subconscious. I find it very strange that I want to try to identify with the Dada movement as they wanted to be apart of any ‘movement’ because today everything is pigeon holed by genre or generation and everyone claims to be different yet they fit into some group. Even the most nonconformist goth emo groups look the same in dress , language and music and art. Hmmm. Surrealism I don’t think I yet fully understand as I cannot understand Dali being so full of himself yet was he being humorous or was this the translation in English? Also I recommend reading other works besides this one like the book by Salvador Dali “50 Secrets of Magic Craftsmanship” as it goes into extreme detail which reveals just how much a lifestyle it is to be surrealist. To life as a Dada today would be difficult because technology makes everyone on a level playing field and trying to mask yourself or be strange and random makes you just seem avant-garde which is another overused word for Art Nerd. Art Nerds are better than everyone else but they like the Emperor wearing new clothes but nude .....Instagram is Dada, TikTok is Dada. Because everyone wears a mask yet we see them holding their phones in selfies.....the idiocy is reality. Reality is Dada for that matter and Narcissism is the new Dada.

[Michael P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good intro to Dada and Surrealism, more informative than the 1 book on Dada and the 5 (including 4 monographs) I read on Surrealism, because this book concentrates on the movements more than on individual voices. This gives context to later understand those voices. Before, it was more a matter of what Dali or Magritte thought, and not the ideas they took into their own expressions.

The comics format makes this book seem like a minor work and perhaps it is, but it helped me to really, “get it.” The major flaw, though, is the comics format. Most art is reillustrated by Joseph Lee rather than represented by photos of the original works. Lee has a good feel for the originals, but line illustrations of photographs and paintings are just too removed from the original to truly convey its flavor. I'm sure that budget was an issue here, but this is problem enough to bring the book down from 5 to 4 stars.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first encountered learning about Dada and Surrealism in my grade 12 art class. I was assigned to do some research on it as everyone in the class had a different art history movement to work on. Let's just say I didn't try very hard :S I saw this book in the library, and it reminded me of that time and I thought, "why not give it a read, maybe I'll learn more than I tried to back then", and it seemed much more accessible to learn and retain that learning in a graphic novel form, and IT WAS!! So much easier! And it was really interesting to read about!! It was really cool to read and understand where the movement came about and how it really relates to me and our world now and how art is viewed and created. So yeah, I thought it was a great look into Dada and Surrealism in a concise manner. I would recommend this to any one wanting to learn a bit more about some art history.

[Cypress Butane · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's neat to think that all the stupid crap that people post on the internet like memes and pop culture characters in various off-canon wonderlands can pretty much be considered a direct descendant of things like situationist art and pop-surrealism. The last bit of this book on those art movements made me realize that.

[Ietrio · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book qualifies into the "nice try" category. In an era of information flow and with sites like Wikipedia it is probably irrelevant. And the cartoons are ugly.

[Levi Czentye · Rating 4 out of 5]

1.
Duchamp was making a bold statement: Art didn’t have to come from the academy or be part of an academic study, it didn’t have to be “pretty,” and it did not have to represent anything. The artist’s eye, choosing something, made it art. (P.51)
2.
One needs to understand that this was a furious generation that had lost millions of young men, and must have been exceedingly difficult to believe in any power structures or institutions of the times. Perhaps, too, Dada meant that the young people were asserting a freedom of thought and individual expression during a time when freedoms seemed severely limited or perhaps even in danger of disappearing altogether. (P.87)
3.
Keep reminding yourself that literature is one of the saddest roads that leads to everything. - Breton (p.118)

[Randy Ades · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good intro into Dadaism and surrealistm

This is good but I cursory introduction into the Dadaist and Surrealist art movements and their corresponding arists. Clearly written and cleverly illustrated read. I would have preferred something deeper and more scholarly.

[J.Istsfor Manity · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yes, for beginners, but still entertaining and has the added benefit of the graphic illustrations.

[TrumanCoyote · Rating 3 out of 5]

Got off to a nicely wacky--and thus thematic--start. But all that feminist stuff toward the end lent a jarringly bourgeois note to the proceedings (otherwise I'd have given the thing four stars). At least they did mention punk rock (which was after all a fairly blatant continuation of the "tradition"). If only they had mentioned The Addams Family (and for that matter, tree goats).

[Taf Mupfumi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun 2hours