Surrealism

Taschen Basic Genre

by Cathrin Klingsöhr-Leroy, Uta Grosenick (Editor)

Dreamlike, fantastic imagery With Salvador Dalí at its mast, the great ship of Surrealism launched off into the wild and turbulent sea of the Roaring Twenties, its sails puffed full of winds blown by Sigmund Freud and André Breton. With dreamlike, fantastic imagery, the Surrealists made great, sensational waves in the art world. The influence of artists such as Dalí, Ernst, and Magritte, on 20th century film, theatre, literature, and thought is inestimable.

Featured artists
Hans Arp, Brassaï, Giorgio de Chirico, Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst, Alberto Giacometti, Paul Klee, René Magritte, André Masson,, Matta, Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso, Meret Oppenheim, and Yves Tanguy About the
Each book in TASCHEN's Basic Genre Series

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Art History, Surreal, Reference

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Tim Pendry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short guide from the now almost ubiquitous German art publishing house Taschen and it bears close comparison with the Phaidon book on the same subject available at around the same low price - http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/47...

The two works are almost perfectly complementary, especially as the overlap of illustrations is extremely small, perhaps indicating works that were at hand in the Anglo-Saxon world (Phaidon) and Continental Europe (Taschen) respectively.

Even the introductions are complementary. Phaidon's is a narrative that speaks of themes and contrasts in precisely the way that the English like, whereas the thoroughly Germanic introduction by Cathrin Klingsohr-Leroy in the Taschen volume is much more informative on the details and history of the thoroughly clubbable Surrealist circle even if it lacks the level of explanatory interpretation of the other.

The treatment of the master works is equally different but complementary but with one extremely irritating editorial error on the part of Taschen. For some thoroughly potty reason, Taschen has decided to place its pictures in alphabetical order of artist and then chronologically within each artistic portfolio. This leads to the absurdity of a 1934 work by the otherwise early figure of Arp preceding both, say, Klee, his junior, but also virtually every other work of note belonging to the school. What is it about the sort of mind that insists on alphabetizing knowledge in this way - the world is not alphabetized, it unfolds in time and space and such methods are only useful in large encyclopedia and general reference books where you think that you know where to start from the beginning!

This error of judgement (Phaidon sensibly puts the works in their chronological order) confuses all the more because the Taschen descriptions of the paintings explore context more fruitfully than Phaidon's, yet leaving the reader to scrabble around placing the art works in some sensible order in order to understand precisely what is going on.

Nevertheless, if you can make the effort to do this, the commentary is excellent. Phaidon only scores by having the same number of (different) paintings and art works on a larger format and with (in my opinion) a better, less glossy paper stock that gives more of an illusion that you are seeing the art rather than merely an illustration of it.

For an improved intellectual understanding of surrealism, choose Taschen (and make yourself work a little). For a better feeling for the art and a more leisurely approach, choose Phaidon. But with both at such low cost, you may as well get both and read them in tandem.

[Niya N · Rating 4 out of 5]

The most important intellectual concept was automatism, the graphic counterpart of free association with words, which led to the “abstract surrealism” of Masson, Miró and Arp, in which biomorphic, soft forms predominated along with sometimes extraordinary textural qualities. By contrast, the surrealism of Magritte, Tanguy and Dali, painters who only joined the movement later, was characterised by dream paintings. However the common denominator between them was their visionary poetic and metaphorical treatment of their subjects. The surrealists were striving to achieve a collective intellectual approach. The surrealists preferred meeting place was the café - their experiments in collective individuality took place in one of the typical big-city institutions that where the hallmark of the vibrant life of the French capital, anonymous and noisy, accessible to anyone at any time. The surrealists met at the Café de Flore, the Café Certâ, at Le Petit Grillon in the Passage de l’Opera or at Cyrano on the Place Blanche near Bréton’s apartment. Another café was the scene of one of the first scandals created by the surrealists, where tables were overturned, blows were exchanged and windows smashed. The incident itself is characteristic of the surrealists’ anarchistic and antibourgeois attitudes. Their actions were an attack on established bourgeois order designed to undermine all that was generally accepted and revered by respectable society. The tone of Bréton’s second manifesto published in 1929 is so mystical and speculative, it comes as no surprise that parts of the text are concerned with alchemy. Bréton regarded himself as the heir to a tradition going back to Nicholas Flamel and the 14th century alchemists. Now Surrealism was seeking the philosopher’s stone that would enable the human imagination to take brilliant revenge on the inanimate. This change of direction launched the concept of the mystical qualities of inanimate objects that typified the later phases of Surrealism. In Dali’s art this power is expressed in what has been described as three-dimensional colour photography of the superfine images of concrete irrationality entirely made by hand.
Ten years after the first manifesto, the scandals, quarrels and excesses were things of the past. Surrealism was no longer a wild rebellion but a successful revolution whose activists had achieved power. A new genre - Surrealist film - appeared on the scene in 1929 with the screening of Salvador Dali and Luis Buñuel’s L’Age door and Un chien andalou. The latter contains the famous scene in which a razor blade slices through an eyeball. serialism has been called “thought dictated in the absence of all control”. Compared with other avant-garde movements of the first half of the 20th century Surrealism was attempting to move beyond the definition of the visual image and its function. Physiological sight and the normal functioning of the eye are meaningless; imagination and the ability to look inwards are crucial.
The methods the Surrealists chose to adopt in order to exclude rationality and reason from the creative process could only play an intermediary role. They could trigger associations, fantasies and instinctive behaviour and could also include chance. However, the artist always translated these phenomena into a work of his own invention. The concept of opening up the subconscious made it possible to think differently and to analyse and undermine the “advanced civilisation” of which the Surrealists were so critical. In this sense, Surrealism has less to do with technical innovation, then with a new understanding of art. What mattered to the Surrealists was not the perfect self-contained work of art but the procedure through which it was created and the ideas it conveyed. Surrealism saw itself as a movement embracing many artistic genres - a “thought factory” whose products were based on the attempt to address social, artistic or literary problems. It was a collective experience which came to an abrupt end with the rise of Fascism and the outbreak of the Second World War when many Surrealists were forced into exile in New York. but it was impossible to recreate the atmosphere of Paris they found it hard to keep in touch with one another and missed café life. As Max Ernst later wrote, “One person alone cannot make art. It very much depends on being able to exchange ideas with others.”
Despite being excluded from the Surrealist circle because of his portraying of Hitler’s perceived eroticism, Dali was arguably the most natural and accomplished of them all, his whole ambition where painting is concerned consisting in materialising mental images of concrete irrationality.
Salvador Dali famously stated: “ it is not me who is the clown, but this monstrously cynical and so unconsciously naïve society, which plays the game of seriousness in order better to hide its madness.”
René Magritte - famous for his paintings of seemingly ordinary subjects whose real intention is to point to something hidden, a trompe l’oeil, to provoke feelings of insecurity and create an air of mystery.

[Matilde]

«o mais simples acto surrealista consiste em ir para a rua com pistolas em punho e disparar ao acaso para a multidão o mais possivel. Qualquer pessoa que nunca tenha tido o deseio de lidar desta forma com o ignóbil princípio actual da humilhação e estultificação pertence obviamente a essa multidão com a barriga à altura das balas.»
André Breton

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The structure of this book makes it very accessible. The short chapter on the development of Surrealism is a nicely paired with the second half of the text. I enjoyed reading comments from the artists and inner circle of the movement. There is great content expressed in a readable manner.

[Nxsha Lxny · Rating 5 out of 5]

very worth reading

[Tatiana Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Хорошо и интересно, а дальше можно читать и смотреть тех, кто больше понравился.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although the introduction to the movement is very short, the beautifully illustrated and analyzed artworks provide a thorough overview of a fascinating time in art.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great full color pictures and wide variety of artists. Thought the commentary was little strange at times and not really relevant.

[Grace Lopez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surrealist is a style in the visual arts and modern literature that first appeared in Paris, France after First World War. The Surrealist sought to eliminate logic along with the boundaries between the Normal and the Fantastical in which order that was to create a better world through free associative play using forces, etc.

[Francisco Becerra · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brief, concise and fascinating view to one of the most amazing art movements of the XXth century. This little tour helps to understand and get fascinated by masters like Dalí, Ernst, Magritte, Miró, amongst many others.

[Acy Varlan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cabaret Voltaire, Tristan Tzara, Dada movement,Dali,and of course, Andre Breton,
" C'est ne pas une pipe" Rene Magritte and many,many others. Well written introduction to a movement that flatters a soul.

[Natalie Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought the thin and light book in a Taschen Series about art movements. Covers all the iconic surrealists; Dali, Dada, Cabaret Voltaire, Andre Breton and the political, cultural, and social events that influenced each artist.

[Jesse · Rating 5 out of 5]

GREAT timeline! learned everything i need to know about Surrealism, aside from historical context and role in European worldview (but thanks to Humanities 2b for that!)

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Taschen's series are always great resources. Tidbits of information for the scholar or the interested.

[Eric]

Petite collection Taschen sympa. Celui sur Jackson Pollock est pas mal aussi. Ca donne envie d'aller se faire qq musées à Berlin, Bâle et Munich !

[Vanya]

"Звучи среднощният час на изкуството. Изящните изкуства са отхвърлени."

[Tamara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good taste is creativity's worst enemy!