Surrealism Theater, Art, Ideas

by Sandrow N

The lively young artists of the Surrealist Movement shocked Paris in the 1920's with the first strong statement of many tendencies which still drive the avant-garde today. They centered art in the artist's identity while including spectators in the act of creation; denied distinctions between life and art, sense and nonsense; and conceived not only drama and film, but also painting, poetry, and music as theatrical performance. Historical Background; Dada and Surrealism; The Artist; The Art; The Audience. paintings and sculpture, performance photos, film stills. Bibliography, appendices. Original translation of Surrealist play.

124 pages, Textbook Binding

First published January 1, 1972

Reviews

[Amber Hull · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surrealism: Theatre, Arts, and Ideas, written by Nahma Sandrow, a scholar of theatre, cultural history and author of many books, highlights the historical background of Surrealism and touches upon all aspects of the movement, including the art, the artists and the role of the viewer in making sense of art. Each part of the movement is explored with extensive insight and includes comparisons to the artistic movement of Dada, which surrealism emerged from. The book begins by examining extremely negative reactions from the public towards the Eiffel tower in Paris and then transitions into the views of the young Surrealists, who showed much love and affection towards the tower. The book then explains that the Surrealists were the first to introduce the idea of seeing the universe without logical order. The Surrealists concentrated on the expression of “self,” and this awareness became increasingly influenced by society’s expressions of irrational twentieth-century experiences such as World War I. The movement from Dada to Surrealism was a major transition from negative to positive: surrealists believed in joy, whereas Dada was more embodied by sullenness.
According to Sandrow, the Surrealists were all young men, who in order to understand and create art, had to work and live normal lives. She gives an example of an artist’s day, beginning with their breakfast and narrating their lives until it ended with the creation of artwork. We can see through this narration that their minds are ever changing. To achieve these open-minded thoughts, many had to tap into their psyches and dreams in order to access their subconscious, often drug inducing themselves to do so. As the Surrealists artists began to intensely express themselves, audiences too began to display many different reactions. Surrealists were not always aiming for a cosmic experience, though, for their images and acts often attacked viewers in a way that operates on the level of surprise—constantly changing and freshening the viewers curiosity, which is something surrealism is notorious for. The relationship between artist and viewer was to have a connection to the impulse of the piece and intensify the moment.
Before reading this book, I knew that tapping into the unconscious was an experience often induced by drugs or through dreams, but, I never realized to what extent surrealist artists relied on these kinds of methods, and it was really an eye-opener to me. The book speaks about the ideology of Surrealism and how they used dreams to express their beliefs. They believed that dreams perfectly captured the inexplicable. Surrealism was believed to be all-inclusive, meaning that the essence of the universe is readily available and accessible to all men.
I also think the book does a wonderful job with the historical introduction about the Eiffel tower and how the public eye at first was very hesitant to accept it because it was futuristic and completely different than what everyone was use to. But as the Surrealists began to show love for the tower, it brought a new and supportive view, which began to slowly change the public’s opinion. The book talks about World War I and how traumatizing and damaging it was for the world to try and rationalize such a terrible event. Because the war brought much depression and anxiety, as a coping mechanism many began to adopt the idea of surrealism. The book is very effective in taking important points in history and connecting them to different flourishing points of surrealism.
Theatre is also extensively reviewed, which is something I didn’t really know was a part of surrealism before reading the book. The movement was more than just paintings and sculptures—much of it was an act, a whole embodied emotional experience. Theater and dreams were a crucial key in the foundation of surrealism. They both employ components from the human imagination and of the subconscious. Theater was used as a method for communicating thoughts and ideas in a creative setting—things that tend to originate from dreams themselves.
Although a bit outdated, the book has a good overview of the different emotions that were directed towards surrealism. It shows a clear progression in the movement beginning with the initial denial and rejection and ending with a newfound appreciation. The book breaks down many different pieces of surrealist art and ideas, putting them into different components by explaining how each piece and part may have been created. Finally, and very importantly, the book goes into great detail about the relationship between the artist and the audience. For these preceding reasons, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who would like to know more about the history of surrealism. It was well written and gave many examples of artists in their time period and connected it to specific art pieces and theatrical productions.