Surrealism USA

by Michael Duncan, Scott Rothkopf

While Surrealism became unfashionable in Europe in the 1930s, it enjoyed increasing popularity across the Atlantic at the same time. Surrealism USA, the catalogue to the exhibition of the same name at the National Academy of Design, traces the history of this movement in the United States from the 1930s to the 1950s by examining its manifestations throughout the country--from Social Surrealism and California Post-Surrealism to Magic Realism and the beginning of Abstract Expressionism. It chronicles the wide influence of Dalí on American art, the Surrealists' response to war and fascism, and the relationship between Surrealism and abstract art. With over 100 paintings, sculptures, prints and drawings, this definitive survey brings together the work of American artists like Joseph Cornell, Peter Blume, Kay Sage, Isamu Noguchi, Arshile Gorky, and Jackson Pollock--with that of Europeans in exile during World War II, including Salvador Dalí, Yves Tanguy, André Masson and Max Ernst.

Genres: Art

192 pages, Hardcover

First published March 15, 2005

About the author

Michael Duncan, a critic and independent curator, is a Corresponding Editor for Art in America. His writings have focused on maverick artists of the twentieth century, West Coast modernism, twentieth century figuration, and contemporary California art. His curatorial projects include surveys and recontextualizations of works by Pavel Tchelitchew, Sister Corita Kent, Kim MacConnel, Lorser Feitelson, Eugene Berman, Richard Pettibone, Alberto Burri, and Wallace Berman. He was the curator of the 2009 Texas Biennial and is curator of the forthcoming exhibitions LA RAW: Abject Expressionism in Los Angeles 1945-1980: From Rico Lebrun to Paul McCarthy and An Opening of the Field: Jess, Robert Duncan, & Their Circle.