Surrealism. A revolutionary movement?

[Jill]

As we have surrealism in the spotlight this week I looked up the subject and found this in the Wiki
Surrealism[1] is a cultural movement that began in the mid-1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members. The works feature the element of surprise, unexpected juxtapositions and non sequitur, however many Surrealist artists and writers regard their work as an expression of the philosophical movement first and foremost with the works being an artifact, and leader André Breton was explicit in his assertion that Surrealism was above all a revolutionary movement.
The group who formed around Breton aimed to revolutionize human experience, including its personal, cultural, social, and political aspects, by freeing people from what they saw as false rationality, and restrictive customs and structures. Breton proclaimed, the true aim of Surrealism is "long live the social revolution, and it alone!" To this goal, at various times surrealists aligned with communism and anarchism.
The movement in the mid-1920s was characterized by meetings in cafes where the Surrealists played collaborative drawing games and discussed the theories of Surrealism. The Surrealists developed techniques such as automatic drawing.
Surrealism as a political force developed unevenly around the world, in some places more emphasis was on artistic practices, in other places political and in other places still, Surrealist praxis looked to supersize both the arts and politics. During the 1930s the Surrealist idea spread from Europe to North America, South America, Central America, the Caribbean, and throughout Asia. As both an artistic idea and as an ideology of political change.
Throughout the 1930s, Surrealism continued to become more visible to the public at large. A Surrealist group developed in Britain and, according to Breton, their 1936 London International Surrealist Exhibition was a high water mark of the period and became the model for international exhibitions.

Dalí and Magritte created the most widely recognized images of the movement. Dalí joined the group in 1929, and participated in the rapid establishment of the visual style between 1930 and 1935.
Surrealism as a visual movement had found a method: to expose psychological truth by stripping ordinary objects of their normal significance, in order to create a compelling image that was beyond ordinary formal organization, in order to evoke empathy from the viewer.
World War II created havoc not only for the general population of Europe but especially for the European artists and writers that opposed Fascism, and Nazism. Many important artists fled to North America, and relative safety in the United States. The art community in New York City in particular was already grappling with Surrealist ideas and several artists like Arshile Gorky, Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell, and Roberto Matta, converged closely with the surrealist artists themselves, albeit with some suspicion and reservations. Ideas concerning the unconscious and dream imagery were quickly embraced.
There is no clear consensus about the end of Surrealism, or if there is an end, of the Surrealist movement. Some art historians suggest that WWII effectively disbanded the movement. However, art historian Sarane Alexandrian (1970) states, "the death of André Breton in 1966 marked the end of Surrealism as an organized movement." There have also been attempts to tie the obituary of the movement to the 1989 death of Salvador Dalí.
Surrealistic art remains enormously popular with museum patrons. The Guggenheim Museum in New York City held an exhibit, Two Private Eyes, in 1999, and in 2001 Tate Modern held an exhibition of Surrealist art that attracted over 170,000 visitors. In 2002 the Metropolitan Museum in New York City had a blockbuster show, Desire Unbound, and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris had a show called La Révolution surréaliste.
More recently the BBC did a series on surrealism in May 2007. Some pictures and videos from the series can be seen at this link
http://www.bbc.co.uk/imagine/episode/surrealism.shtml

So is surrealism a revolutionary movement that can release us from oppressive rational thought? What do you think?

[Alec Morrison]

I notice a little hyperlink button to push on this. I saw a YouTube video of U2 at the 2002 Superbowl and was thinking of putting it in this discussion, but it doesn't have much to do with Surrealism and a lot of people are probably sick of U2...
Irene who?
Alec

[Jill]

Hi Alec

I think the hyperlink button is for links rather than videos but I could be wrong! Feel free to put up whichever videos you fancy Alec. Here or on the videos or on the comments or wherever you like. This is a Free the Videos site!

Oh yes Irene is Irene Lynch. I thought you might know her from the old campaigning days? Were you ever on the madness list by the way?
Bye for Now
Jill

[Alec Morrison]

Jill,
Okay, if I find something interesting I'll post it here. No, I don't think I've ever met Irene Lynch. I've been on lots of lists, from the VLO (Vermont Liberation Organization) to the US Tibet Committee, but not specifically "Madness."
Talk to you later,
Alec

[Mandy Lawrence]

I am going to have a look at the surrealism site later.

I don't know hardly anything about it as an art movement. If it was an art movement or just different individuals expressing themselves in their own ways??????? I have this notion that what people do as individuals is then clumped together by other people. Usually art critics or a kind of elitey group who think they are experts on art. But I dunno really, is just a theory.

Love Dali's art. I went to an exhibition (with Em as part of her research for her Art A level) the year before last...or was it last year? My memory is a bit fuzzy on that. It was by the old GLC building in London. Was like being in wonderland. A grotto full of delights. Dali was mega talented and, I think, gave his imagination as freer reign as he could.

Pieces of his work were on sale. The real McCoy. I didn't have anywhere near the money and even with a credit card would have never repaid what it cost to buy any of his work but there was one statue. About 1 foot high, made of a blueish marble. A woman and I think she represented a season..maybe Autumn because there were a couple of branches sprouting from her body. Ah! If only eh? I can imagine her now, taking pride of place in my front room.

I have never hankered for having money...but I did when I saw her.

[Alec Morrison]

I remember sitting in a hotel lobby at a crazy people's gathering at 4am, reading a book on Surrealism, and this enemy of Jerry's came up to me and said he had three dollies. Didn't strike me until a few seconds later that he was talking about Dali. Another guy I know has this big picture of a woman looking out of window, and when you view it from a distance it's a portrait of Abe Lincoln. That marble statue sounds amazing. I could have been a collector if I had bothered to work, like a normal person.

[Mandy Lawrence]

3 Dollies eh? lols

To own 3 pieces of Dali's art would take me 3 lifetime's to pay for.

I managed to work for 20 years plus but i still don't think I would have been able to afford anything by Dali...well I would have but wouldn't have paid any of my bills or had food on my table.

But wouldn't it just be great to have something of his in your home? Well, I think so.

[Alec Morrison]

minute ago, Alec Morrison said…
Yeah, I remember this guy, Andridge is his name, actually saw him in the
U District not too long ago, and I guess he's homeless, but he had three
Dali's. They were prints, I think. Hope he has a storage locker. Oh, sorry,
this isn't the Surrealism discussion; it's on the other page.
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