Surrealism During World War I

World War 1 was a gruesome point in history that led to immense carnage and anguish of millions. However, on a happier note, this dark time was followed by movements such as Cubism, Precisionism, and Expressionism. Among these movements existed Surrealism, a movement that would not have come to be without the influence of “the war to end all wars”.

After World War I ended in 1919, many artists began to turn to Abstract Expressionism, while others turned to the Surrealist aspect of art. Salvador Dali became the "high priest" of Surrealism and created the disturbing world where the intangible became tangible (Spielvogel). Giorgio de Chirico, an Italian painter was another artist who used Surrealism in his work. Man Ray, an American Surrealist, was experimenting with a different kind of Surrealism. Instead of a paintbrush she used an airbrush. Functionalism was used in architecture, meaning that these buildings were made with a specific purpose in mind. Dadaism also became prevalent. These artists tried to create expression by creating an anti-art (Spielvogel). Not only was art changing, but sports and music were experiencing a transition as well. Following World War I, sports became one of the most popular activities for fun. Baseball stadiums were enjoying record ticket sales and attendance while ticket prices doubled, tripled, or even quadrupled. The rise of tennis and golf also occurred during

It developed out of Dadaism and depicted the world of enlightenment, i.e., surreal world. It was born soon after Dada, which emphasized metaphysical paintings inspired by the imagination and accidental juxtaposition of objects. It aimed to make people become more aware of poetic aspects, rather than scientific ones, by exploring and explaining unconscious mind and freeing imagination. Despite Dada’s limitations, the exploration of Freud’s suggestions done by surrealists opened countless new paths. Surrealism goes even further from nihilistic Dadaism, which denies humankind, society, order, ethics, and art, and pursued unconscious world, dream world, and automatic world, thus seeking a new artistic

Surrealism was an art movement based on dreams, unconscious thought and defying conventional logic. It grew out of the earlier avant-garde movement called Dada in the 1920s.

The theme that struck my interest in chapter 1 was Anti-War Modernism. I can personally relate to the art work depicted during this time. According to slide 41, artists who were impacted by WWI expressed their feelings through art. For example, "the

Surrealism occurred in the early twenties right after the First World War had ended. Surrealism was first introduced in Europe. Surrealism was created so that people could unbridle their imagination from their subconscious. Some people would argue that surrealism was created so that people could handle the change that was occurring in the early twenties.

Surrealism, stemming from Dadaism, sought a new form of truth in the intermingling of the

Surrealism was, and still to this day, is shown through paintings, objects, sculptures, photography, film, and writing. These visual forms of artwork were used as a way to derive from the extremely violent political situations that were occurring at the time, and acted as a form of relief for the people of this era. The artwork addressed the uneasiness they felt about the world and its numerous amount of uncertainties. This form of artwork affected people in this time of chaos, and helped produce surprising imagery (Voorhies). This artwork was created in the unconscious state of mind, resulting in most artists basing their artwork off of their feelings, ideas, and memories. It wasn't uncommon for drugs to be involved in order to venture into

Dada was an anti-art movement formed in 1914 towards the end of World War I in Zurich (Tate Museum n.d.). The reason for the emergence of the movement was to comprehend the events of the War. The war’s frightful events had immense impact on the world and left society questioning how it would recover. Dada was anti-war and was also against the hierarchy and social structure that was dividing people at the time (Gavroche 2017). The aim of dada artists was to redefine the norms of art and to create new means to express modern and contemporary ideas. As Francis Picabia wrote in his Cannibal Manifesto, “Dada feels nothing, it is nothing, nothing, nothing. It is like your hopes, nothing. Like your paradise nothing. Like your artist nothing. Like your religion nothing” (Picabia 1920) He is essentially stating that dada is both a movement which rejects conventional ideologies and a fragment of society. Dada artists did not want to be labelled as a movement as it would appear that they were part of art. However, it was a movement of art that was driven by

Surrealism is a cultural movement in visual art and literature, flourishing in Europe in the early 1920s. Through this movement, the surrealist artists aimed to interpret the previously conflicting conditions of dream and reality. Encouraged by their discontent with the rationalism and literary realism that had guided European culture, the surrealists concluded that the rational mind repressed the power of the imagination. Surrealism was a means of reuniting conscious and unconscious areas of experience that re could be found on the street and in everyday life. The Surrealists’ desire to embrace the unconscious mind, and their particular interests, went on to model many later movements, and their style continuous to be influential to this

Surrealism started as a literary movement in Europe (Paris as its core) during the 1920s, after World War I succeeding Dadaism and Cubism. Although it resembled Dadaism, it was much less violent and miserable. Dadaism had a tragi-comical view on the depression of World War I and was a terrifying expression of pain about the human defeat transposed in the war. French writer, Guillaume Apollinaire, devised the word ‘surrealism’ when speaking of a 1917 ballet by Jean Cocteau. The ballet, ‘Parade’ had stage designs done by Pablo Picasso and music by Erik Satie. Guillaume Apollinaire wrote that the performance

Surrealism was both an artistic and literary movement that originated in Paris in 1924. Andre Breton founded the movement and also written the Surrealist Manifesto. The Surrealist Manifesto defines surrealism as "pure psychic automatism by means of which one intends to express, either verbally, or in writing, or in any other manner, the actual functioning of thought. Dictated by thought, in the absence of any control exercised by reason, free of any aesthetic or moral concern" (Breton). Breton and surrealists believed that the imagination stemmed from the subconscious. That is why their works evoke the appearance of dreams.

the Dada movement, because while few dadaist had direct contact with battlefields in WWI, the majority of the dadaist were impacted by the social and economic crisis that forced artists to move to Switzerland and rely on each other to form the Dada movement; the artists also rebel against WWI and nationalism through creating and sharing non-conventional art in the Cabaret Voltaire.

According to the Visual Art Encyclopedia, Surrealism sprang up in Paris and became rooted in the avant-garde art world. Surrealism was the fashionable art movement after World War I. Surrealism is and the last major art movement to be associated with the Ecole de Paris. The writer Andre Breton (1896-1966), nicknamed "the Pope of Surrealism", was the movement 's founder and chief theorist. He introduced and defined the new style in his initial 1924 manifesto (Manifeste du Surrealisme) and later in his painting bulletin (Surrealisme et la Peinture). Breton deplored the radical and destructive character of Dada, nevertheless he built on many Dada ideas to create a movement with a coherent though unbending philosophy. He aimed at nothing less than a total conversion of the way people thought. Surrealism was less overtly political and advocated a more positive philosophy. The main focus of the surrealism movement was literature but this rapidly broadened to painting, sculpture and other forms of contemporary visual art. Surrealist strived to bring forward the imagery of the unconscious mind. Surrealist philosophy believed that nongovernmental and irrational art were preferable for life and civilization. Surrealism was responsible for a host of incredibly innovative but strange art. Surrealism was meant to free the unconscious mind from reason. Breton and other surrealists were strongly influenced by the psychological work of Sigmund Freud

During world war one many people believed that excessive rational thoughts and bourgeois values brought the war upon the world