Surrealism In Art

In “Ways of Seeing”, John Berger, an English art critic, argues that images are important for the present-day by saying, “No other kind of relic or text from the past can offer such direct testimony about the world which surrounded other people at other times. In this respect images are more precise and richer literature” (10). John Berger allowed others to see the true meaning behind certain art pieces in “Ways of Seeing”. Images and art show what people experienced in the past allowing others to see for themselves rather than be told how an event occurred. There are two images that represent the above claim, Arnold Eagle and David Robbins’ photo of a little boy in New York City, and Dorothea Lange’s image of a migratory family from Texas; both were taken during the Great Depression.

Surrealism is a movement that built off of the burgeoning look into art, psychology, and the workings of the mind. Popularly associated with the works of Salvador Dali, Surrealist art takes imagery and ideology and creates correlation where there is none, creating new forms of art. In this essay I will look to explore the inception of the surrealist movement, including the Surrealist Manifesto, to stress the importance of these artists and their work in the 20th century and beyond. I also will look to films from our European Cinema course to express how films incorporate the influence of surrealism both intentionally and unintentionally.

Explain how both Dada and Surrealism changed the form, content, and concept of art. Which two works of art discussed in the chapter would you choose to represent these two movements?

This website was very interesting for me because I learned more about how Surrealism and Art Deco helped in the advancement of art in the 1920s. It made me more interested in Surrealism art because it's everything unrealistic that makes your mind into something almost chaotic and it increased me in creativity. This subject has always made me curious because art is such a beautiful creation and I have always wondered what was it that made it so favored among people and artists themselves. When I viewed this website, Art Deco caught my attention because the description of how it is made it seemed so strange and classy so I understood why it was so popular that it led to other different artworks. I'm fascinated by this subject of art

I would classify Picasso’s 1937 mural, Guernica, as Surrealism. I found that, although Guernica contains some traits of Cubism, in my opinion, it is more suited to be classified as Surrealism. The Surrealism movement, which began in the 1920’s, was formed on the idea of unleashing the unrestrained imagination and creativity of the subconscious and surrealist works of art are classified by “unnerving, illogical scenes with photographic precision, created strange creatures from everyday objects and developed painting techniques that allowed the unconscious to express itself” (“Surrealism”, 2017).

Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for its visual artworks and writings. Officially consecrated in Paris in 1924 with the publication of the Manifesto of Surrealism by the poet and critic André Breton (1896–1966), Surrealism became an international intellectual and political movement. The Surrealists sought to channel the unconscious as a means to unlock the power of the imagination. Artists painted unnerving, illogical scenes with photographic precision, creating strange creatures from everyday objects, and developed painting techniques that allowed the unconscious to express itself. Its aim was to resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream and reality into an absolute reality. Surrealists work features element of surprise and unexpected however many surrealist artists and writers regard their work as an expression of the philosophical movement. With respect to that surrealism has many characteristics of work completed such as Automatic Writing, the Surrealists were big on this thing called "automatic writing." That's when you write whatever comes to your mind without stopping or structuring your thoughts. You just go with the flow, and let everything pour out onto the page unfiltered. Juxtaposition, one of the defining stylistic characteristics of Surrealism is the juxtaposition of imagery. The Surrealists like to put together crazy things that we wouldn't normally associate with one another. They might compare

During the Surrealism movement, artists like Kahlo expressed deep emotions through the visual arts. Art produced at this time depicted the subconscious of its artists. Often times the art work was labeled as irrational. According to Gloria K. Fiero Surrealism was, “devoted to giving physical expression to the workings of the unconscious mind,” (395). Freud’s influence was apparent with the surrealists application of free association and dream analysis. Free association “demands its us to temporarily

Each artist of the Dada era had a new way of expressing Freud?s ideas. They also felt that art was a powerful means of self-revelation, and that the images came from ones subconscious mind had a truth of its own. As Marcel Duchamp mocked the Mona Lisa by drawing a Padilla 3 mustache on her, stated that the painting was a lewd message set by the conventional way of thinking. Since the Dada artist did not believe in western culture this made sense, because people only want believe what is told to them, instead of what is true. The Dada movement marked a meeting of people to have ?noise concerts? where they recited poems in a free association verse. In these poetry readings the artist perceived how they felt about the world. As World War I began the Dadaist perceived it as a world gone mad. Not only did they express their work in unconventional ways; they used the subconscious as a way of making their views true. Although the Dada era was short lived it influenced and questioned the traditional concepts of the western world. These techniques set an agenda for a new trial by error art form of this same era. The spirit of Freud in the Dadaist era never really died, it is shown today as ?Pop art? or sometimes known as neo-Dada art forms. Also this revolution of thinking and art paved the way for the Surrealist movement. The Surrealist movement of the 1920?s through 1930?s captivated the world with its bizarre way of thinking. Just as the Dadaist used

If one examines Lacanist obscurity, one is faced with a choice: either reject subcultural discourse or conclude that class has significance, given that the premise of constructivism is invalid. The primary theme of Humphrey’s[2] critique of Marxist socialism is the fatal flaw, and subsequent economy, of deconstructivist society. It could be said that Sontag promotes the use of subcultural discourse

The surrealist artists believed the dream state and subconscious mind to be an untapped and very fertile creative fount of inspiration. The symbolism of dreams and the expressive images generated by the subconscious were far more thought provoking than the representational, logical images of the conscious mind. The surrealist artists were creating art out of what others thought to be garbled and unintelligible. They were in effect taking a concept created to heal and using it to create art instead. They were on to something with this. No matter what the medium or the style used, a bit of the self becomes visible and evident in the result. Art therapy is one of the modern descendants of this movement.

There have been some controversy during the early 20th century during the world wars. Art lost its meaning during this time and the only way to give it meaning again was to make it different, to offend people to help to make a point. This is similar to the artist/rapper Eminem, how his use of profane language draws attention to his work and its controversy makes it a topic of conversation. After the rise of abstract art rose a new style called Dada art. This was one of the most unusual time in part as it went against the common idea as to what art is. Dada led to Surrealism which began to flourish in the 1920’s. Because these two movement are so close together there will be many different similarities and differences between the two. While both have the same underlying message, surrealism is more sexual in comparison compared to dada but both had the same message to give, although each has its own method to achieve its goals.

The surrealist art movement was sought out after World War I. The war consisted of seventy million fighters and over nine million casualties. There was a large generational gap between soldiers and those sent to fight. In the aftermath of World War I, a high rise of concern about human nature and future of civilization reached its peak. It caused a change in the western civilization way of thinking. Surrealism drew upon cubism and expressionism but emerged from the arts of Dadaism. The surrealists challenged and attacked traditional thinking, which allowed their artwork to make a large statement about humankind and status of conditions.

In 1925, the original surrealists forged a clear and resounding document, stating, among other things, that the surrealist movement is a revolution, unarguably. They asserted that their movement was not one of poetic form. Furthermore, that it was not even a literary movement. They firmly established, in the infancy of Surrealism, that it was not an aesthetic endeavour. It was “a revolution of the mind.”

Over the course of a few months, we explored the theme of Tomorrow’s World and surrealism. The topic of Tomorrow’s World mainly links into the future, and surrealism highlights the unpredictability of it, and that was the stimulus for our work.

The tenants of this movement were loose at best and mostly consisted as a tendency that a handful of independent filmmakers used in their films. Their influences came primarily from literature of the time and the fantastic styles of Impressionism and Surrealism. From great literature came the scripts and stories for this movements. Great writers like Emil Zola and Leo Tolstoy had their tales appear on the screens of French theaters.