Inspiration // Surrealism

Surrealism originated in the 1900s, specifically the 1910s and 1920s, as a literary movement experimenting with 'automatism'. This was a mode of expression that sought to release the imagination of the subconscious. It was officially consecrated in Paris in 1924 with the publication of the 'Manifesto of Surrealism' by Andre Breton. This allowed Surrealism to become international intellectual and political force.

As Surrealism began as a literary movement, much of the poetry and prose were influenced by pyschologial theories and dream studies of Sigmund Freud in combination with political ideas of Marxism. Breton and his contemporaries drew upon ideas of the private world of the mind, the part of the mind that is traditionally restricted by reason and societal limitations which creating unexpected imagery. 

Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even (The Large Glass) (1915–23; Philadelphia Museum of Art)

At first, Surrealist poets were reluctant to align themselves with visual artists because they believed that laborious processes of painting, drawing and sculpture were not spontaneous. However, artists such as Giorgio de Chirico, Pablo Picasso, Francis Picabia and Marcel Duchamp were held in high regard for their work was analytical, provocative and erotic. For example, Duchamp's conceptually complex Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even (The Large Glass) was admired by Surrealists and often thought to be a precursor of Surrealism for its bizarrely juxtaposed and erotically charged objects.

Max Ernst, André Masson and Man Ray were of the first artists who aligned themselves with Surrealism. All these artists use curving, continuous lines and forms in which emerge strange figures and shapes that are products of the 'uninhibited mind'.

The Workshop of Dedulas - Andre Masson (1939)

Ernst began to experiment with two unpredictable processes called decalcomania and grattage. Decalcomania is the technique of pressing a sheet of paper onto a painted surface and peeling it off again, while grattage is the process of scraping pigment across a canvas that is laid on top of a textured surface. These techniques are evident within The Barbarians (1937).

Two Children are Threatened by a Nightingale. 1924. Oil on wood with wooden elements. 69.8 x 57.1 x 11.4 cm. The Museum of Modern Arts, New York, NY, USA.

Additionally, this composition of sparring anthropomorphic figures in a deserted postapocalyptic landscape exemplifies the recurrent themes of violence and annihilation found in Surrealist art. Something we could use within our own zines for one of our topic is Death Row.

Surrealist painting are often associated with erotically explicit objects juxtaposed in dreamlike surroundings, unidentifiable objects that have been rendered with great precision, hallucinatory visions, deep receding spaces, a mysterious use of light as well as often a sense of loneliness.