Surrealism
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The French Avante-Gardes movement that was based on the nihilistic view of the Dada group, the poetry of Andre Breton, and Freud's theories of Psychoanalysis. Breton had described the movement as a new mental language that could be used to divine the true workings of the rational mind and deepen the foundations of the real- to bring about an even clearer perception of the reality around us. The Surrealists rejected the idea for making art for arts sake, they objected to the abstract tenor art was taking on at the time.
The artists that relied on this literature and this mentality firmly believed that irrational, spontaneous associations; based on creative use of the imagination, can be as legitimate a source of information as the material world. Surreal literally means “beyond reality”, and this became a credo for the Surrealist artists, though there is certainly no one cohesive group and this credo was given many interpretations. The more abstract-oriented group was more inclined to the mechanical techniques, free-association exercises on canvas meant to free the artists from the mental conditioning we are all prone to- meant, ultimately, to allow the artist free reign of his subconscious. This group includes such artists as Jean Hans Arp, Andre Masson, Joan Miro and Max Ernst. Ernst, who had visited sanitariums and seen the images the insane patients had produced is characterized with a realistic element in his painting; enjoying the violent contrasts of images and their relative contexts. He stands one object with no relation the next, but they are presented figuratively and are easily recognizable. He invented the frottage technique [cutting or scraping] that produced textures in the work; the works are therefore deceiving to the eye. From a distance they seem polished and at a closer look the image seems to change, it becomes a nightmarish scene devoid of hope.
The second group dealt primarily with the subconscious manifestations in dreams. . These artists drew on the Giorgio de Chirico's metaphysical painting style, portraying real, everyday objects or figures, but in strange, illogical constellations. Rene Magritte, Salvador Dali and Yves Tanguy are the figurative painters of this group. Magritte's paintings were such accurate figurative depictions they seemed almost illusionary, but they logic of the themes challenge the viewers to rethink their perceptions;-a steam-train rolling its way out of a fireplace, a landscape painting perfectly aligned against the real landscape that modeled it, so that they seem to be a single image.
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| ART-VOLGA , Test Address 87, USA | Online Gallery | |
| Modernism , San Francisco, CA,USA | Fine Art Gallery | |
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