|
|
Surrealism
In general usage, the term Surrealism is more often considered a
movement in visual arts than the original cultural and
philosophical movement. As with some other movements that had both
philosophical and artistic dimensions, such as romanticism and the
relationship between the two usages is complex and a matter of some
debate outside the movement. Many Surrealist artists regarded their
work as an expression of the philosophical movement.
The roots of Surrealism in the visual arts run to both
Dada and
Cubism, as well as the
abstraction of
Wassily
Kandinsky and
Expressionism, as
well as
Post-Impressionism,
and also partake of older "bloodlines" such as Hieronymus Bosch,
and so-called "primitive" and "naive" arts. This only makes sense
if one considers Surrealism to be a matter of art, when both
Dadaists and Surrealists themselves rejected the notion without
hesitation. Dada - especially - declared loudly and often that it
was out to destroy art, and Surrealism - although less brutish in
its campaign against art-in-itself, made clear its resistance to
any idea that it was - in fact - an "art movement" at all.
Technique was beside the point, mere ornament or simple retinal
stimulation was anathema, as the Surrealists claimed visual arts as
a subsidiary of Poetry, and hoped to inflame human desires directly
via their images. The fact that the first Surrealists were not
visual artists but poets speaks volumes about the poetic and
philosophical basis of Surrealism. The truth is, Andre Breton
initially had doubts that visual arts could even be useful in the
Surrealist Movement, since they appeared to be less "malleable" and
open to chance and automatism. This "caution" was overcome by the
discovery of such "techniques" as frottage, decalomania, and Dali's
paranoid-critical methods. As the idea of automatism lost sway as
the main vehicle for unlocking the unconscious, the visual arts
(including sculpture, painting, and film) became more acceptable.
|
|
|
cart is empty
