Surrealism (Contextual Studies)

Surrealism began in the early 1920's, following (and in many ways taking inspiration from) Dada.  Like Dada, Surrealism wished to contest what we knew and understood as Art.  However Surrealism wanted to push this concept even further, encouraging us to question not only art, but our reality.  What was real, what wasn't, what composed our own conscious thought.  Whilst Sigmund Freud delved deeper into the mind and the subconscious, Surrealism wanted more.  Through numerous experiments and practices, Surrealism would explore the ideal of unconscious thought.  Pure original thought that had in no way been tainted by the outside world.  They would try to achieve these through the study of dreams, automatic drawing and other instinctual processes that seemed outwith Human control.  Surrealism would reject reason and preconceived notions, resulting in art and media that was incredibly alien, yet weirdly familiar.

Andre Breton is widely considered to be the founder of Surrealism.  The French writer and poet would conduct studies to learn more about the unconscious mind, recruiting artists and fellow creatives to the cause.  In 1924 he would publish the Surrealist Manifesto and then onto publishing an editorial known as The Surrealist Revolution, documenting their experiments and findings.  Although Breton would publish many of his written works, including poetry and essays, it would be the visual interruption of Surrealism that would become the most striking.  Although Breton and the Surrealists would eventually disband over disagreements, Breton's role in the movement is without a doubt crucial.

Max Ernst, German painter and sculptor was one of the earlier artists who would contribute to Surrealism and it's style.  He was part of the Dada movement, working in collage and poetry before his work developed into Surrealism.  In 1921 he painted the above, The Elephant Celebes, which many would consider to be the first time a style was made apparent for Surrealism.  The painting features numerous mechanical components in a composition designed to make them resemble an elephant.  Ernst's painting would take ques from impressionism, particularly artists like Gustave Caillebotte as well as fellow surrealist Giorgio de Chirico.  These artists would influence how Ernst constructed his compositions and his depictions of space.  Continuing to work with what he had done with Dada, Ernst tried to keep a collage element in his work, trying to make the image layered in a similar way.

The style that Ernst had created would show through in some other works by some well known Surrealists.  The unique look had a way of blurring the image between illustration and reality, it was familiar but not real.  It seemed to sum up the ideals of Surrealism perfectly.  Like before, it would utilise the clean, form defined style of some of the Impressionists.  One of the artists who perfected the style was Belgian artist Rene Magritte.  The above painting from 1938 is called Time Transfixed, or as Magritte himself preferred, Ongoing Time Stabbed by a Dagger.  Magritte started with a simple image of a steam locomotive, and then diverted to construct the familiar image of the fireplace.  One of the most interesting things about about this painting, is that only one of the candlesticks has a reflection.

Golconde from 1953 was another of Magritte's pieces.  A lot of his art would feature business men, almost always wearing long black coats and bowler hats.  Magritte would play with one of my favourite aspects of Surrealism, which would be bending reality.  He had a way of taking familiar images and turning them on their head just enough to confuse the brain for a moment.  Golconde is a great example of this.  From a distance, it just looks like rain.  It's only when you approach the image do the raindrops grow heavy and gain form.  It feels like a dream.  Nothing feels off or feels wrong, until you focus on it and think about it.  Magritte's style is my personal preference for the Surrealism movement.

One of the most popular and recognisable Surrealists was Salvador Dali, a Spanish painter who would experience a level of fame within his lifetime unrivalled by most artists.  On similar note his painting from 1931 The Persistence of Memory is arguably one of the most popular and recognised images from the Surrealism movement.  The melting clocks in the image are often the focus of attention, and many consider them to be a metaphor for the concept of time as a dimension, similar to Einstien's theories.  The idea of time as something tangible and affected by space.  The shadows and forms are odd, bending and leaning in ways we'd not expect, further adding to the disconnect from reality.

Metamorphosis of Narcissus is another of Dali's works, this time from 1937.  Although this image is not as iconic, it gets to the roots of Surrealism, at least as I understand it.  The idea of the unconscious mind playing tricks on you, the idea of thinking you saw something, only to turn around and see something not there, or totally different.  It toys with perception and understanding of our very own reality.  This image is the same image twice, yet entirely different.  The composition is detailed and overwhelming, distracting from the simple form of the (two) main features.  Whilst one appears like a human body kneeling, the other is a hand holding a pebble or possibly an egg.  Both images share the exact same form, further confusing the mind.  

Surrealism is for me one of the most interesting movements.  The introduction of scientific principles to better understand and challenge our reality has resulted in this glorious works of art that force us to question familiar images and notions.  It's an ingenious concept yet at the same time, it's familiar.  We've all dreamed, we've all experienced moments of the unconscious mind playing tricks on the conscious mind.  The mix of brand new and familiar is perhaps the best way to describe surrealism.  The everyday mixed with the alien and fantastical. 

Practical Work

Surrealism was one of the movements I was most excited about working with, but it proved harder than I initially thought.  My initial plan was to keep a dream diary, and use those notes to create an illustration.  But I didn't have any particularly interesting or surreal dreams.  Some were boring, but mostly, I wasn't dreaming at all.  With this in mind, I wasn't sure how to approach Surrealism.  I thought back to the collage's we'd been shown, and set about trying to create my own.

 

This was my attempt.  I wanted to keep the image black and white, sort of an homage to the black ink illustrations.  The idea behind this is something that comes up in my dreams a lot.  The idea of powering down a seemingly endless road with the sun bearing down on you.  To make the image seem surreal, or to disconnect the reality, I placed in some natural images that just looked out of place.  The wooden shack on the right, and the old truck are intentionally meant to be slightly jarring.   I wanted to follow Magritte's example of having something that just wasn't real, and so replaced the sun with a headlamp.

Overall, I'm quite happy with this image and how it came together.  It feels familiar but is off just enough to trigger that alien feeling that comes with Surrealism.  I hope at least.