Contextual Studies #4

Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for its visual artworks and writings. The aim was to "resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream and reality." Artists painted unnerving, illogical scenes with photographic precision, created strange creatures from everyday objects and developed painting techniques that allowed the unconscious to express itself.

Surrealist works feature the element of surprise, unexpected juxtapositions and non sequitur; however, many Surrealist artists and writers regard their work as an expression of the philosophical movement first and foremost, with the works being an artifact. Leader André Breton was explicit in his assertion that Surrealism was, above all, a revolutionary movement.

Surrealism developed largely out of the Dada activities during World War I and the most important center of the movement was Paris. From the 1920s onward, the movement spread around the globe, eventually affecting the visual arts, literature, film, and music of many countries and languages, as well as political thought and practice, philosophy, and social theory.

Luis Buñuel: Un Chien andalou (1928)

'I dreamed last night of ants swarming around in my hands'

Salvador Dali

Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech
11 May 1904

Salvador Dali’s works expands to photography, film, sculpture and photography. Dali was highly creative; an unusual and ostentatious character. He has a love for all things gilded, excessive and luxurious. Dali was indeed very eccentric, beguiling the public attention and at the same time gaining ire from his critics.

‘The Persistence of Memory’, 1931. 

The painting features melting pocket watches, which becomes an unconscious symbol of relative space and time. Time is the theme here, from the melting watches to the decay implied by the swarming ants. The monstrous fleshy creature draped across the paintings centre is an approximation of Dalí's own face in profile. 

Surrealism Art Techniques

Surrealism make use of several techniques to create the effect and provide inspiration.

• Collage - assembling different elements to create a whole

The Hat Makes the Man by Max Ernst

• Cubomania - form of collage wherein an image is cut into squares and reassembled randomly. This technique was invented by Romanian Surrealist artist Gherasim Luca.
• Decalcomania - spreading thick paint on a canvas, and while still wet, covering it with paper or foil. This is removed again, while still wet, and the result of the pattern becomes the base of the finished painting.
• Eclaboussure - the process of placing paints down and the water or turpentine is splattered. The painting is then soaked entirely, revealing random splats and dots once the media is removed.
• Frottage - method of using the pencil rubbings over to a texture surface.

Frottage Artwork by Max Ernst

• Fumage - art technique which made use of impressions by smoke of a candle or lamp onto the blank canvas. Also called sfumato.

Fumage Painting by Wolfgang Paalen

• Grattage - the process of scraping paint off the canvas to reveal the imprint placed beneath.

Forest and Dove by Max Ernst (Photo by ABC Gallery)

Next Week we are looking at art nouveau and art deco