Surrealist Manifesto
|
|
| Years active | 1920s - ?1960s |
|---|---|
| Country | France, Belgium |
| Major figures | Breton, Dalí, Ernst, Magritte |
| Influences | Dada |
| Influenced | Abstract expressionism, Post-modernism |
| Surrealism |
|
Surrealist Manifesto |
Two Surrealist Manifestos were issued by the Surrealist movement, in 1924 and 1929. They were both written by André Breton, who also drafted a third Surrealist manifesto which was never issued.
Surrealist Manifesto
Surrealist cinema
Surrealist music
Surrealist techniques
Birmingham Surrealists
The first Surrealist manifesto was written by Breton and published in 1924 as a booklet (Editions du Sagittaire). The document defines Surrealism as:
Psychic automatism in its pure state, by which one proposes to express — verbally, by means of the written word, or in any other manner — the actual functioning of thought. Dictated by thought, in the absence of any control exercised by reason, exempt from any aesthetic or moral concern.
The text includes numerous examples of the applications of Surrealism to poetry and literature, but makes it clear that its basic tenets can be applied to any circumstance of life; not merely restricted to the artistic realm. The importance of the dream as a reservoir of Surrealist inspiration is also highlighted.
Breton also discusses his initial encounter with the surreal in a famous description of a hypnagogic state that he experienced in which a strange phrase inexplicably appeared in his mind: "There is a man cut in two by the window". This phrase echoes Breton's apprehension of Surrealism as the juxtaposition of "two distant realities" united to create a new one.
The manifesto also refers to the numerous precursors of Surrealism that embodied the Surrealist spirit, including the Marquis de Sade, Charles Baudelaire, Arthur Rimbaud, Comte de Lautréamont, Raymond Roussel, and Dante. The works of several of his contemporaries in developing the Surrealist style in poetry are also quoted, including Philippe Soupault, Paul Éluard, Robert Desnos and Louis Aragon.
...
Wikipedia