Surrealismo (Basic Art)

by Cathrin Klings�hr-leroy

Unleash the unconscious: Provoking the establishment with primal instincts WithSalvador Dalias its figurehead, the great ship of Surrealism traversed the turbulent seas of the early twentieth century with sails billowing withdreams and desires. Inspired by the psychoanalytical practice of Sigmund Freud, the Surrealists championed the unconscious as the domain oftruth, uninhibited by the standards or expectations of society.With techniques ranging fromhypnotismtonocturnal walkstoautomatic writing, the likes ofAndre Breton, Max Ernst, Brassai, andMeret Oppenheimproduced paintings, drawings, texts, and films in which they sought to excavate their most intimate and primal instincts. The results abound withsexual fantasies, withmysterious, menacing creatures, and with the juxtaposition of seemingly contradictory objects or ideas.This book introduces the origins and the sensational legacy of the Surrealist movement, one of the mostprofound and enduring influences on film, theatre, literature, art, and thought.Featured artists: Hans Arp, Andre Breton, Giorgio de Chirico, Salvador Dali, Max Ernst, Alberto Giacometti, Paul Klee, Rene Magritte, Andre Masson, Matta, Joan Miro, Pablo Picasso, Meret Oppenheim, Yves Tanguy About the Series: Each book in TASCHEN's Basic Genre series features: a detailed illustrated introduction plus a timeline of the most important political, cultural and social events that took place during that period a selection of the most important works of the epoch, each of which is presented on a 2-page spread with a full-page image and with an interpretation of the respective work, plus a portrait and brief biography of the artist approximately 100 colour illustrations with explanatory captions "

Genres: Art, Nonfiction

96 pages, Hardcover

First published December 20, 2015

Reviews

[Joshua Loong · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone working in tech, who is constantly surrounded by rational and logical thinking people, there’s something incredibly appealing to me about diving deeper into art that completely rejects this. Surrealism, as a project, was about turning away from the overburdening feel of rational modernity, and sublimating ourselves into a world of dreams, without reason or control. It is about expressing ourselves in the most unburdened way possible. And for that, reading about surrealism is a breath of fresh air.

This book gives a good intro to the movement, and then gives a selection of great full blown pages with scans of key surrealist works paired with several paragraphs of commentary. Lovely design, and the commentary was interesting and eye opening at times.

Highlights: Dali, Picasso, Meret Oppenheim, Giorgio de Chirico, Yves Tanguy

Duds: Joan Miro

Side Note: I went to a joint exhibition of Miro and Picasso in Barcelona, and despite them having so many similarities in their work, I just can’t get into any of Miro. As someone who admittedly doesn’t have a big background in art history, he feels like a lesser copy of Picasso to me

[Cail Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic overview of the Surrealism movement and notable works. The summaries for each painting were articulate and well-researched. My favorite paintings were by René Magritte.

[Aisha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book and just to be clear, this is the first time I read an art book so I didn’t know what to expect. This book gave me depth and insight on surrealism and while it exposed me to new artists, their work, historical background and how well acquainted they were, I didn’t sense the timeline or figures coming together and my thoughts were very disorganized. With that said, it opened my mind to a whole new aspect of surrealism and while I liked some of the artwork, there was a lot that made me feel unpleasant. I understand though that art is not meant to make you feel good, it’s merely meant to make you feel. I thought I would be transparent about that anyway. A lot of sexual themes were discussed within this book which I did not anticipate because I never thought surrealism had a sexual aspect — it makes sense now that it does but it’s just not my cup of tea whatsoever. After viewing the art on the right page and reading about it in the article on the left page, I didn’t always reach something conclusive and certain with respect to the art and I was very dissatisfied. Before you think that it is the whole point of surrealism, let me just say that I agree with you but I still think the writing needs more analysis as the one provided was not comprehensive enough. Sometimes if I cared about the piece enough I would have to go search more about it myself so that I can really understand. I was introduced to new artists whose works I absolutely adore like Renè Magritte and Yves Tanguy. I really loved the illustrations provided and I wish they included pictures of all the works that were discussed, not only the main paintings/sculptures.

[Wilde Sky · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book contains information on a number of surrealist artists and images of some of their work.

This was a really mixed book - ranging between the brilliant and extremely dull (both in terms of artworks and text).

Overall rating 3.5.

[Lo Inquieto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me encantó la introducción, muy clara para saber más sobre el surrealismo

[Glenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice, not to much depth, but nice for everyone