Europe, 1924 to 1950's
WWII
• World War II scattered artist and writers that had been based in Paris all over the world.
• While away from Paris, most participated in Dada activities. (antiwar)
DADA
• movement among
European artists and writers that lasted from 1916 to 1922
• Dada attacked conventional standards and stressed absurdity and the role of the unpredictable in artistic creation
• originated in the late 1910s and early '20s as a literary movement that experimented with a new mode of expression called automatic writing, or automatism, which sought to release the unbridled imagination of the subconscious
Surrealism
• Very difficult to read
Andre’ Breton
• Known as the principal founder of Surrealism
• French writer, poet, and surrealist theorist
• In 1924 issued the first Surrealist Manifesto
Surrealist Manifesto
• 1st Manifesto
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 the thought, in the absence of any control exercised by reason, exempt from any aesthetic or moral concern.
Surrealism
• Best known for the visual artworks and writings
• artists create dreamlike paintings filled with mysterious objects or familiar objects that
have been oddly changed in ways that you would not see in reality
How
• In the mid-1920s surrealist held meetings in cafes where they played collaborative drawing games and discussed the theories of Surrealism. The Surrealists developed a variety of techniques such as automatic drawing
Automatism
• Developed as a way to express the subconscious
• The hand is allowed to move 'randomly' a
cross the paper.
Frottage
• the artist takes a pencil or other drawing tool and makes a "rubbing" over a textured surface
• drawing can be left as is or used as the basis for further refinement.
