Chelsea Pearsall 5-16-17 Zeitgeist The Zeitgeist is by definition the spirit of a time period where politics, the set of ideals and beliefs, influence members of a society. Furthermore, to study a time period or movement in the past it is crucial to understand and be knowledgeable of the zeitgeist. The Surrealism art movement was a movement that was completely motivated by the times, as its purpose was to critique modernity, liberate the minds of complacency, and deal with the effect of the first world war. Examining the previous art movement that lead to Surrealism, and experiencing the work of the Surrealist painters, photographers, film makers, sculptors and fashion designers through the lens of the 1920s, to further enrich our understanding of the art movement that occurred between the two world wars. To understand what lead to the Surrealism movement, one must understand the world affairs leading up to this time. The birth of Surrealism came from the ideas of the Dada group, an art and literary movement that started in Switzerland. The Dada movement started during World War I, a devastating war that is known to have killed the lives of eight million military personnel and eight million civilians. The Dada movement began as an artistic protest against the bourgeois and nationalist interests, which many of the Dada artists had believed were the cause of the war (Dada Movement Overview and Analysis). The Dada group was also formally against the cultural and intellectual conformity in the arts and also in society, that resulted after the war. The art that Dadaist started to create was directly in response to the politics, mocking and critiquing modernity, by drawing references from newspapers, films, propaganda and technologies, which were a large part of present day life (Dada Movement Overview and Analysis). The works being created by Dadaist were extremely experimental, and unorthodox. The choice of materials, mediums and procedures were boundless and free. Dada artists innovated with collage and photomontage. The Dada movement influenced artists far and close in cities including, Paris, Berlin, Hanover, Cologne and New York. What was revolutionary about Dada Art was that it was the first art that wasn’t made to be pleasing to the viewer; rather it was created to generate questions about society, and the purpose of art. There were many influencers and artists involved in the Dada Movement. Artists include, Hugo Ball, Hans Arp, Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, and Man Ray (Dada Movement Overview and Analysis). Dada works of art include: Fountain (1917) by Marcel Duchamp Duchamp did little to this urinal accept turn it upside-down, drawing reference to both the purpose of the urinal as well to famous fountains designed by Renaissance and Baroque artists (Dada Movement Overview and Analysis). Chinese Nightingale (1920) by Max Ernst A creature whose body is an English bomb, Ernst defuses the fear associated with bombs. The title was named after a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen (Dada Movement Overview and Analysis). Andre Breton, a member of the Dadaist group, a French theorist and writer, soon became the founder of the Surrealism movement. Breton writes the first Manifeste du Surrealism in 1924. Breton writes, “Under the pretense of civilization and progress, we have managed to banish from the mind everything that may rightly or wrongly be termed superstition, or fancy; forbidden is any kind of search for truth which is not in conformance with accepted practices. It was, apparently, by pure chance that a part of our mental world, which we pretended not to be concerned with any longer -- and, in my opinion by far the most important part -- has been brought back to light. For this we must give thanks to the discoveries of Sigmund Freud.” Breton was greatly inspired by psychologist, Sigmund Freud and his theories on dreams and the unconscious mind. Breton believed that dreams were reputable sources of truth and could be of assistance in life. Thus, the Manifesto for Surrealism sought to overthrow the repressive rules of modern society by un-acknowledging rational thought. He accomplished this by attempting to tap into the subconscious mind, to create works of art that embodied a dream like state. With the start of the Surrealism movement, the Dada movement dissipated. It is dually notable that the ideas of the Dadaist have given much rise to the succeeding movements of modern and contemporary art. After the Surrealism Manifesto was written, many artists joined in on the movement. For the Surrealism movement, there were artists from a wide variety of mediums. Mediums include; painters, writers, photographers, fashion designers, and illustrators. Of course, all of these different artists didn’t happen over night. After the manifesto was written, the group of artist begins working on a publication, “La Révolution surréaliste.” The group at this time included, Andre Breton, Salvador Dali, Man Ray, Yves Tanguy, max Ernst, Tristan tzara, Jean Arp, Paul eluar, and René clevel. It is curious to note, that this group is all men (André Breton Artist Overview and Analysis). The publication included mostly writing, but also reproductions of art. The Bureau for Surrealist Research was also created at the beginning of the movement, which collected data for the artists to use for their work. Artists and writers alike conducted interviews to gather information that could detail the activities of the unconscious mind. The bureau separated data into two different segments. One archive, focused on dreams, unconsciousness and imagery whereas the other archive focused on material related to the social constructs of the time. Moving forward, the group has been organized and formed, a manifesto and leader is in place and research has been conducted for their work, they now can begin producing (André Breton Artist Overview and Analysis). In Bretons manifesto, he goes into great detail about dreams and being able to liberate the unconscious mind. Conceptually, the Surrealism art was under this vision of unconsciousness and dreams. The subject of each piece typically was in response to the politics of this time. Surrealist art had extreme visual sensibilities, jarring juxtapositions, and displacements to shock its viewers. Artists generated creative works in a variety of media that exposed their inner minds in eccentric, symbolic ways, uncovering anxieties and treating them analytically through visual means. (André Breton Artist Overview and Analysis). For the painters in the movement, there were to main styles that were constructed under the umbrella of Surrealism. One style was a depiction of real life in an unusual or striking manner, painters in favor of this style include Salvador Dali and Tanguy. The other style is called automatism, where an artist suppresses conscious control over the making process, allowing the unconscious mind to have more control. Automatism includes, doodling, collage, frottage, decalcomania, and grattage. These techniques help assist the artist in creating the extreme outlandish imagery. Artist Miro, Ernst, and Arp used these techniques to create their work. It wasn’t uncommon for these artists to use both hyperrealism and automatism in one piece (André Breton Artist Overview and Analysis). Great Masturbator by Salvador Dali (1929) This piece shows the head of a woman at the crotch of a man. The man has cuts on his knees, which gives insight to his stifled sexuality. Dali commonly used bugs such as grasshopper and ants consistently in his work. In this piece; Ants give the elusion of decay and death, and an egg symbolizes fertility. It is interesting that decay, death, and fertility are the underlying subject of this work; clearly showing that world war one had an eminent presence in surrealism artwork. Several of Salvador Dali’s paintings feature a desolate land that is both realistic, familiar but also dreamlike, each piece symbolizes different political or social issues of the time. This concludes the surrealism style, concepts, techniques and artists involved in painting during this movement (Salvador Dalí Artist Overview and Analysis). Surrealism took an interesting and new strategy of 3-demensional objects. The strategy behind making an object surreal was to displace the object from its original use to create and unexpected new meaning of the object. This allowed the object to be called into question and for society as a whole to be called into question. Mundane things presented in unexpected ways had the power to challenge reason, to urge the inhibited and uninitiated. Ma Gouvernante (My Nurse) by Meret Oppenheim (1936) In this example, used high heels are tied up on a silver platter; chef hats lie upon the heel of the shoe. The object clearly imitates an oven-baked chicken, lying on a silver platter. The shoe is white which symbolizes purity but they are scuffed symbolizing dirtiness, displaying the fine line between female sexuality and being merely the object of male desire. This object also suggests cannibalism and bondage. Meret Oppenheim was a female artist and so her version of surrealism clearly calls the objectification of women into question. The object is titled “My Nurse” it is believed that symbolically this object was presenting a nursemaid tied up against her will. While this piece was being exhibited, in Paris in 1936, a female spectator became enraged by the symbolism and shattered the piece. Oppenheim’s work created controversy because it often connected women with being objects and she received heavy criticism throughout her career (Meret Oppenheim Artist Overview and Analysis). The next group of surrealist artists with an interesting style concept and imagery are the photographers. Surrealist photographers occupied a big role in the movement, because photography has a particular ease that allows an artist to create uncanny and jarring images. Most notable, was photographer Man Ray.