Photography in Post-War Surrealist Journals
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Northumbria Research Link Citation: Donkin, Hazel (2010) Surrealism, photography and the periodical press: an investigation into the use of photography in surrealist publications (1924 - 1969) with specific reference to themes of sexuality and their interaction with commercial photographic images of the period. Doctoral thesis, Northumbria University. This version was downloaded from Northumbria Research Link: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/2584/ Northumbria University has developed Northumbria Research Link (NRL) to enable users to access the University’s research output. Copyright © and moral rights for items on NRL are retained by the individual author(s) and/or other copyright owners. 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The full policy is available online: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/policies.html Surrealism, Photography and the periodical Press: An investigation into the use of photography in surrealist publications (1924 — 1969) with specific reference to themes of sexuality and their interaction with commercial photographic images of the period Hazel Donkin Ph D 2009 Volume 1 of 2 Surrealism, Photography and the periodical Press: An investigation into the use of photography in surrealist publications (1924 — 1969) with specific reference to themes of sexuality and their interaction with commercial photographic images of the period Hazel Donkin A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Northumbria at Newcastle for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Arts and Social Sciences September 2009 Abstract This thesis examines the use of photographs in surrealist publications in Paris between 1924 and 1969, analysing how images functioned both in relation to surrealism and a wider cultural, social and political context. The thesis contends that developments in the illustrated press had a substantial impact on surrealist publications and that commercial photographic practices were both exploited and subverted by the group. I defend this assertion by demonstrating how photographers associated with the surrealist movement in its formative years, were closely involved in the process by which the photographic image became a major means of communication. I argue that the surrealists were conscious that photography was central to the circulation of ideas and developed a radical notion of the illustration of text. The thesis examines how photographs used in surrealist publications were integrated into the complex surrealist project and how due to the currency in images in society, the medium offered opportunities for disruption. In each of the five chapters I examine the surrealist deployment of photographic images to articulate cultural and political radicalism. The thesis argues that the photographs published by the surrealists made an important contribution to contemporary discourse on sexuality This thesis makes an original contribution to knowledge as it expands the understanding of photographs published by the surrealist group by exploring their relationship to contemporary commercial images circulating in the press. It analyses works that have been marginalised, many of the images in the first two journals in the inter war period, the images in the illustrated books 1929, Banalité, Le septième face du dé and the images in the post war journals have been neglected as subjects of study. ii Contents Volume 1 Page List of illustrations iv Acknowledgements xi Author’s declaration xii Introduction 1 Chapter 1. Modernist photography and the periodical press in the 20 inter war period Chapter 2. The use of photography in La Révolution Surréaliste 38 Chapter 3. The function of photographic illustrations in Le Surréalisme au service de la Révolution 71 Chapter 4. Surrealism and sexuality in the 1930s: Photography in Minotaure and the illustrated books Facile, 1929, Le Septième Face du Dé, Mr Knife Miss Fork and Banalité 107 Chapter 5. Sexual Radicalism: Photography in the post-war Surrealist journals Médium, Le Surréalisme Même, BIEF and La Brèche 155 Conclusion 197 Appendix A. A translation of André Breton‟s „Il y aura une fois‟ 202 Appendix B. Extracts from Heinrich von Kleist‟s Penthesilea (1808) 207 Bibliography 210 Volume 2 Illustrations 1 iii List of illustrations Chapter One Fig 1 Man Ray (1930) Electricité, photogram commissioned by the Compagnie Parisienne de Distribution d‟Électricité . Fig 2 Man Ray (1934) Fashion shot for Harper‟s Bazaar „Paris over the airwaves‟. Chapter Two Fig 3 Man Ray (1925) Cover of La Révolution Surréaliste, no. 4. Fig 4 Advertisement for Cartier, Vogue (French Edition), December 1928, p 23. Fig 5 Front cover of La Révolution Sur réaliste, no. 1. Fig 6 Man Ray (1920) Enigma of Isidore Ducasse in La Révolution Surréaliste, no. 1, preface. Fig 7 Man Ray (1925) Kiki nude. La Révolution Surréaliste, no. 2, p 26 Fig 8 Man Ray (1925) Boulevard Edgard-Quinet, à minuit. La Révolution Surréaliste, no. 2, p 22. Fig 9 Uncredited collage, La Révolution Surréaliste, no. 2, p 31. Fig 10 Uncredited film still, La Révolution Surréaliste, no. 2, p 5. Fig 11 Cover of La Révolution Surréaliste, no. 2. Fig 12 Breton, A. „La Dernière Greve‟, La Révolution Surréaliste, no. 2, p 1. Fig 13 „Chroniques‟, uncredited photograph of „alligator show‟, La Révolution Surréaliste, no. 2, p 20. Fig 14 Uncredited photograph of speeding car, La Révolution Surréaliste, no. 2, p 30. Fig 15 Ingres, J-A-D, La Source (1856) and Nadar, Marie Christine Roux (1855). Fig 16 Man Ray (1924) Kiki. iv Fig 17 Portrait of J. D. Rockefeller, La Révolution Surréaliste, no. 6, p 28. Fig 18 Post card of Phyllis Hawer, La Révolution Surréaliste, no. 3, p 12. Fig 19 Arp, J. Un Homme, La Révolution Surréaliste, no. 6, p 25. Fig 20 Photograph of the jury of the Prix Fémina, La Révolution Surréaliste, no. 6, p 25. Fig 21 Magritte, photomontage of Palais Garnier, La Révolution Surréaliste, no. 12, p 46. Fig 22 Valentin, A. (1929) Monument aux Morts, La Révolution Surréaliste, no. 12, p 47. Fig 23 Photograph of overturned car, La Révolution Surréaliste, no. 12, p 56. Fig 24 Photograph „Maison-attentat‟, La Révolution Surréaliste, no. 12, p 25. Fig 25 Illustrations for „Mobiles inconscient du suicide‟, La Révolution Surréaliste, no. 12, pp. 43 - 43. Chapter Three Fig 26 Film still of Mayakovsky in He who was not born to money (1918). Le Surréalisme au service de la Révolution, no. 1. Fig 27 Luis Buñuel, As-tu froid ?, Le Surréalisme au service de la Révolution, no. 1. Fig 28 Luis Buñuel (1930), Parfois le dimanche, film still from L‟Age d‟Or, Le Surréalisme au service de la Révolution, no. 1. Fig 29 Man Ray, Lee Miller, Le Surréalisme au service de la Révolution, no. 1. Fig 30 Photograph of M. Parain reading Détéctive, Le Surréalisme au service de la Révolution, no. 2. Fig 31 Documentary photographs of the Soviet Internati nal Congress of children in Berlin, Le Surréalisme au service de la Révolution, no. 2. Fig 32 Portrait of Marie Costes, Le Surréalisme au service de la Révolution, no. 2. v Fig 33 „Response to the Prix Gringoire‟ , Le Surréalisme au service de la Révolution, no. 3. Fig 34 Man Ray (1929) Primacy of Matter over Thought, Le Surréalisme au service de la Révolution, no. 3. Fig 35 Montage of the Papin sisters, Le Surréalisme au service de la Révolution, no. 5. Fig 36 Police identification photographs of the Papin sisters (1933). Fig 37 Man Ray, Photograph produced for cover of pamphlet produced by the surrealist group in defence of Violette Nozière, 1933. Chapter Four Fig 38 Mask (Bali), Minotaure, no. 1. Fig 39 Brassaï (1933) Nude, Minotaure, no. 1. Fig 40 Heinz von Perckhammer (1934) Extase, Secrets de Paris, no. 6 Fig 41 Brassaï (1933) Nudes, Minotaure, no. 1. Fig 42 Dora Maar (1935) Assia with ring, Secrets de Paris, no. 9. Fig 43 Dora Maar (1934) Assia and her shadow, Secrets de Paris, no. 2. Fig 44 Man Ray (1935) Minotaure, Minotaure, no. 7. Fig 45 Rogi André (1934) L ‟Ondine (Jacqueline Lamba), Minotaure, no. 7. Fig 46 Illustration for Heine, „Regards sur l‟enfer anthropoclasique‟, Minotaure, no. 8. Fig 47 Illustration for Heine, „Regards sur l‟enfer anthropoclasique‟, Minotaure, no. 8. Fig 48 Illustration for Heine, „Regards sur l‟enfer anthropoclasique‟, Minotaure, no. 8. Fig 49 Man Ray (1935) Plate from Facile. Fig 50 Dora Maar (1934) Assia, L‟Art Vivant, October, 1934. Fig 51 Man Ray (1929) Spring, 1929. vi Fig 52 Man Ray (1929) Summer, 1929. Fig 53 Man Ray (1929) Autumn, 1929. Fig 54 Man Ray (1929) Winter, 1929. Fig 55 Cover of Voila, no. 7, 9 May, 1931. Fig 56 Cover of La Septième face du Dé (1936) Fig 57 Collage 6, La Septième face du Dé (1936) Fig 58 Paracelsus‟ Salamander Fig 59 Collage 1, La Septième face du Dé (1936) Fig 60 Collage 10, La Septième face du Dé (1936) Fig 61 Elizabeth Arden advertisement, Vogue, July 1927, p 53. Fig 62 Helena Rubenstein advertisement, Votre Beauté, no. 47, February 1936, p 17. Fig 63 Paramount photograph, Secrets de Paris, no. 8, 1934, p 354. Fig 64 Collage 19, La Septième face du Dé (1936) Fig 65 Collage 9, La Septième face du Dé (1936) Fig 66 Collage 12, La Septième face du Dé (1936) Fig 67 Collage 14, La Septième face du Dé (1936) Fig 68 Collage 20, La Septième face du Dé (1936) Fig 69 Collage 7, La Septième face du Dé (1936) Fig 70 Collage 15, La Septième face du Dé (1936) Fig 71 Collage 2, La Septième face du Dé (1936) Fig 72 Ernst, M.