Surrealism is an intellectual and philosophical movement that emerged out of Dadasim after World War I. The center for this radical movement was, of course, Paris. The production of art was viewed as a mere artifact of the real expression of mental emotions to André Bréton: who wrote the Surrealist Manifesto. He describes the movement as the pure psychic automatism expressed in the real functionality of a person. Surrealistic art forms characteristically differ from the conventional forms in not having specific shape or idea. It can be the expression of basic human instinct and imaginative faculties of the unconscious mind.
Surrealist photographs are described as the images, which symbolically represent dreams, night mares, intoxication, sexual ecstasy, hallucination and madness. The difficulty with photography medium is that it imbibes the reality, and often the real images cannot be sufficient to express such unconventional patterns. But, the great surrealist photographers are able to fulfill the task since they can use the photographic techniques effectively. The evolution of photography was largely affected by surrealism.
LA SUBVERSION DES IMAGES, SURRÉALISME, PHOTOGRAPHIE, FILM:
This exhibition will present an outstanding survey of the surrealist photography and will bring together about 400 works of art: a selection of prints by Man Ray, Hans Bellmer, Claude Cahun, Raoul Ubac, Jacques-André Boiffard, Maurice Tabard will rub shoulders with unseen images, revealing the numerous surrealist uses of photography.
The public will also discover misread corpus of collage by artists such as Paul Eluard, André Breton, Antonin Artaud or Georges Hugnet, the photographic games of Leo Malet or Victor Brauner and a highlight on personalities like Artür Harfaux or Benjamin Fondane.
Series of movies and short films directed by surrealistic artists like Luis Bunuel, Man Ray or Germaine Dulac will be shown as part of the exhibition.
This exhibition questions the uses of photography and animated image by the surrealists and presents to the public a photographic culture of surrealism.
LA SUBVERSION DES IMAGES, SURRÉALISME, PHOTOGRAPHIE, FILM:
23/09/09 - 11/01/2010. Everyday, except Tuesday, from 11am 9pm.
Centre Pompidou, Place George Pompidou, 75004 Paris
+33 (0)1 44 78 12 33
image: May Ray, Tears. 1930
-david
