Surrealism

Literary Focus

Surrealism

Lesson Standards

10.1(A), 10.2(A), 10.2(B), 10.2(C), 10.3, 10.4(B), 10.4(E), 10.5(C), 10.5(D), 10.5(F), 10.5(G), 10.7(A), 10.9(C)

What will our learning look like today?

Language Objective

Learning Intention

I will use academic vocabulary related to surrealism and artistic expression in both written and verbal discussions.

Today, we will explore the world of surrealism, gaining an understanding of its origins and key features, and how it has influenced art and literature.

Success Criteria

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to define Surrealist Literature, analyze its characteristics, and interpret a Surrealist text.

Do Now:

• Here is some surrealist art
• What are your thoughts on the images?
• Jot your thoughts down in the chat!

Introduction

This informational text provides readers with background information about the historical and cultural context that gave rise to surrealism. As war dominated the beginning of the 20th century, artists responded to this bleak and violent landscape by turning inward, to a world of infinite possibility and creativity, of dreams and the unconscious mind. Inspired by the theories of Sigmund Freud, surrealist artists and writers like André Breton, Frida Kahlo, Salvador Dalí, and Guillaume Apollinaire experimented with strange new forms and styles. This period of surrealism in literature and the arts sought to transcend the limits of the conscious mind and provoke emotions in audiences around the world. *Watch StudySync Video

Vocabulary

bizarre

automatism

avant-garde

Noun the avoidance of conscious intention in producing works of art Loraine uses automatism when she creates her works of pottery.

adjective strange or unusual Jerry made a bizarre hat using things he found in the recycling bin.

adjective favoring new ideas (Origin: French) That building has an avant-garde design that makes it look out of place compared to the buildings that surround it.

Vocabulary

conscious

surreality

juxtaposition

adjective aware of one's surroundings; awake We knew she was conscious because she responded to our questions with the movement of her head.

noun the joining of outward reality with the dreams and fantasy from one’s unconscious mind The survivors of the crash described feelings of shock and surreality.

noun the act of placing different things together or side by side in order to compare or create an interesting effect The juxtaposition of the family photos on the wall made it easier to see the similarities between my relatives.

Vocabulary

unconscious adjective describes a process that is not actively controlled and happens without thinking Even though we don’t notice it, unconscious attention helps us see details around us and remember them later.

Surrealist Literature

Surrealist Literature is a literary movement that emerged in the early 20th century, characterized by its emphasis on the irrational and subconscious mind, dreamlike narratives, and unusual juxtapositions of ideas and images.

Have you ever been in a situation where you experienced something that was unexpected or strange—not frightening or dangerous—but just kind of weird or nonsensical? For example, you see a woman dressed in a Statue of Liberty costume buying oranges at the grocery store and it’s not Halloween. Or maybe you see a man wearing a top hat and walking a rooster on a leash in your neighborhood park. Afterward, as you think about what you saw or talk with friends, you say, “That was surreal.” What does it mean when something is surreal? A surreal experience doesn’t make sense. It’s not rational or logical. It is dream-like, fantastical, and without a clear meaning. But it evokes an emotional response. Today, we can apply the label surreal to incomprehensible experiences and artworks because of the artistic period known as surrealism. Surrealism: New Art for a Broken World At the end of the nineteenth century, western European nations were at the height of their powers. It was a time of prosperity—the cities of London, Paris, and Berlin were capitals of commerce and art. It was an age that prized rational thinking and realism above all else. However, the outbreak of World War I in 1914 shattered that world. Four years later, millions of people were dead, and land was scarred by trenches and battles. The artists and writers who emerged in the postwar period wanted a new way of thinking about the world and representing it in their art. They found their inspiration in the works of the German psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. By studying his patients’ dreams, Freud concluded that a person’s unconscious mind was as important as his or her conscious mind. According to Freud, the unconscious mind, with its bizarre dreams, hazy memories, and impolite impulses, deeply influences the way people

behave in the world. In 1924, French poet and critic André Breton took Freud’s idea of the unconscious versus conscious and applied it to art and literature. Breton believed that rational thought and realism kept artists and writers from accessing their creativity. As he explained in The Surrealist Manifesto, surreality was the joining of outward reality with the dreams and fantasy from one’s unconscious mind. Thus, surrealism became a movement of artists and writers who tapped into their unconscious minds to make art that was strange and fantastical. Surrealism lent itself well to the visual arts. Some artists, such as Salvador Dalí, René Magritte, Joan Miró, Paul Nash, and Max Ernst focused on painting, while others, like American photographer Man Ray and sculptor Jean Arp focused on other media. The work of these artists was often difficult to interpret and considered avant garde, or ahead of its time. Despite this difficulty, surrealism spread from its emergence in Europe in the 1920s around the world. The personal works of renowned Mexican artist Frida Kahlo and the elaborate collages and films of American artist Joseph Cornell were heavily shaped by the surrealists. Surrealists’ Style Each of the surrealists had a distinct style of exploring and expressing the unconscious, but ultimately they fell into two groups. Some, like Dalí and Magritte, created works that incorporated identifiable objects from the real world but arranged them in strange, often nightmarish scenes. A classic example is Dalí’s The Persistence of Memory, which features several clocks that appear to be melting in a desert setting. Viewers recognize the clocks but

the fact that they are melting and in a desert is irrational and unsettling. Magritte’s paintings are characterized by faceless men and women standing against a blue sky filled with white, fluffy clouds. Their faces are often obscured by a cloth or replaced by an object, such as an apple. First-time viewers usually experience confusion as they gaze at the images, and they struggle to make an interpretation. Other surrealists, like Miró and Arp preferred to create surreal art that they considered “organic” or “absolute.” Their works mixed abstract shapes, colorful blobs, and chaotic lines that evoke a strong response in viewers and can not be easily described or interpreted. Max Ernst’s Ubu Imperator reflects these features. Comprised of a red, tower-like structure with arms that seems to be spinning on a top, this painting defies easy interpretation. The great Spanish artist Pablo Picasso’s style was partly borrowed from and reinforced by the surrealists. Picasso did not need to tap into his unconscious to unleash his creative genius, yet one of his most memorable works, Guernica, which he painted in 1937, is considered a surrealist masterpiece. Painted in black and white like a photograph, it combines disturbing symbols, such as a bull’s head and a wounded horse, and contorted human-like figures to convey the pain and betrayal of the bombardment of a Spanish town by Nazi and Italian forces. Like Guernica, Paul Nash represents the chaos of war in his painting Totes Meer (German for “Dead Sea”). He depicts an aircraft graveyard from World War II as a sea of metal plane parts, with wings replacing waves breaking against the shore.

Many surrealist artists were also writers. Like surrealist art, surrealist poetry was deeply influenced by the unconscious. The poetry was characterized by the juxtaposition or unexpected placement of contrasting words, ideas, and symbols. The effect of the juxtaposition was surprising. For example, Breton’s poem “Freedom of Love” describes his wife by juxtaposing unusual and unsettling imagery: “My wife with the hair of a wood fire ...With the waist of an otter in the teeth of a tiger.” Breton and Dalí used automatic writingor automatism to tap into their unconscious minds. Automatic writing might be compared to freewriting. The result is often chaotic and full of bizarre descriptions and incomplete or meandering sentences, as in Dali’s partly fictional autobiography. French poet and writer Guillaume Apollinaire actually coined the term ‘sur-realism’ and his book of poetry, Calligrammes, is considered one of the most important of the twentieth century. Apollinaire’s surrealist poems are known for their unusual shapes, as the construction of the lines often mirrors the content of the poem. For instance, in the calligramme “La Colombe Poignardée et le Jet D’Eau,” which translates to ‘The Stabbed Dove and the Fountain of Water,’ the lines form the shape of a dove and a fountain of water. In Apollinaire’s poem “Visée,” or ‘Aim,’ about warfare, the lines spread across the page like bullets emanating from a fortress. Major Concepts

• The Conscious and The Unconscious —By emphasizing dream and fantasy elements in their work, surrealist artists attempted to bridge the real world and the unconscious. Surrealists drew on Sigmund Freud’s theories about the unconscious mind that were based on his work with dreams.
• Representing the Unconscious —Surrealist painters, sculptors, and photographers created visual works using imagery that defied interpretation and even description. Surrealist writers invented bizarre or illogical plot events and dreamlike descriptions that defied readers’ expectations.

Style and Form Real Versus Surreal —Some surrealist artwork featured clear and obvious representations of objects and people from the real world. For example, Dalí’s work often includes landscapes and natural objects. Magritte’s work incorporated recognizable human forms. Surrealist artists and writers incorporated imagery and metaphors that were outlandish, complicated, strange, and shocking. Breaking from Tradition —Surrealist writers focused not on plot and other traditional genre characteristics; instead they focused on abstract, dreamlike, or fantasy language, imagery, and structures that defied logic and interpretation. Surrealist writing used bizarre juxtapositions of words and images to express contrasting and often inexplicable ideas.

Surrealism emerged in a world destroyed by war. Its followers rejected the philosophy, politics, and the artistic and literary principles of previous generations. They wanted to create art and literature that was absolute, pure, and a reflection of their unconscious minds. Surrealism thrived for two decades, but after a second world war, people craved stability, and the art world moved in a different direction. Some artists today, like the Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami and the American filmmaker David Lynch, continue to borrow dreamlike plots and fantastical characters and events from the surrealists. Many recent movies and shows incorporate these surrealistic elements to engage viewers and to reveal a character’s unconscious. As a consumer of popular culture, where do you notice the influence of surrealism?

Assignment