Surrealism
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Surrealism was a 20th century art and cultural movement that began in the mid-1920s in Europe, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members. The works feature the element of surprise, unexpected juxtapositions and non sequitur, however many Surrealist artists and writers regard their work as an expression of the philosophical movement first and foremost with the works being an artefact, and leader André Breton was explicit in his assertion that Surrealism was above all a revolutionary movement. From the Dada activities of World War I Surrealism was formed with the most important center of the movement in Paris and from the 1920s spreading around the globe.
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Origin of the term
In May 1917, Guillaume Apollinaire coined the term "Surrealism" in the program notes describing the ballet Parade which was a collaborative work by Jean Cocteau, Erik Satie, Pablo Picasso and Léonide Massine:
- "From this new alliance, for until now stage sets and costumes on one side and choreography on the other had only a sham bond between them, there has come about, in Parade, a kind of super-realism ('sur-réalisme'), in which I see the starting point of a series of manifestations of this new spirit ('esprit nouveau')."
Bataillean vs Bretonian Surrealism
Breton was obviously the driving force behind surrealism, and he ran the movement in a dicatorial style, even expelling several of its members. Several of these ex-members started adhering to Georges Bataille's subversive "Bataillean" surrealism and the latter's journal Documents.
Surrealism and comedy
Some branches of comedy (chiefly British, and also Japanese) are known for being very surreal. Perhaps the most famous example of Surrealist comedy can be seen in the late 1960s-early 1970s British sketch show Monty Python. Also influential as an earlier example of British satire was Beyond the Fringe a British comedy stage revue written and performed in London from 1960 through 1966, and in New York from 1962 through 1964, by Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett and Jonathan Miller. The original cast was replaced in London after 1964.
During the mid-1990s the American television program Mr. Show on HBO and Comedy Central has been described as surreal and its main performers have acknowledged being highly influenced by Monty Python on Mr. Show's DVD commentaries.
See also
- Surrealism and comedy
- Impact of Surrealism
- Surrealism and theatre
- Sade's influence on Surrealism in the twentieth century
- Timeline of surrealism and dada
- Surrealism and international politics
- Belgian surrealism
- International Surrealist Exhibition
- Surrealist groups
- Surrealism and film
- Surrealism (music)
- Surrealism in literature
- Surrealist photography
- Surrealist Manifesto
- The Waking Dream, surrealism avant la lettre in masterprints
- Sade / Surreal
- What is Surrealism?, a 1934 lecture by André Breton.
- Surréalisme et sexualité (1971) by Xavière Gauthier