The Beribboned Bomb: The Image of Woman in Male Surrealist Art - Softcover

Belton, Robert J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1895176549 ISBN 13: 9781895176544

Publisher: University of Calgary Press, 1995

Synopsis

Surrealism was ostensibly directed at the emancipation of the human spirit, but it represented only male aspirations and fantasies until a number of women artists began to redefine its agenda in the later 1930s. This book addresses the former, using a "thick description" of the historically specific circumstances which required the male Surrealists to manufacture a sexual reputation of narcissism and misogyny. These circumstances were determined by "hegemonic masculinity," an ideological construct which had little to do with individual masculinities. In male Surrealism, the "beribboned bomb" signified something both attractive and volatile, a specific instance of the Surrealist principle of convulsive beauty. In hegemonic masculinity, similar devices served as metaphors of the sexuality all men were supposed to possess. The intersection of these two axes produced an imagery of unrepentant violence.

About this title

About the Author

Dr. Robert Belton has taught the history of art and aesthetic theory and criticism at McMaster University, the University of Western Ontario, and Queens University, where he received the Alma Mater Society Frank Knox Award for Teaching Excellence (1991-92) and the Arts and Science Undergraduate Society Award for Teaching Excellence (1991-92). Currently, he is an Associate Dean of Arts at Okanagan University College in Kelowna, B.C.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Calgary Press
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1895176549
• ISBN 13: 9781895176544
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 351