Magritte - Softcover

[Magritte, Rene] Larkin, David (editor)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0345097734 ISBN 13: 9780345097736

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 1972

Synopsis

Rene Magritte, a master of fantastic art, was born in Lessines, Belgium in 1898, and despite the age in which he lived - the growth of mass media and mass communication - preferred to live his life in a small suburb of Brussels, painting what he liked to pain and caring little for the theories of his Surrealist contemporaries. The forth paintings illustrated in this book need no words - what Magritte did more than anything else was to p aint meticulously familliar, even personal objects, in unfamiliar, even startling settings - out of context at first sight in both time and place. If beauty lies in the eye of the beholder then so too does understanding - in the interpretation of Magritte's work the eye, the mind and the heart all compete without a fixed formula or equation but with equal claims.

About this title

Review

This installation of the Modern Master series surveys the work of Rene Magritte, one of the most enigmatic artists of the 20th century and an important figure in the surrealist movement. He combined the commonplace with the fantastic to become the master of "magic realism." Cloud-filled skies, bowler-hatted men, and oversized household objects are in abundance in the more than 60 full-color reproductions included in this volume.

About the Author

Rene Magritte was born RenE FranAois-Ghislain Magritte in 1898 in Belgium. In March of 1912, Magritte's mother killed herself by jumping into the river Sambre. The next year, the young artist met his future wife, Georgette Berger; the year after that he enrolled as a pupil at the Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels. In the early 1920s, Magritte served in the military, married Georgette, and worked as a graphic artist, primarily drawing motifs for wallpaper. De Chirico provided a strong early influence. Magritte's first painting, a portrait of singer Evelyne BrElia, was sold in 1923, and his first surrealist work, Le Jockey Perdu, was painted in 1926. His first exhibition was held in 1927; soon thereafter, he and Georgette moved near Paris and began to meet other surrealists like MirU, Eluard and Arp. His relationships with the surrealists only deepened over the following years: Magritte published his work in various surrealist journals, vacationed with the DalIs, and exhibited with Edward James. At different points during his mature career, he dramatically changed his painting style, only to return to his original surrealist ways. Magritte died in 1967.

Edition details

• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Publication date: 1972
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0345097734
• ISBN 13: 9780345097736
• Binding: Paperback
• Illustrator: 40 Color Illustrations
• Number of pages: 96