Surrealism and Painting - Softcover

Andre Breton

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0878466282 ISBN 13: 9780878466283

Publisher: MFA Publications, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2002

Synopsis

Originally published in 1928 and augmented throughout the author's life, Surrealism and Painting is the single most important statement ever written on Surrealist art. While many pages have been devoted to visual Surrealism, this is the only book on the subject by the movement's founder and prime theorist. It contains André Breton's seminal treatise on the origins and foundations of artistic Surrealism, with his trenchant assessments of its precursors and practitioners, and his call for the plastic arts to "refer to a purely internal model," to excavate the "dark continent" of consciousness. Also included are essays--many of them classics in their own right--on Picasso, Duchamp, Kahlo, Dali, Ernst, Masson, Gorky, Picabia, Miro, Magritte, Kandinsky, Hantai and others, as well as pieces on Gallic art, outsider art and the folk arts of Haiti and Oceania. But above and beyond the subject matter, what makes this book so enduringly compelling is Breton's signature mixture of rigorous erudition and visceral passion, his sense of art as adventure, and his discoveries of many of Modernism's most prominent figures early in their careers. Long unavailable in English, Surrealism and Painting is not only a supremely exciting work of art criticism, but also one of the three or four indispensable references for any serious discussion of modern art.

About this title

About the Author:

André Breton (1896-1966) was the founder of the Surrealist movement, and its leading exponent. His works include the Manifestoes of Surrealism (1924), several volumes of poetry and essays, and the autobiographical narrative Nadja (1928).

Language Notes:

Text: English, French (translation)

About this edition

• Publisher: MFA Publications, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0878466282
• ISBN 13: 9780878466283
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 448