Synopsis
Now in Paperback Over the course of almost five decades, famed magazine publisher Daniel Filipacchi and record producer Nesuhi Ertegun assembled the most important grouping of Surrealist art in private hands. This extraordinary two-volume set captures the full range, paradoxical nature and fascinating aspects of Surrealism. Featuring works by leading figures of the movement such as Giorgio de Chirico, Joseph Cornell, Salvador Dal', Max Ernst, Rena Magritte, Man Ray and Yves Tanguy, this slipcased set is comprised almost entirely of full-page, full-color reproductions. Major paintings, sculpture, photographs, works on paper, rare books and off-the-cuff ephemera appear alongside complementary texts, creating a complete guide to one of the most intriguing movements in art history.
Review
This catalog of an exhibition at New York's Guggenheim Museum presents the collections of surrealist artifacts of two close friends: magazine publisher Daniel Filipacchi and record producer Nesuhi Ertegun. It's a lot of art for the money--14 pounds of sophisticated book design in two oversized slipcased volumes; 1,000 full-color images printed in Germany on high-quality coated paper; short but piquant essays by unusually articulate art historians. Paintings and constructions are shown in Volume 1; drawings, collages, photographs, significant doodles, even exquisite book bindings in Volume 2. Though the great icons of surrealism are not included, the size and range of the publication allow the luxury of illustrating unusually large numbers of original works, never seen before, by such artists as René Magritte (38 paintings), Max Ernst (17), Yves Tanguy (18), and Salvador Dalí (21), beside those of dozens of influential but lesser-known artists. Many worked in several media: for example, Man Ray is known for his photographs, but three imaginative and skillful paintings are also included here. Surrealism was an intellectual movement that affected almost all the arts except music and dance; it became synonymous with extreme artistic cleverness and invention, qualities in abundance here, with surprises on almost every page. A picture of the movement emerges that would not be possible in a work of lesser scale. The personalities of the individual poets and artists emerge from anecdotes in the essays and group photographs and portraits, together with a useful collection of condensed biographies at the end of Volume 2. Surrealism: Two Private Eyes delivers what its luxurious exterior promises. --John Stevenson
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