The History of Surrealism
by Maurice Nadeau
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"I believe," Andre Breton said, "in the future resolution of the states of dream and reality -- in appearance so contradictory -- in a sort of absolute reality, or surrealite." The Surrealist movement, born in the 1920s out of the ferment of Dada, committed to revolution against bourgeois rationalism, and inspired by Freudian exploration of the unconscious, has reverberated more widely and deeply than perhaps any other art movement in our century. Its automatism, biomorphic shapes, visionary show more mode, and manipulation of found objects mark the work of artists as different as Ernst, Miro, Magritte, and Dali. Maurice Nadeau's History of Surrealism, first published in French in 1944 and in English in 1965, has become a classic. It is both lucid and authoritative -- by far the best overall account of this complex movement. - Back cover. show lessTags
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Glad I read this; I learned a lot about surrealism's political side, and I'm actually a bit less enamored of it than I was before. Lost steam badly at the end, but, hey, so did surrealism.
Very comprehensive history of the movement largely based on the group's documents: manifestos, edicts, articles, and speeches. Unfortunately that means that the individual participants remain sketchy (Breton coming across the clearest) and there's next to nothing about the art. Still, an impressive feat, particularly since it came out in France in 1945, not the most amenable era for scholarly research.
Un livre clair et concis sur l'histoire de ce mouvement artistique que j'avais lu à l'IEP d'Aix-en-Provence, en 1986.
Oct 20, 2012French
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- Original title
- Histoire du Surréalisme suivi de documents du Surréalisme
- Original publication date
- 1945 (1e édition originale française, pour "Histoire du Surréalisme", Pierrees Vives, Seuil (1e édition originale française ∙ pour "Histoire du Surréalisme" ∙ Pierrees Vives ∙ Seuil) (1e édition originale française, pour "Histoire du Surréalisme", Pierrees Vives, Seuil | 1e édition originale française ∙ pour "Histoire du Surréalisme" ∙ Pierrees Vives ∙ Seuil); 1948 (Réédition avec Complément sous le titre "Histoire du surréalisme. Documents surréalistes", Pierres vives, Seuil) (Réédition avec Complément sous le titre "Histoire du surréalisme. Documents surréalistes", Pierres vives, Seuil)
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- Languages
- 6 — English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish
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- Paper
- ISBNs
- 15
- ASINs
- 11
