Surrealist artists

This book, featuring 74 color plates, focuses on Surrealism and Dadaism from the early 20th century, accompanied by brief notes that explain the artwork. In an Introduction, the author suggests that these two movements formed in response to the rapid development of technology and growing industrialization of society.

Of Surrealism the author notes:

“The programmatic Surrealists rejected the enjoyment of art. Occasionally the viewer is offered something that he can laugh at, but which on a second look may well turn to shock.”

Of Dadaism the author maintains:

“The fact that Dada wanted to shock the viewer was clear and initially was also successful. But the Dadaist aims were not restricted to the achievement of such reactions. They wanted a basic renewal of the world, but did not yet really know what they wanted in its stead, and so they left all possibilities open.”

The artists featured include Hans Arp, Marc Chagall, Salvador Dali, Jean Dubuffet, Max Ernst, Ernst Fuchs, Rene Magritte, Joan Miro, Jackson Pollock, and Man Ray, inter alia.

Their work remains today as fascinating, and often thought-provokingly enigmatic, as when they were first created. ( )