“International intellectual movement, which was centred mainly in Paris and occupied with the problems of thought and expression in all their forms. The Surrealists perceived a deep crisis in Western culture and responded with a revision of values at every level, inspired by the psychoanalytical discoveries of Freud and the political ideology of Marxism. In both poetry and the visual arts this revision was undertaken through the development of unconventional techniques, of which Automatism was paramount. The Parisian poets who formulated Surrealist theory and orientation were officially identified by André Breton’s Manifeste du surréalisme (1924), the essay ‘Une vague de rêves’ (October 1924) by Louis Aragon and the periodical La Révolution surréaliste, published two months later. Under Breton’s guidance, the movement remained potent up to World War II, surviving until his death in 1966.” The Grove Dictionary of Art.
For more on Surrealism, see:
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http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/glo/surrealism |
René Magritte (1898-1967)
“Belgian painter, draughtsman, printmaker, sculptor, photographer and filmmaker. He was one of the major figures of Surrealism and perhaps the greatest Belgian artist of the 20th century. […] Magritte played an important role in the foundation of the primarily literary Belgian Surrealist group in 1926. He was also active in the formation of the group’s theories, which were developed independently from those of the French Surrealists, with whom he became better acquainted while living in Paris and participating in their activities from 1927 to 1930. While the French strove for a transcendent experience of reality through the expression of the unconscious, Magritte tried to reach the same goal by consciously disrupting conventions for representing reality. Wishing the identity of each image to be perfectly clear, without the distraction of a particular style, he perfected a deadpan form of representation to which he adhered except for two short periods during the 1940s. In order to express his views about mysterious and inexplicable levels of experience beyond surface appearances, he changed the conventional order of objects, altered form, created new objects and redefined the relationship of words to images.” The Grove Dictionary of Art.
Here are some of Magritte’s best-known works:
“La trahison des images” (The Treachery of Images) (1928-29)
Los
Angeles Country Museum
This is one of Magritte’s many paradoxes. Though the image and the text are clearly related, it is difficult to say if what the texts claims is true or false. The “logic”, however, is clear: this “pipe” will never be smoked.
Here, now, is a Bizarro cartoon, based on this paradox.
Bizarro by Don Piraro
The
Globe and Mail, 24.03.97
And here is an advertisement which substitutes a cow for the famous pipe.
SAP America (1995)
Fortune Magazine, February 1996
Magritte himself was known to wear bowler hats and in many of his paintings, the male figure also wears one.
This particular painting multiplies the bowler-hatted figure.
“Golconde” (Golconda) (1953)
Menil Foundation,
Houston
And here are three advertisements which parody this painting.
The London Institute
Canadian
Art, Spring 2000, p. 91
Atlas Business Solutions
PC World, February
1996, p. 292
Jews for Jesus
U.S.
News & World Report, September 13, 1999
Now in this painting, a single male figure, wearing the ubiquitous bowler hat, has his face masked by a very large apple, another of Magritte’s favorite motifs.
“La Grande Guerre” (The Great War) (1964)
Private Collection, Paris
Here, now, is a recent appropriation of this image as a book cover illustration.
The Redundant Male
Jeremy
Cherfas & John Gribbin
The apple appears again in an earlier painting, where a realistically painted apple has assumed gigantic proportions.
“La chambre d’écoute” (The Listening Room) (1958)
Private
collection
Here, now, is one of a series of advertisements for Prosolve which uses the same formula.
Prosolve Carpet Cleaner
Modern
Woman, February 1997, inside back cover
Many of Magritte’s paintings defy the law of gravity. This is the most famous.
“Le château des Pyrénées” (Castle in the Pyrenees) (1961)
The Israel
Museum, Jerusalem
Here is one of many advertisements which follow a similar pattern.
Wine Art: Omaggio a Magritte (Hommage to Magritte)
Sotheby’s Preview, October 1999
To learn more about Magritte and to see more of his paintings, visit:
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http://www.magritte.com/2cfm |
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http://www.mcs.csuhayward.edu/~malek/Magrit.html |
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http://www.ocaiw.com/magritte.htm |