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Surrealist Manifesto

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Surrealism

The Surrealist Manifesto refers to several publications by Yvan Goll and André Breton, prior leaders of rival surrealist groups. Goll and Breton both published manifestos in October 1924 titled Manifeste du surréalisme. Breton wrote a second manifesto in 1929, which was published the following year, and a third in 1942.[1][2]

History[edit]

Yvan Goll, Surréalisme, Manifeste du surréalisme,[3] Volume 1, Number 1, October 1, 1924, cover by Robert Delaunay

By 1924, two rival surrealist groups had formed, each claiming to be a successor of the legacy of Guillaume Apollinaire. One group, led by Yvan Goll, included Pierre Albert-Birot, Paul Dermée, Céline Arnauld, Francis Picabia, Tristan Tzara, Giuseppe Ungaretti, Pierre Reverdy, Marcel Arland, Joseph Delteil, Jean Painlevé and Robert Delaunay.[4] The other group, led by Breton, included Louis Aragon, Robert Desnos, Paul Éluard, Jacques Baron, Jacques-André Boiffard, Jean Carrive, René Crevel, and Georges Malkine.[5]

Goll published his Manifeste du surréalisme on October 1, 1924, in the only issue of the journal Surréalisme.[3] Two weeks later, on October 15, Breton's Manifeste du surréalisme was published by Éditions du Sagittaire.

Goll and Breton's conflicting beliefs led to a fight at the Comédie des Champs-Élysées over the rights to the term surrealism.[4] Later sources describe Breton and having won.[6][7][2][1] Many surrealists accepted Breton's definition while holding individual beliefs on the issues and goals of the movement.[8][9]

Breton's 1924 manifesto[edit]

André Breton, Manifeste du surréalisme, Éditions du Sagittaire, October 15, 1924

Breton's first manifesto defines surrealism as

Psychic automatism in its pure state, by which one proposes to express—verbally, by means of the written word, or in any other manner—the actual functioning of thought. Dictated by thought, in the absence of any control exercised by reason, exempt from any aesthetic or moral concern.[10][11]

The text includes examples of applications of surrealism in poetry and literature and maintains that it tenants can be applied outside of the arts. Breton notes hypnagogia as a surreal state and the dream as a source of inspiration. The manifesto concludes that surrealism is non-conformist in nature and does not follow defined rules. It was written in an absurdist manner influenced by Dadaism.

The manifesto references the works of Marquis de Sade, Charles Baudelaire, Arthur Rimbaud, Comte de Lautréamont, Raymond Roussel, and Dante as precursors to surrealism and the poetry of Philippe Soupault, Paul Éluard, Robert Desnos and Louis Aragon as surrealist.

The manifesto named Louis Aragon, André Breton, Robert Desnos, Paul Éluard, Jacques Baron, Jacques-André Boiffard, Jean Carrive, René Crevel and Georges Malkine as members of the surrealist movement.[12]

Later manifestos of Breton[edit]

In 1929, Breton asked Surrealists to assess their "degree of moral competence" and, along with other theoretical refinements, issued the Second Manifeste du Surréalisme (1930).[2] The manifesto excommunicated Surrealists reluctant to commit to collective action: Baron, Robert Desno, Boiffard, Michel Leiris, Raymond Queneau, Jacques Prévert and André Masson. A prière d'insérer (printed insert) was published with the manifesto. The insert was signed by the Surrealists who both remained loyal to Breton and agreed to participate in Surrealism at the Service of the Revolution. This was a new publication.

Participating Surrealists loyal to Breton included Maxime Alexander, Louis Aragon, Joe Bousquet, Luis Buñuel, René Char, René Crevel, Salvador Dalí, Paul Eluard, Max Ernst, Marcel Fourrier, Camille Goemans, Paul Nougé, Benjamin Péret, Francis Ponge, Marko Ristić, Georges Sadoul, Yves Tanguy, André Thirion, Tristan Tzara and Albert Valentin.[13] Along with Ristić, the Belgrade surrealists grouped around Nadrealista Danas i Ovde were aligned with Breton.[14]

Desnos and others, thrown out by Breton, moved to the periodical Documents. It was edited by Georges Bataille, whose anti-idealist materialism produced a hybrid Surrealism exposing the base instincts of humans.[15][16]

Breton wrote another manifesto on Surrealism in 1942.[1]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "Breton, André (1896 - 1966) | The Bloomsbury Guide to Art - Credo Reference". search.credoreference.com. Archived from the original on 2023-08-17. Retrieved 2023-08-17.
  2. ^ a b c Foundation, Poetry (2023-08-16). "André Breton". Poetry Foundation. Archived from the original on 2023-06-03. Retrieved 2023-08-17.
  3. ^ a b "Surréalisme, Manifeste du surréalisme, Volume 1, Number 1, 1 October 1924, Blue Mountain Project". Archived from the original on 1 January 2016. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  4. ^ a b Gérard Durozoi, An excerpt from History of the Surrealist Movement, Chapter Two, 1924-1929, Salvation for Us Is Nowhere, translated by Alison Anderson, University of Chicago Press, pp. 63–74, 2002 Archived 2016-08-09 at the Wayback Machine ISBN 978-0-226-17411-2
  5. ^ André Breton, Manifestoes of Surrealism, transl. Richard Seaver and Helen R. Lane (Ann Arbor, 1971), p. 26.
  6. ^ "Matthew S. Witkovsky, Surrealism in the Plural: Guillaume Apollinaire, Ivan Goll and Devětsil in the 1920s, 2004" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2017-11-08.
  7. ^ Eric Robertson, Robert Vilain, Yvan Goll – Claire Goll: Texts and Contexts, Rodopi, 1997 Archived 2023-10-13 at the Wayback Machine ISBN 0854571833
  8. ^ "Man Ray / Paul Eluard – Les Mains libres (1937) – Qu'est-ce que le surréalisme ?". Archived from the original on 2017-11-08. Retrieved 2017-11-08.
  9. ^ Denis Vigneron, La création artistique espagnole à l'épreuve de la modernité esthétique européenne, 1898–1931, Editions Publibook, 2009 Archived 2023-10-13 at the Wayback Machine ISBN 2748348346
  10. ^ "Surrealism Archived 2016-10-19 at the Wayback Machine". MOMA Learning, accessed 18 Oct. 2016.
  11. ^ "[1] Archived 2023-08-16 at the Wayback Machine". "Manifesto of Surrealism, English translation," accessed 16 Aug. 2023
  12. ^ 'André Breton, Manifestoes of Surrealism, transl. Richard Seaver and Helen R. Lane (Ann Arbor, 1971), p. 26.
  13. ^ Gérard Durozoi, History of the Surrealist Movement, transl. Alison Anderson (Chicago, 2002), p. 193.
  14. ^ Todic, Milanka (2002). Impossible: Art of Surrealism. Belgrade: Museum of Applied Art. Archived from the original on 2021-05-09. Retrieved 2020-12-27.
  15. ^ Dawn Adès, with Matthew Gale: "Surrealism", The Oxford Companion to Western Art. Ed. Hugh Brigstocke. Oxford University Press, 2001. Grove Art Online. Oxford University Press, 2007. Accessed March 15, 2007, http://www.groveart.com/ Archived 2008-08-21 at the Wayback Machine
  16. ^ Surrealist Art Archived 2012-09-18 at the Wayback Machine from Centre Pompidou. Accessed March 20, 2007

External links[edit]

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