Surrealism And The Sacred

Author : Celia Rabinovitch
Publisher : Westview Press
ISBN 13 : 9780813341583
Total Pages : 312 pages
Book Rating : 4.82/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Surrealism And The Sacred written by Celia Rabinovitch and published by Westview Press. This book was released on 2003-07-31 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From archaic fetishism, found objects, dream images and free association, Surrealist artists and writers—such as Giorgio de Chirico, Max Ernst, Salvador Dali, Meret Oppenheim and Wolfgang Paalen – transformed the ordinary into the extraordinary by deliberately evoking the ambivalence of sacred power. Surrealism and the Sacred traces the conflict between the secular and sacred forces from prehistory and paganism through the Renaissance and the occult revival of the 19th century to the Surrealist movement of the 20th century. Against the tyranny of reason and the European bourgeoisie, Surrealists drew from occultism, Asian religions and mysticism, and psychoanalysis to create an uncanny and creative state of mind that continues to have a profound effect on the modern imagination. This remarkable book challenges conventional assumptions about modern art and its larger meanings in the history of knowledge.

Author : Celia Rabinovitch
Publisher : Westview Press
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 328 pages
Book Rating : 4.74/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Surrealism And The Sacred written by Celia Rabinovitch and published by Westview Press. This book was released on 2002-04-14 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A vital new interpretation of the personalities, historical forces and intellectual paradigms that created Surrealist art

Author : Vivienne Brough-Evans
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317060164
Total Pages : 252 pages
Book Rating : 4.61/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Sacred Surrealism, Dissidence and International Avant-Garde Prose written by Vivienne Brough-Evans and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-05-05 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Vivienne Brough-Evans proposes a compelling new way of reevaluating aspects of international surrealism by means of the category of divin fou, and consequently deploys theories of sacred ecstasy as developed by the Collège de Sociologie (1937–39) as a critical tool in shedding new light on the literary oeuvre of non-French writers who worked both within and against a surrealist framework. The minor surrealist genre of prose literature is considered herein, rather than surrealism's mainstay, poetry, with the intention of fracturing preconceptions regarding the medium of surrealist expression. The aim is to explore whether International surrealism can begin to be more fully explained by an occluded strain of 'dissident' surrealist thought that searches outside the self through the affects of ekstasis. Bretonian surrealism is widely discussed in the field of surrealist studies, and there is a need to consider what is left out of surrealist practice when analysed through this Bretonian lens. The Collège de Sociologie and Georges Bataille's theories provide a model of such elements of 'dissident' surrealism, which is used to analyse surrealist or surrealist influenced prose by Alejo Carpentier, Leonora Carrington and Gellu Naum respectively representing postcolonial, feminist and Balkan locutions. The Collège and Bataille's 'dissident' surrealism diverges significantly from the concerns and approach towards the subject explored by surrealism. Using the concept of ekstasis to organise Bataille's theoretical ideas of excess and 'inner experience' and the Collège's thoughts on the sacred it is possible to propose a new way of reading types of International surrealist literature, many of which do not come to the forefront of the surrealist literary oeuvre.

Author : Vivienne Brough-Evans
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317060156
Total Pages : 282 pages
Book Rating : 4.54/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Sacred Surrealism, Dissidence and International Avant-Garde Prose written by Vivienne Brough-Evans and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-05-05 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Vivienne Brough-Evans proposes a compelling new way of reevaluating aspects of international surrealism by means of the category of divin fou, and consequently deploys theories of sacred ecstasy as developed by the Collège de Sociologie (1937–39) as a critical tool in shedding new light on the literary oeuvre of non-French writers who worked both within and against a surrealist framework. The minor surrealist genre of prose literature is considered herein, rather than surrealism's mainstay, poetry, with the intention of fracturing preconceptions regarding the medium of surrealist expression. The aim is to explore whether International surrealism can begin to be more fully explained by an occluded strain of 'dissident' surrealist thought that searches outside the self through the affects of ekstasis. Bretonian surrealism is widely discussed in the field of surrealist studies, and there is a need to consider what is left out of surrealist practice when analysed through this Bretonian lens. The Collège de Sociologie and Georges Bataille's theories provide a model of such elements of 'dissident' surrealism, which is used to analyse surrealist or surrealist influenced prose by Alejo Carpentier, Leonora Carrington and Gellu Naum respectively representing postcolonial, feminist and Balkan locutions. The Collège and Bataille's 'dissident' surrealism diverges significantly from the concerns and approach towards the subject explored by surrealism. Using the concept of ekstasis to organise Bataille's theoretical ideas of excess and 'inner experience' and the Collège's thoughts on the sacred it is possible to propose a new way of reading types of International surrealist literature, many of which do not come to the forefront of the surrealist literary oeuvre.

Author : Tessel M. Bauduin
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 135137902X
Total Pages : 290 pages
Book Rating : 4.21/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Surrealism, Occultism and Politics written by Tessel M. Bauduin and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-10-16 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume examines the relationship between occultism and Surrealism, specifically exploring the reception and appropriation of occult thought, motifs, tropes and techniques by Surrealist artists and writers in Europe and the Americas, from the 1920s through the 1960s. Its central focus is the specific use of occultism as a site of political and social resistance, ideological contestation, subversion and revolution. Additional focus is placed on the ways occultism was implicated in Surrealist discourses on identity, gender, sexuality, utopianism and radicalism.

Author : Georges Bataille
Publisher : Verso
ISBN 13 : 9780860914198
Total Pages : 236 pages
Book Rating : 4.94/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Absence of Myth written by Georges Bataille and published by Verso. This book was released on 1994 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For Bataille, 'the absence of myth' had itself become the myth of the modern age. In a world that had 'lost the secret of its cohesion', Bataille saw surrealism as both a symptom and the beginning of an attempt to address this loss. His writings on this theme are the result of profound reflection in the wake of World War Two. The Absence of Myth is the most incisive study yet made of surrealism, insisting on its importance as a cultural and social phenomenon with far-reaching consequences. Clarifying Bataille's links with the surrealist movement, and throwing revealing light on his complex and greatly misunderstood relationship with Andre Breton, The Absence of Myth shows Bataille to be a much more radical figure than his postmodernist devotees would have us believe: a man who continually tried to extend Marxist social theory; a pessimistic thinker, but one as far removed from nihilism as can be. Introduced and translated by Michael Richardson.

Author : Patrick Lepetit
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1620551764
Total Pages : 544 pages
Book Rating : 4.69/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Esoteric Secrets of Surrealism written by Patrick Lepetit and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-04-24 with total page 544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A profound understanding of the surrealists’ connections with alchemists and secret societies and the hermetic aspirations revealed in their works • Explains how surrealist paintings and poems employed mythology, gnostic principles, tarot, voodoo, alchemy, and other hermetic sciences to seek out unexplored regions of the mind and recover lost “psychic” and magical powers • Provides many examples of esoteric influence in surrealism, such as how Picasso’s Demoiselles d’Avignon was originally titled The Bath of the Philosophers Not merely an artistic or literary movement as many believe, the surrealists rejected the labels of artist and author bestowed upon them by outsiders, accepting instead the titles of magician, alchemist, or--in the case of Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo--witch. Their paintings, poems, and other works were created to seek out unexplored regions of the mind and recover lost “psychic” and magical powers. They used creative expression as the vehicle to attain what André Breton called the “supreme point,” the point at which all opposites cease to be perceived as contradictions. This supreme point is found at the heart of all esoteric doctrines, including the Great Work of alchemy, and enables communication with higher states of being. Drawing on an extensive range of writings by the surrealists and those in their circle of influence, Patrick Lepetit shows how the surrealists employed mythology, gnostic principles, tarot, voodoo, and alchemy not simply as reference points but as significant elements of their ongoing investigations into the fundamental nature of consciousness. He provides many specific examples of esoteric influence among the surrealists, such as how Picasso’s famous Demoiselles d’Avignon was originally titled The Bath of the Philosophers, how painter Victor Brauner drew from his father’s spiritualist vocation as well as the Kabbalah and tarot, and how doctor and surrealist author Pierre Mabille was a Freemason focused on finding initiatory paths where “it is possible to feel a new system connecting man with the universe.” Lepetit casts new light on the connection between key figures of the movement and the circle of adepts gathered around Fulcanelli. He also explores the relationship between surrealists and Freemasonry, Martinists, and the Elect Cohen as well as the Grail mythos and the Arthurian brotherhood.

Author : Nadia Choucha
Publisher : Inner Traditions / Bear & Co
ISBN 13 : 9780892813735
Total Pages : 156 pages
Book Rating : 4.33/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Surrealism and the Occult written by Nadia Choucha and published by Inner Traditions / Bear & Co. This book was released on 1992-10 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Searching for a deeper understanding of the power and influence of surrealist art, Nadia Choucha clearly confirms that many surrealists and their predecessors were steeped in magical ideas. The Theosophical involvement of Kandinsky, the visionary paintings of Salvador Dali, the alchemy of Pablo Picasso, and the shamanism of Max Ernst and Leonora Carrington all demonstrate the fundamental and dynamic impact of magic and mysticism on surrealism. Surrealist artists believed that society had much to learn from the unconditioned, spontaneous forms of art produced by spiritual mediums, children, untutored artists, and the insane. In their attempt to tap the unconscious regions of the mind, the surrealists borrowed imagery from alchemy, the Tarot, Gnosticism, Tantra, and other esoteric traditions and sought inspiration from ancient myths, 'irrational' thought, and ethnic art. Enhanced by both color and black-and-white reproductions of fine art, Choucha's account explains the intimate connections between occult and surrealist philosophies and provides an essential key to the mysteries of the surrealist movement and the forces that give it life" --Back cover.

Author : M. E. Warlick
Publisher : University of Texas Press
ISBN 13 : 0292756542
Total Pages : 340 pages
Book Rating : 4.40/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Max Ernst and Alchemy written by M. E. Warlick and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2013-05-01 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Surrealist artist Max Ernst defined collage as the "alchemy of the visual image." Students of his work have often dismissed this comment as simply a metaphor for the transformative power of using found images in a new context. Taking a wholly different perspective on Ernst and alchemy, however, M. E. Warlick persuasively demonstrates that the artist had a profound and abiding interest in alchemical philosophy and often used alchemical symbolism in works created throughout his career. A revival of interest in alchemy swept the artistic, psychoanalytic, historical, and scientific circles of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and Warlick sets Ernst's work squarely within this movement. Looking at both his art (many of the works she discusses are reproduced in the book) and his writings, she reveals how thoroughly alchemical philosophy and symbolism pervade his early Dadaist experiments, his foundational work in surrealism, and his many collages and paintings of women and landscapes, whose images exemplify the alchemical fusing of opposites. This pioneering research adds an essential key to understanding the multilayered complexity of Ernst's works, as it affirms his standing as one of Germany's most significant artists of the twentieth century.

Author : George Melly
Publisher : Thames & Hudson
ISBN 13 : 9780500236239
Total Pages : 159 pages
Book Rating : 4.32/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Paris and the Surrealists written by George Melly and published by Thames & Hudson. This book was released on 1991 with total page 159 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: