Surrealist Manifesto

Surrealism

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Two Surrealist Manifestos were issued by the Surrealist movement, in 1924 and 1929. The first was written by André Breton, the second was supervised by him. Breton drafted a third Surrealist manifesto which was never issued.

First manifesto

The first Surrealist manifesto was written by Breton and released to the public in 1924. The document 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 the thought, in the absence of any control exercised by reason, exempt from any aesthetic or moral concern."

The text includes numerous examples of the applications of Surrealism to poetry and literature, but makes it clear that its basic tenets can be applied to any circumstance of life; not merely restricted to the artistic realm. The importance of the dream as a reservoir of Surrealist inspiration is also highlighted.

Breton also discusses his initial encounter with the surreal in a famous description of a hypnagogic state that he experienced in which a strange phrase inexplicably appeared in his mind: "There is a man cut in two by the window." This phrase echoes Breton's apprehension of Surrealism as the juxtaposition of "two distant realities" united to create a new one.

The manifesto also refers to the numerous precursors of Surrealism that embodied the Surrealist spirit, including the Marquis de Sade, Charles Baudelaire, Arthur Rimbaud, Comte de Lautréamont, Raymond Roussel, and Dante. The works of several of his contemporaries in developing the Surrealist style in poetry are also quoted, including Philippe Soupault, Paul Éluard, Robert Desnos, and Louis Aragon.

The manifesto was written with a great deal of absurdist humor, demonstrating the influence of the Dada movement which preceded it.

The text concludes by asserting that Surrealist activity follows no set plan or conventional pattern, and that Surrealists are ultimately nonconformists.

Signers of the manifesto included Aragon, Breton, Desnos, Éluard, Antonin Artaud, Jacques Baron, Joe Bousquet, Jacques-André Boiffard, Jean Carrive, René Crevel, and Max Ernst.

Second manifesto

In 1930 Breton asked Surrealists to assess their "degree of moral competence", and along with other theoretical refinements issued the Second manifeste du surréalisme. The proclamation excluded Surrealists reluctant to commit to collective action: Baron, Desnos, Boiffard, Michel Leiris, Raymond Queneau, Jacques Prévert, and André Masson. They moved to the periodical Documents, edited by Georges Bataille, whose anti-idealist materialism produced a hybrid Surrealism exposing the base instincts of humans.^[1][2]

References

1. ^ Dawn Ades, 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/
2. ^ Surrealist Art from Centre Pompidou. Accessed March 20, 2007

External links

• Andre Breton's Surrealist Manifesto
• The Manifesto of Surrealism (1924)
• Complete text of the Surrealist Manifesto
• "9 Manuscripts by André Breton at Sotheby's Paris" (in English/français). ArtDaily.org. 2008-05-20. http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=23096.  cover, text