Two
Surrealist Manifestos were issued by the
Surrealist movementSurrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
, in 1924 and 1929, respectively. The first was written by
André BretonAndré Breton was a French writer, poet, and surrealist theorist, and is best known as the principal founder of Surrealism...
, the second was supervised by him. Breton drafted a third Surrealist Manifesto, which was never issued.
The first Surrealist manifesto was written by the French writer
André BretonAndré Breton was a French writer, poet, and surrealist theorist, and is best known as the principal founder of Surrealism...
and released to the public in 1924. The document defines
SurrealismSurrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
as:
- Psychic automatism
Automatism has taken on many forms: the automatic writing and drawing initially practiced by surrealists can be compared to similar, or perhaps parallel phenomena, such as the non-idiomatic improvisation of free jazz....
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.
Two
Surrealist Manifestos were issued by the
Surrealist movementSurrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
, in 1924 and 1929, respectively. The first was written by
André BretonAndré Breton was a French writer, poet, and surrealist theorist, and is best known as the principal founder of Surrealism...
, 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 the French writer
André BretonAndré Breton was a French writer, poet, and surrealist theorist, and is best known as the principal founder of Surrealism...
and released to the public in 1924. The document defines
SurrealismSurrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
as:
- Psychic automatism
Automatism has taken on many forms: the automatic writing and drawing initially practiced by surrealists can be compared to similar, or perhaps parallel phenomena, such as the non-idiomatic improvisation of free jazz....
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 reasonReason is the mental faculty that is able to generate conclusions from assumptions or premisses.Reason in this sense is often contrasted with authority, intuition, emotion, mysticism, superstition, and faith, and is thought by rationalists to be more reliable than these in discovering what is true...
, exempt from any aesthetic or moral concern.
The text includes numerous examples of the applications of
SurrealismSurrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
to poetry and literature, but makes it clear that the tenets of
SurrealismSurrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
can be applied in any circumstance of life, and is 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
SurrealismSurrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
as the juxtaposition of
two distant realities brought together to create a new, uncanny union.
The manifesto also refers to the numerous precursors of Surrealism that embodied the Surrealist spirit prior to his composing the manifesto, including such luminaries as the
Marquis de SadeDonatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade was a French aristocrat, revolutionary and writer. His works include novels, short stories, plays, and political tracts; in his lifetime some were published under his own name, while others appeared anonymously and Sade denied being their author...
,
Charles BaudelaireCharles Pierre Baudelaire was a nineteenth century French poet, critic, and translator. A controversial figure in his lifetime, Baudelaire's name has become a byword for literary and artistic decadence...
,
Arthur RimbaudJean Nicolas Arthur Rimbaud was a French poet, born in Charleville, Ardennes. As part of the decadent movement, his influence on modern literature, music and art has been enduring and pervasive...
, Lautréamont,
Raymond RousselRaymond Roussel was a French poet, novelist, playwright, musician, and chess enthusiast. Through his novels, poems, and plays he exerted a profound influence on certain groups within 20th century French literature, including the Surrealists, Oulipo, and the authors of the nouveau...
, and even back as far as
DanteDurante degli Alighieri , commonly known as Dante, was an Italian poet of the Middle Ages. His central work, the Divina Commedia , is often considered the greatest literary work composed in the Italian language and a masterpiece of world literature.In...
.
The works of several of his contemporaries in developing the Surrealist style in poetry are also quoted, including texts by
Philippe SoupaultPhilippe Soupault was a French writer and poet, novelist, critic, and political activist. He was characterized by the Dadaist style and later initiated the Surrealist style with André Breton...
,
Paul ÉluardPaul Éluard was the pen name of Eugène Émile Paul Grindel , a French poet who was one of the founders of the surrealist movement.-Biography:...
,
Robert DesnosRobert Desnos , was a French surrealist poet who played a key role in the surrealistic movement of his day. His last name is pronounced "Deznoss."- Biography :...
and
Louis AragonLouis Aragon Louis Aragon Louis Aragon , was a French poet, novelist and editor, a long-time political supporter of the Communist Party and a member of the Académie Goncourt.-Early life (1897-1939) :...
, among others.
The manifesto was written with a great deal of
absurdist humor, demonstrating the influence of the
DadaDada or Dadaism is a cultural movement that began in Zürich, Switzerland, during World War I and peaked from 1916 to 1922. The movement primarily involved visual arts, literature—poetry, art manifestoes, art theory—theatre, and graphic design, and concentrated its anti-war politics through a...
movement which immediately preceded it in France, and in which Breton was also a key player.
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
Louis AragonLouis Aragon Louis Aragon Louis Aragon , was a French poet, novelist and editor, a long-time political supporter of the Communist Party and a member of the Académie Goncourt.-Early life (1897-1939) :...
,
Antonin ArtaudAntoine Marie Joseph Artaud, better known as Antonin Artaud was a French playwright, poet, actor and theatre director...
,
Jacques BaronJacques Baron was a French surrealist poet whose first collection of poems was published in Aventure in 1921. Although he was initially involved with the Dada movement, he became a founding member of the Surrealist movement following his meeting with André Breton in 1921, and contributed to La...
,
Joe BousquetJoë Bousquet was a French poet.Wounded on May 27, 1918 at Vailly near the Aisne battlelines at the end of the First World War, he was paralysed for the rest of his life, and lived a life largely bedridden, surrounded by his books...
,
Jacques-André BoiffardJacques-André Boiffard is a French photographer, born in Paris, lived in Roche-sur-Yon.He was a medical student until 1924 when he met André Breton through Pierre Naville, a Surrealist writer, and childhood friend...
, Jean Carrive,
Rene CrevelRené Crevel was a French writer involved with the surrealist movement.-Life:Crevel was born in Paris to a family of Parisian bourgeoisie. He had a traumatic religious upbringing. At the age of fourteen, during a difficult stage of his life, his father committed suicide by hanging himself. Crevel...
,
Robert DesnosRobert Desnos , was a French surrealist poet who played a key role in the surrealistic movement of his day. His last name is pronounced "Deznoss."- Biography :...
,
Paul ÉluardPaul Éluard was the pen name of Eugène Émile Paul Grindel , a French poet who was one of the founders of the surrealist movement.-Biography:...
,
Max ErnstMax Ernst was a German painter, sculptor, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst is considered to be one of the primary pioneers of the Dada movement and Surrealism.-Early life:...
, and
BretonAndré Breton was a French writer, poet, and surrealist theorist, and is best known as the principal founder of Surrealism...
.
Quotations
- "I could spend my whole life prying loose the secrets of the insane. These people are honest to a fault, and their naiveté has no peer but my own."
- "We are still living under the reign of logic: this, of course, is what I have been driving at. But in this day and age logical methods are applicable only to solving problems of secondary interest."
- "Let us not mince words: the marvelous is always beautiful, anything marvelous is beautiful, in fact only the marvelous is beautiful."
- "Surrealism will usher you into death, which is a secret society. It will glove your hand, burying therein the profound M with which the word Memory begins."
- "Surrealism does not allow those who devote themselves to it to forsake it whenever they like. There is every reason to believe that it acts on the mind very much as drugs do; like drugs, it creates a certain state of need and can push man to frightful revolts."
- "In this realm as in any other, I believe in the pure Surrealist joy of the man who, forewarned that all others before him have failed, refuses to admit defeat, sets off from whatever point he chooses, along any other path save a reasonable one, and arrives wherever he can."
- "It is living and ceasing to live which are imaginary solutions. Existence is elsewhere."
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 actionCollective action is the pursuit of a goal or set of goals by more than one person. It is a term which has formulations and theories in many areas of the social sciences.-In sociology:...
:
LeirisJulien Michel Leiris was a French surrealist writer and ethnographer.-Biography:...
, Limbour, Morise,
BaronJacques Baron was a French surrealist poet whose first collection of poems was published in Aventure in 1921. Although he was initially involved with the Dada movement, he became a founding member of the Surrealist movement following his meeting with André Breton in 1921, and contributed to La...
,
QueneauRaymond Queneau was a French poet and novelist and the co-founder of Ouvroir de littérature potentielle .-Biography:...
,
PrévertJacques Prévert was a French poet and screenwriter. -Life:Prevert was born at Neuilly-sur-Seine and grew up in Paris, where he was bored by school. He often went to theatre with his father, a drama critic, and acquired a love of reading from his mother...
,
DesnosRobert Desnos , was a French surrealist poet who played a key role in the surrealistic movement of his day. His last name is pronounced "Deznoss."- Biography :...
,
MassonAndré-Aimé-René Masson was a French artist.-Biography:Masson was born in Balagny-sur-Thérain, near Senlis in Picardy, but was brought up in Belgium. He studied art in Brussels and Paris. He fought for France in World War I and was seriously injured.Masson's early works display an interest in cubism...
and
BoiffardJacques-André Boiffard is a French photographer, born in Paris, lived in Roche-sur-Yon.He was a medical student until 1924 when he met André Breton through Pierre Naville, a Surrealist writer, and childhood friend...
. They moved to the periodical
DocumentsDocuments was a late 1920s-era Surrealist journal edited and masterminded by Georges Bataille. Published in Paris from 1929 through 1930, Documents ran for 15 issues, each of which contained a wide range of original writing and photographs....
, edited by
Georges BatailleGeorges Bataille was a French writer. Although subsequent philosophers have been significantly influenced by his thought, Bataille tended not to refer to himself as a philosopher.-Life and work:...
, whose anti-idealist materialism produced a hybrid Surrealism exposing the base instincts of humans.
Quotations
- "The simplest Surrealist act consists of dashing down into the street, pistol in hand, and firing blindly, as fast as you can pull the trigger, into the crowd."
External links