Description
Book SynopsisThe Lives of the SurrealistsUnlike the impressionists or the cubists, the surrealists did not obey a fixed visual code, but rather the rules of surrealist philosophy: work from the unconscious, letting your darkest, most irrational thoughts well up and shape your art. An artist himself, and contemporary of the later surrealists, Morris illuminates the considerable variation in each artist?s approach to this technique. While some were out-and-out surrealists in all they did, others lived more orthodox lives and only became surrealists at the easel or in the studio.Focusing on the thirty-two artists most closely associated with the surrealist movement, Morris lends context to their life histories with narratives of their idiosyncrasies and their often complex love lives, alongside photos of the artists and their work.
Trade Review'A delight ... Morris writes with a pleasingly conversational tone and a dry humour and affection that undercuts the more preposterous behaviour described here … Juicy little nuggets litter the book' - The Times
'Gossipy, waspish, biased, score-settling and very entertaining' - Literary Review
'Uproariously funny … [Morris’s] anecdotes are all told with a dry but good-natured humour … these figures make for highly entertaining company' - The Spectator
'An exceptionally lively, crisply written, independent-minded survey of one of the most bizarre groups of misfits who ever lived' - Mail on Sunday
'A carnival of wackiness' - Big Issue
'A compelling compendium of all the major players … page-turning … The book strikes the right balance between recognizing the artistic achievements of the milieu, as well as their colourful personal lives' - Artnet
Table of ContentsForeword
Introduction
Eileen Agar
Jean (Hans) Arp
Francis Bacon
Hans Bellmer
Victor Brauner
André Breton
Alexander Calder
Leonora Carrington
Giorgio de Chirico
Salvador Dalí
Paul Delvaux
Marcel Duchamp
Max Ernst
Leonor Fini
Wilhelm Freddie
Alberto Giacometti
Arshile Gorky
Wifredo Lam
Conroy Maddox
René Magritte
André Masson
Roberto Matta
Edouard Mesens
Joan Miró
Meret Oppenheim
Wolfgang Paalen
Roland Penrose
Pablo Picasso
Man Ray
Yves Tanguy
Dorothea Tanning
Major Surrealist Group Exhibitions
