Surrealism was a literary and visual movement in response to World War I with the idea of diving into the subjective more deeply. It was a subcategory of the Avant-Garde movement - no formal connection among styles, rather they were all very different and ground-breaking. The manifesto of the Surrealists stated that irrationality is of the utmost importance and there is truth beyond what we can see. The intent of these artists was to produce art that tapped into the unconscious, using any means to help one uncover surreality.
Despite their unique styles, the Surrealist artists all shared the common goal of delving into the otherworldly aspect of the subconscious. Their subject matter and content varied from artist to artist, however many of them used the nude female figure to convey a sense of sensuality and surreality. In earlier periods, the nude female figure typically represented divinity; a means to incorporate spirituality into the painting. On the other hand, the Surrealist artists used the nude female figure to create an otherworldly aspect in a different way. They used it in more sensually, creating an almost erotic, dream-like trance rather than something inherently spiritual and divine.
Surrealist artists used the nude female figure to express something about sexuality and introduce the viewer to a sort of representation of their own dreams and alternate realities. This exhibition will explore how Surrealist artists used the nude female figure to introduce the viewer to a dreamlike, sensual trance.
Paul Delvaux, The Great Sirens, 1947, oil on masonite, The Met Collection (1979.356)
Delvaux emphasizes a seductive, corrupting aspect of women through his strange and unique use of nude female figures. He depicts the female body in a naturalistic, yet statuesque form to represent something unattainable; women who appear only in dreams.
Sirens in the shape of partially nude female figures and mermaids are common themes in Delvaux’s work; they are correlated with the incantational power of music and binding as well as the idea of fatal amorous attraction and lethal passion, which Delvaux connects to female’s binding power of seduction. The Sirens represent the “fatal woman” who is both desired and hated - the personification of devouring sexuality. She represents a part of the brain that is not prone to logic and reason, but rather where irrationality and instinctual impulses reign.
Delvaux breaks from the old use of the nude female figure as a representation of divinity and instead portrays her as a perverse corrupter of men.
Paul Delvaux, Pygmalion, 1939, oil on wood, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium
Here Delvaux depicts a dream-like representation of the myth of Pygmalion. A nude woman is seen embracing a sculpted nude man, whom appear to be mirror images of each other. The use of certain elements such as one-point perspective makes this painting feel believable and rational, however the embracing nude figures accompanied by the lone nude woman with flowers symbolizing fertility and the man in a bowler hat incorporate the irrational, dream-like element. The scene is oddly disquieting and sensual; it has a bizarre, other-worldly feel to it.
Salvador Dali, The Great Masturbator, 1929, oil on canvas, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía
Salvador Dali’s paintings are depictions of his dreams; an invitation to explore the subconscious. His paintings have a sort of naturalism to make them feel real, but they are also distorted in a way that gives them a bizarre feel. The Great Masturbator shows the bust of a woman emerging from a rock about to engage in oral sex with a male crotch.
This is believed to be a depiction of Dali’s severely conflicted attitude towards sex. His father showed him photos of diseased genitalia as a child which both fascinated and horrified him. The painting is titled thus because it is believed that the only sexual experience Dali had prior to meeting Gala, his wife and muse, was through masturbation. Looking at it in this way, the painting is perhaps a self-portrait of his sexual experience after he meets Gala; the name reflecting his past with the content depicting his present.
Salvador Dali, Young Virgin Auto-Sodomized by the Horns of Her Own Chastity, 1954, oil on canvas, Private Collection (Paris)
This painting expresses Dali’s interest in exaggerating the female form and is openly sexual in both title and content. The rhino horns surrounding the nude woman are overtly phallic. Here the sensual tone is one of purity gone sour; a representation of the betrayal of his sister through the personification of a woman breaking her own chastity during a time when such a thing was strongly frowned upon.
This painting also made a bold statement during the time it was painted in regards to the freedom of a woman’s body. Dali claimed quite paradoxically that this painting, while erotic in appearance, is actually the most chaste of all of his work.
This is yet another example of a painting portraying a nude woman in order to incorporate a sexual element to this surreal space rather than one of divinity.
Rene Magritte, Black Magic, 1945, oil on canvas, Private Collection
Magritte creates an otherworldly feel through the form of this woman. She is depicted in a naturalistic style with a relatable form, however this reality is juxtaposed with her upper half gradually conforming to the tone of the sky behind her. Her hand is resting upon a block of stone in order to represent an attachment to the earth, a sense of staying grounded. Her upper body is celestial while her lower half is rooted firmly to the earth.
The painting is meant to be sensual; the woman is meant to be an object of erotic desire. Magritte himself claimed that an undercurrent of eroticism is in and of itself ample reason for a painting to exist.
Max Ernst, The Robing of the Bride, 1940, Peggy Guggenheim Collection
While this painting has naturalistic elements to it, the scene unfolding of a bride getting ready with others helping her prepare is quite bizarre. The prominent female figure with the head of a monster dominates the scene as her sexual prowess overpowers the green bird-like man figure to her left, the weeping four-breasted figure on the right and the nude female with a headdress behind her.
It is unclear what Ernst’s intents are for this painting. Perhaps he is using the mix of animalistic elements and human nudity to show how all humans have a base animalistic side to them. Or maybe he is portraying the stages a bride goes through over the course of her marriage. While his intent is ambiguous, the surreality of the scene is clear as seen through the depiction of Ernst’s sensual, dreamlike trance.
No comments:
Post a Comment