The birth of surrealism officially began in Paris in 1924 with the publication of Manifesto of Surrealism by the poet and critic André Breton (1896–1966), making it an international intellectual and political movement. This movement was heavily influenced by Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) and his psychoanalytic theories of the unconscious, dream state, and ego. The Communist political ideas of Karl Marx and the rejection of logic and traditional aestheticism of the Dada movement were also a proponent towards Surreal art.
The definition of what constituted as Surreal art changed with time, however, we can recognize some key elements that identify art as Surreal. One of the distinguishing factors of Surreal art is the illogical juxtaposition of objects; this could be through metamorphosis where multiple forms of life are merged together, through placing ordinary objects together to create something unreal or creating imaginative and fantastical scenarios. Surreal art was, also, heavily influenced by Freudian theories as well and the unconscious played a huge role in the identity of the movement.
However, one of the controversies of surreal art (and psychoanalytic theory) is that it is perceived today as possibly reductive and misogynistic/sexist. This essay will argue that, although, the surreal movement, in both its culture and art, was misogynistic and sexist, these principles are not inherent within the artform itself.
This exhibition will look at 4 artworks done by male artists and 4 completed by their female contemporaries, with the focus of the artwork being the female, in order to compare how women are looked at by society and men and how women viewed themselves. The artworks in this exhibition are listed chronologically along with the letters M and F to signify male and female artists respectively. The Indestructible Object (1923-1965) (M), Self Portrait with headband, New York Studio, USA (1932) (F), The Doll (1934–35) (M), Self-Portrait (Inn of the Dawn Horse) (1937-1938) (F), The Two Fridas (1939) (F), Birthday (1942) (F), The Great Sirens (1947) (M), and The Eternally Obvious (1948) (M).
When analyzing The Indestructible Object by Man Ray, a unique piece of artwork, the woman is represented for her eye and is attached to an object which is repeatedly destroyed. In The Doll by Hans Bellmer, the figure of a woman was constructed using seemingly random objects and in The Eternally Obvious by René Magritte, the artist depicted a nude painting of his wife, but detached it into 5 sections. The Great Sirens by Paul Delvauxportrays a line of women or seductive sirens, who are luring in a man.
Next, we look at the works completed by female Surrealist artists. The first piece of work Self Portrait with headband, New York Studio, USA by Lee Miller is an elegant portrait of the artist her studio. In stark contrast, Self-Portrait (Inn of the Dawn Horse), Leonora Carrington represents herself in a confused and unruly state in her manor and, in the true Surrealist manner, is juxtaposed with animals. The Two Fridas by Frida Kahlo, in a sense, can also be considered to be a self-portrait but is embedded with the tragedies she experienced in her life. Finally, the Birthday by Dorothea Tanningis a self-portrait which shows herself standing brazenly naked in her apartment.
When looking at works of art created by male artists it is evident that the female body is objectified. For example, in both The Doll and The Eternally Obvious, women are only the sum of their body parts. In the artworks where women were depicted by male painters, the women were represented in a unidimensional manner. The Indestructible Object implies that after relationships end women could be associated with objects and be destroyed. Similarly, The Great Sirens depicted a row of naked women as unconscious sirens whose nature is to trap men. Therefore, an argument can be made that in Surrealism artworks made by men, women only amounted ideas that are beneficial to men i.e. beauty, lust and romance. Although, this still is an analysis of the subject, this simplistic view turns the subject into an object devoid of a meaning beyond the canvas.
When looking at the work of the female Surrealist artists we realize what was missing from the other paintings. In all these self portraits women are viewed as dynamic multidimensional subjects. For instance, comparing Self Portrait with headband, New York Studio, USA and Self-Portrait (Inn of the Dawn Horse) we gain a deeper understanding of women: they can choose to present themselves elegantly, but, also, exist in disheveled and confused states, the latter often not seen in renditions of women by male artists. One other idea devoid from artistic representations of women by their male contemporaries is emotion. This emotion is exhibited in The Two Fridas where after reading her life story and analyzing the painting the viewer understands the deep emotions behind the painting and its subject. In the same vein, Birthday presents female nudity, something which was a fascination of male artists, as a normality.
Upon comparing these works of arts, their background and artists involved, a clear connection can be made from the artwork to ideas of sexism being depicted by the male Surrealist artists. It should be noted, that these pieces were curated specifically on the representation of women. Surreal artworks, also, often exhibited mythical or dreamlike states devoid of any human representation. This doesn’t detract from the fact that women in the Surrealist world faced several obstacles as they were more likely to be referred to as muses than artists. Therefore, we can make a strong argument that the Surrealist movement, in its representation of women and usage of stereotypical gender norms, was misogynistic.
However, it is difficult to argue that the movement was sexist as much as the society in which it existed. André Breton the founder of the movement was sexist and homophobic for most of his life, stating in his Manifesto that Surrealism is a masculine noun, but with societal shifts he later changed his opinion around the 1940s.The theories of Freud, which made up the core of this movement was also discriminatory: Freud’s research began with case studies on patients with hysteria, which he wrongly diagnosed as a predominantly female mental disorder. Some of these theories have now been seen by contemporary psychologists as simplistic, stereotypical and in some cases wrong. The discrimination present in the Surrealism movement, therefore, was an expression of the sexism and misogyny that was embedded into society during that period. These values, therefore, are not inherent within the artform itself meaning that artists today can freely pursue this field and transcend from discriminatory values to values of equity. We can hope that as society evolves so does our art in encapsulating a wider diaspora and an even larger breadth of artists regardless of their race, gender and orientation.
