We are at week #44 of the LMAC collage challenge. This week a veteran participant, @muelli, provided the template for the challenge.
The first time I saw the trees in @muelli's photo I thought they looked surreal.
@muelli's Picture
Bird_9
A surrealist painting by Jahir903, on Wikimedia Commons. Used under a CC 3.0 license
Surrealism as an art movement is said to have been started by Andre Breton in 1924 when he issued a "Manifesto of Surrealism". In his Manifesto Breton defines Surrealism as anti-realist:
"...the realistic attitude, clearly seems to me to be hostile to any intellectual or moral advancement. I loathe it, for it is made up of mediocrity, hate, and dull conceit."
Sea
The painting is by Koga Harue, who is credited with having been at the forefront of the Surrealist movement in Japan. Public domain work, photo by firedrop.
Merzbild (Psychological Collage)
Collage by Kurt Schwitters, 1919. Public domain
Kurt Schwitters is one of five artists included in a list of 'Dadaists' compiled by dadart.com. The other four artists on the list are Marcel Duchamp, Francis Picabia, Man Ray, and Tristan Tzara.
Duchamp is said to have coined the word ‘Dada’, although he refused to define Dadaism, or any art form. He asserted that art is about ideas. He is credited by some with being the founder of conceptual art
Fountain
Duchamp signed the urinal with the name R. Mutt and submitted the piece to the Society of Independent Artists. The piece was accepted, but was never exhibited. Alfred Steiglitz photographed the urinal and then, according to reports, threw the 'art' away. Not in copyright... made in the US before 1917
The Fountain was one of Duchamp's Readymades. Duchamp declared a piece was art simply because an artist chose it and declared it to be art
Many early Dadaist pieces are under copyright, but some of Schwitters' work is in public domain. Here's another piece, from 1919.
Construction for Noble Ladies
Dada/Surrealism in Culture
Why was there a rebellion against realism in the art world during the early part of the twentieth century? According to Oxford Art Online, this rebellion may be attributed to a revulsion toward the insanity of WWI, to its horrific carnage:
"The Dadaists channeled their revulsion at World War I into an indictment of the nationalist and materialist values that had brought it about."
Shock was a remedy for the complacency that enabled the war. Dadaists wanted to shock society into awareness.
Hugo Ball Cabaret Voltaire
Photo is in the public domain because it was taken by an anonymous author in 1916.
Hugo Ball was a German national who settled in Switzerland during WWI. There he opened the Cabaret Voltaire, which is credited with having a germinal influence on the development of Dadaism.
Dadaism and Surrealism were not limited to the art world. The impulse to break with convention rippled through the cultural universe. Literature, music, theater--everywhere boundaries were shattered. And this cultural convulsion was felt around the world.
Grand Opening of the First Dada Exhibition, Berlin, 5 June 1920
Photo, by an unknown author, is in the public domain because its copyright has expired.
Performance Art
While the Dadaist/Surreal influence was strongest in literature and art, still the influence could be seen in music. The smashing of boundaries between music and literature was demonstrated by Schwitters in his Ursonate (Ur Sonata), which was a poem "comprised solely of abstract sounds". It is said that Schwitters' recitation of his Sonata was the first instance of performance art.
Dadism/Surrealism and Einstein
In 1905 Albert Einstein published his Special Theory of Relativity and in 1915 his General Theory of Relativity. With the publication of these papers, Einstein threw a monkey wrench into established perceptions of physical reality. Surrealists referred to relativity in their writings. Salvatore Dali called his drooping watches the "soft Camembert of time and space”
Einstein Portrait
This portrait by Gheorghe Manu was released into the public domain
by Manu's son.
Before I go on to talk about my collage, I want everybody to check out @muelli's collage. It is whimsical, outrageous and convention-defying. It's perfect.
I think it's obvious I was inspired by Surrealism/Dadaism. My tree people were a result:
They walk around the beach and get into mischief. They encounter a hatchling and are startled by its birth. The chick winks and the water in the background flows.
The chick, eggs, chick pecking through the shell, and the hatchling all came from Pixabay:
Thank you @shaka! These weekly challenges have become quite an event. The LMAC community grows every week. See the work displayed in LMAC #44 here.
Hive on!
I missed your collage, they are so full of information, it is a delight of information to increase our knowledge. I love those trees, and you gave him the surreal approach, the birth of the chick, what a great creativity.
Hello friend,
Thank you for those kind words. Your art stands as a example for me. So polished, so conceptually sophisticated. And yet you are always generous in your appraisal of others.
Nice to know you :)
I'm still glad to hear from you, take good care of yourself please.
Hello @agmoore. Nice to see your publication. The information you offer and the links are very good (in Venezuela, colloquially we would say "brutal"!)
Muelli also made a collage inspired by surrealism. They seem to agree, hahahaha.
I prefer surrealism. Dadaism I almost don't understand it as art or as an artistic movement. I must study art more.
I think the idea of walking trees is very good. Many collages focused on those trees. I eliminated them! A big salute
Hello @marcybetancourt,
Thank you for liking my walking trees. When I make a collage sometimes it's like writing a story...the characters have personalities :)
I just left a comment on your blog. Yes you did take the picture in a completely different direction...but how original! Your whole piece has personality :))
As for Dadaism--I don't think you're supposed to understand it. It's anti-art. It's anti-artifice. Anti-pretense. It's a generation fed up with the mess their leaders made. It's a kind of cultural anarchism. Nothing to study. Surrealism I think has endured because it's more than pure rebellion. It's a statement, a view of 'reality'. And don't we all sometimes feel that reality is amorphous?
Sorry if I went on too long. I feel very comfortable in surrealism, but not so much in Dadaism--chaos doesn't suit me.
I wish you good luck tonight. Somehow your jovial, light-hearted design still manages to have a classic look. :)
That's my point.
Rebellion vs. Anarchy. I prefer artistic rebellion
But art is free and there must be many paths. Discover, innovate, recombine eras... everything is possible!
Great, in addition to a wonderful collage, I also get a little art history and learned something new.
What could I want more?
I am very excited, thank you! 😎
Hi @muelli,
Thank you for those nice comments. I learned something too!
I have to admit, I feel more at ease working with surrealism than realism :))
Good luck tomorrow. This is I think your most smashing collage yet.
Regards,
AG
Informative and entertaining!!! Nice work...
Very nice of you to stop by, @owasco. Whenever I write these informative blogs I start with a kernel of information and then learn more.
I hope you and your kids are well. Crazy times.
Dear AG,
👍A really great job! For me it's probably the highlight of your LMAC posts so far.
Thanks for the links to the topic surrealism/dadaism. Maybe I find also inspiration for my next art post there :)
Warm regards,
Anna, a great admirer of your creativity
Dear Anna,
Thank you for your support and encouragement. Your blog is an exercise in art curation. I hold your estimation dear.
With a gladdened heart, and smile,
Affectionately,
AG
I'm delighted to see you back participating @agmoore! Your collages always have their very own charm. And they are always accompanied by well-designed and informative posts.
Thanks for this interesting excursion into surrealism!
Thank you for the warm re-welcome! And I really appreciate your kind words. I guess, when I make my naive collages, I should listen to the surrealists and not worry about judgment. Just be myself. More fun that way :)
Absolutely, this is exactly the right mindset :)
I always like the valuable information you provide with your collage art. Your imagination is very close to perfection. Good luck 😃
Thank you! I love writing blogs. As for my imagination, perhaps not perfect:) but more lively than might be expected at my age :))
Good luck tonight with your wonderful collage.
Thanks :).. Cheers!
Very striking and nice your surrealist gif-collage, @agmoore, from the image proposed by @muelli (his collage, too, is very good). I like how you worked the visual analogies. Also interesting the patchwork walk through Dadaism and Surrealism. By the way, I must take up again my series on aesthetic-literary modernity, and in it I will deal with these two movements of historical avant-garde. Greetings.
Dear @josemalavern,
I am very gratified by your visit, and your kind words. Sometimes an image speaks to me. I felt that way about the trees...they were an invitation to let my imagination soar. Great fun. And an invitation to take a glance at the two related art genres. My training is essentially in history and languages (though I wandered a bit in other subjects) and so I tend to see movements such as these in relation to their cultural and historic context. These two movements were such a reaction to what came before.
I look forward to reading your series dealing with the historical avant-garde.
Thank you for the nice visit.
Regards,
AG
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I appreciate your support, very much!
love your posts!
You certainly know how to make me smile :)
Thank you!
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