Andre Breton 19 February 1896 28 September 1966

Andre Breton 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966 Clementine Utchay I choose Andre Breton because he was one of the founders of surrealist movement so what better way to learn more about surrealism in art than from the person who come up with the concept himself.

Surrealism - Surrealism is an art movement that creates an image that you have to interprate in your own way that involves a lot of meaning and thought. - In the 1920 s, the art movement surrealism changed the way that art was defined. - He described surrealism as "pure psychic automatism"using visual imagery from the subconscious mind to create art without the intention of logical comprehensibility.

Andre Breton and Surrealism The Surrealists did not rely on reasoned analysis or sober calculation; on the contrary, they saw the forces of reason blocking the access routes to the imagination. Their efforts to tap the creative powers of the unconscious set Breton and his companions on a path that carried them through the territory of dreams, intoxication, chance, sexual ecstasy, and madness.

Family Background Born to a working class family in Tinchebray in Normandy France, he studied medicine and psychiatry. During World War I he worked in a neurological ward in Nantes, where he met the devotee of Alfred Jarry, Jacques Vaché, whose anti-social attitude and disdain for established artistic tradition influenced Breton considerably. Breton married his first wife, Simone Kahn, on 15 September 1921. The couple moved to rue Fontaine in Paris on 1 January 1922. The apartment on rue Fontaine became home to Breton's collection of more than 5, 300 items: modern paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs, books, art catalogs, journals, manuscripts, and works of popular and Oceanic art.

Career History Studied medicine, and worked in psychiatric wards in World War I. Later, as a writer in Paris, he was a pioneer in the anti rationalist movements in art and literature known as Dadaism and surrealism, which developed out of the general disillusionment with tradition that marked the post-World War I era. Surrealist Manifesto in 1924

The Surrealist Movement By the early 1920 s, however, Breton had shifted his allegiance to another group of intellectuals who would become known as the Surrealists. In 1924, he published Le Manifeste du Surréalisme (The Manifesto of Surrealism), a document announcing the new movement's embrace of all forms of liberated expression and its rejection of social and moral conventions. The Surrealists were fascinated by the fine line between reason and irrationality, especially as manifested in dreams, erotica and mental disorders. They encouraged writers and artists to adopt spontaneous means of expression such as free association and a stream-of-conscious method called "automatism. " Breton was one of the co-founders of Littérature, an influential journal that featured the first written example of automatism, titled Les Champs magnétiques (The Magnetic Fields). He also promoted visual artists such as Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró and Max Ernst by reproducing their work in the journal La Révolution Surréaliste (The Surrealist Revolution).

1. Description: Take time to look at the work and describe it objectively. Objective description means that you can point out each object or thing you describe. 2. Analysis: Analyze the evidence. Look for similarities, differences or repeated patterns - in what you have seen. You should be able to explain all the connections you find within a work. 3. Interpretation: In this step you formulate a hypothesis - a good guess- about the meaning of the work. A good interpretation explains the experience you get from the artwork. 4. Judgement: A critical judgement can be made after you have interpreted an artwork. Judging art is always a matter of being fair and logical.

Surrealist Manifesto Encouraging free expression and the release of the subconscious mind The text concludes by asserting that Surrealist activity follows no set plan or conventional pattern, and that Surrealists are ultimately nonconformists. Published Surrealist Manifesto in 1924 and later became the editor of the magazine La Révolution surréaliste

Poeme (1924) This is an early example of a Surrealist collage that fuses text and image. Breton wrote this poem the same year he published the Surrealist Manifesto. The text constructs its own logic that would not make sense to a reader trying to understand it as traditional language.

The African Mask (1947 -48) The African Mask is a good example of Breton's studies of Primitive art and its shamanistic potency. While in the United States, Breton traveled around the country, visiting several Native American sites and collecting masks all along the way. He was interested in them as visual objects as well as the metaphorical concept as a window into one's inner mind.

Poeme Object (1935) Breton made many Poem Objects, such as this assemblage constructed around a plaster egg. The text on the plaster egg in this work translates as "I see / I imagine". Breton made these objects as a reflection of his inner mind, and also thought of them as analytical tools that could be analyzed, like dreams. Mixed media collage - National Galleries of Scotland

Tortured Description: In this painting, Andre Breton incorporated the elements of: Scale: The head compared to the mice and trees Dislocation/Juxaposition: Harmful and painful instruments Transperency: See through face Simple and colourful Robotic - piercinds and wierd metalic objects Expression - serious and curious Analysis/Interpretation: - About depression and experimentation (war, alcohol) - The oil painting looks very busy and visually appealing - Symmetrical Judgement: The use of the elements such as scale, juxaposition,

Bibliography “Bio. Com. ” Bio. com. A&E Networks Television, n. d. Web. 5 Nov. 2015. <http: //www. biography. com/people/andré-breton-37471#synopsis> “André Breton Biography, Art, And Analysis of Works. ” The Art Story. Web. 5 Nov. 2015. <http: //www. theartstory. org/artist-breton-andreartworks. htm#pnt_5> “Heilbrunn Timeline Of Art History. ” Photography and Surrealism. Web. 5 Nov. 2015. <http: //www. metmuseum. org/toah/hd/phsr/hd_phsr. htm> “The Surrealist Art Movement: André Breton, The Subconscious, and Surrealism. ” The Surrealist Art Movement: André Breton, the Subconscious, and Surrealism. Web. 3 Nov. 2015. <http: //emptyeasel. com/2007/10/11/the-surrealist-art-movement-andre-breton-thesubconscious-and-surrealism/> “Arch. ” : Haziran 2012. Web. 5 Nov. 2015. <http: //ledeniz. blogspot. ca/2012_06_01_archive. html>