Max Ernst

This edited volume marks the centennial of Surrealism with a focus on its ties to German culture. Essays in German and English explore the movement’s roots in German Romanticism, particularly through Novalis, and its reception by German critics and writers such as Walter Benjamin and Walter Serner. Contributors examine Surrealism’s intersections with avant-garde currents like Dada and New Objectivity, as well as the artistic innovations of Max Ernst. The volume also features a personal narrative, inspired by Walter Benjamin's "profane illumination," recounting early encounters with surrealist books in remainder markets. A concluding essay analyzes Surrealism’s influence on the aesthetics of Hannibal.

The collection opens with an original German story by Benedikt Wolf, followed by an interview with the author, and is complemented by a cover painting by Manfred Melitta Poppe, adding a creative dimension to this scholarly work. Extending this artistic engagement, the volume closes with an insert featuring a selection of original photographs by Chicago-based artist Tom Denlinger. Inspired by Surrealism—especially Max Ernst’s work—Denlinger co-edited The Exquisite Corpse: Chance and Collaboration in Surrealism’s Parlor Game (2009, with Kanta Kochar-Lidgren and Davis Schneiderman). His recent photography playfully morphs digital images into Kafkaesque objects reminiscent of Odradrek, while the series reproduced here sculpts singular forms that evoke the unique non-human structures of trees. These images capture the collective work trees perform in producing 50% of their biome’s atmosphere. True to the sur-reality of the soluble, as André Breton conceived it, Denlinger’s photographs explore human existence as both holobiontic with plants and bacteria and as a fusion of human and vegetal consciousness, further blurring the boundaries between artistic vision and critical inquiry.
Available at:
https://otagogermanstudies.otago.ac.nz/ogs/issue/view/Surrealism_at_100
ISBN 978-0-473-75043-5 (ePub)
ISBN 978-0-473-75044 (PDF)
Published: 2025-03-05

Στη συγκεκριμένη μονογραφία εξετάζεται η φαινομενολογία, η εξήγηση ή ερμηνεία και ο κοινωνικός έλεγχος της σεξουαλικής βίας μεταξύ κρατουμένων υπό το πρίσμα της εγκληματολογίας (με τη στενή έννοια του όρου) και της σωφρονιστικής επιστήμης. Τα θέματα αυτά εξετάζονται σε συνάρτηση με την υποκουλτούρα της φυλακής, τον άτυπο κώδικα συμπεριφοράς των κρατουμένων και τις σύγχρονες τάσεις της αντεγκληματικής πολιτικής ευρύτερα.

Η μελέτη εστιάζει σε τρία διαφορετικά σωφρονιστικά συστήματα. Αφετηρία αποτελεί η περίπτωση των ΗΠΑ. Με την εισαγωγή της “Prison Rape Elimination Act” (2003) στην ομοσπονδιακή δικαιοταξία, η αντιμετώπιση της σεξουαλικής κακοποίησης κρατουμένων κατέστη ένας κεντρικός πυλώνας της αμερικανικής σωφρονιστικής πολιτικής. Το αγγλικό σωφρονιστικό σύστημα αποτελεί τον επόμενο σταθμό της διερεύνησης. Το τελευταίο τίθεται σε συγκριτική θεώρηση με το αμερικανικό με απώτερο στόχο την ανάδειξη των κοινών στοιχείων και των διαφοροποιήσεων ως προς τη φαινομενολογία και τον τρόπο αντιμετώπισης της σεξουαλικής κακοποίησης μεταξύ κρατουμένων.

Τερματικό σταθμό της διερεύνησης αποτελεί η περίπτωση του ελληνικού συστήματος έκτισης των ποινών. Τα πορίσματα της βιβλιογραφικής επισκόπησης συμπληρώνονται με τα συμπεράσματα μιας πρωτότυπης εμπειρικής έρευνας που διεξήχθη σε Ειδικό Κατάστημα Κράτησης Νέων με στόχο τη διερεύνηση του πειθαρχικού ελέγχου του φαινομένου και της επίδρασης που ασκούν σε αυτόν οι ανεπίσημοι κανόνες συμπεριφοράς των εγκλείστων. Τα ερευνητικά δεδομένα αναφέρονται αρχικά σε γενικές πτυχές της ιδρυματικής διαβίωσης και του ανεπίσημου κώδικα συμπεριφοράς των κρατουμένων. Ακολούθως, εξειδικεύονται στην αντιμετώπιση των σεξουαλικών αδικημάτων και αξιοποιούνται για την κατανόηση της δράσης του πειθαρχικού συμβουλίου του καταστήματος στις σχετικές υποθέσεις.

Εν ολίγοις, συμπεραίνεται ότι η αντεγκληματική πολιτική σχετικά με τη σεξουαλική βία μεταξύ κρατουμένων παραπέμπει στην περιστασιακή πρόληψη του εγκλήματος και στην αναλογιστική δικαιοσύνη (actuarial justice), ενώ διέπεται κατά κύριο λόγο από μια διαχειριστική λογική. Εξαντλείται σε (στατιστικές) εκτιμήσεις σχετικά με την ευπάθεια και την επικινδυνότητα των εγκλείστων κατά την ταξινομητική διαδικασία και στη μεταγωγή των εμπλεκομένων σε διαφορετικά καταστήματα κράτησης. Κατά τα λοιπά, τα μέτρα για την αντιμετώπιση του φαινομένου διαθέτουν κυρίως ένα συμβολικό χαρακτήρα. Η ικανοποιητική τους εφαρμογή προσκρούει σε δομικά προβλήματα της φυλάκισης και ιδίως στον ανεπίσημο κώδικα συμπεριφοράς των κρατουμένων, που κατατάσσει τη φυλακή στις «νομικά πλουραλιστικές κοινωνίες» (με την κοινωνιολογική σημασία του όρου). Στο πλαίσιο αυτό, η ανεπίσημη αυτο-οργάνωση της φυλακής προβάλλεται (στον λόγο των κρατουμένων) ως η πλέον «αρμόδια» για τη διευθέτηση των εν λόγω περιστατικών. Στον επίλογο της μελέτης περιλαμβάνονται συγκεκριμένες προτάσεις για την ελληνική αντεγκληματική πολιτική.

Το συγκεκριμένο έργο βασίζεται στη διδακτορική διατριβή του συγγραφέα, η οποία εκπονήθηκε στον Τομέα Ποινικών Επιστημών της Νομικής Σχολής ΕΚΠΑ και υποστηρίχτηκε μέσω υποτροφιών που έλαβε ο ίδιος από το ΕΚΠΑ (Υποτροφία SYLFF), το Ίδρυμα A.Γ. Λεβέντη και τη Γερμανική Υπηρεσία Ακαδημαϊκών Ανταλλαγών (DAAD). Μέρος της διατριβής συγχρηματοδοτήθηκε μέσω του Έργου «Υποτροφίες ΙΚΥ» από πόρους του ΕΠ «Εκπαίδευση και Διά Βίου Μάθηση», του Ευρωπαϊκού Κοινωνικού Ταμείου (ΕΚΤ) του ΕΣΠΑ, 2007-2013.

This thesis examines Peggy Guggenheim's groundbreaking 1943 exhibition "31 Women" at her Art of This Century gallery in New York, the first all-female art exhibition in the United States. Through analysis of archival materials, critical reception, and the artworks themselves, this study reveals the complex paradoxes inherent in the show's conception and execution. While ostensibly progressive, the exhibition was curated by a predominantly male jury including André Breton, Marcel Duchamp, and Max Ernst, with Guggenheim as the sole female voice. Many of the 31 featured artists—including Frida Kahlo, Leonora Carrington, Dorothea Tanning, and Leonor Fini—were selected through their romantic or marital connections to established male artists, raising questions about artistic autonomy and legitimacy.
The thesis situates the exhibition within the broader context of World War II America, where women's expanding workforce participation contrasted sharply with prevailing domestic ideologies. Drawing on Simone de Beauvoir's concepts of transcendence and immanence, I argue that these women artists used creative expression to claim agency despite the constraints of their historical moment. Through close readings of key works—including Tanning's "Birthday," Carrington's "The Horses of Lord Candlestick," and Kahlo's "Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair"—the study demonstrates how these artists both worked within and subverted Surrealist frameworks to develop distinctive visual languages.
The recent dramatic rise in auction values for these artists, with Carrington's work reaching $28.5 million in 2024, signals a critical market reappraisal that inverts traditional hierarchies privileging male Surrealists. This thesis concludes that "31 Women" represents both a progressive milestone and a reflection of its era's limitations, creating unprecedented visibility for female artists while simultaneously reinforcing their categorization as "other" within modernist movements.

Se «Dio è morto», la figura di Cristo continua a vivere nell’immaginario artistico europeo. Da Max Ernst ad Alberto Savinio, da Joris-Karl Huysmans a Curzio Malaparte, gli scrittori e gli artisti eleggono, infatti, l’ecfrasi quale luogo privilegiato per una rielaborazione critica di tale figura, che conosce un momento di vitalità inedita nella modernità. Il libro affronta questo apparente paradosso che diviene lo spazio per interrogare, di volta in volta, i confini del sacro e del profano, del dicibile e del visibile, e per indagare una questione decisiva dell’arte moderna: la tensione tra aspirazione metafisica e finitudine dell’uomo.

La donna. Figlia della tempesta" offre una selezione di opere (grafica, pittura, fotografia, scultura) fondamentali per comprendere la ricerca artistica degli artisti della mostra. Il volume, pubblicato in occasione della mostra a cura di Paolo Rotolo, propone un interessante e ricco excursus iconografico degli artisti selezionati: Albonico Kelly, Busacca Carmen, Dávila Bucio Enriqueta Olivia, Escalante Vinces Jorge Luis, Guidi Deborah, Messina Patrizia, Rossi Ilaria, Sharf Veronica, Valenti Lucia e Giacomo Zornetta; oltre ad una sezione dedicata ai saggi sulla figura della donna. Il catalogo si presenta come un compendio essenziale per addentrarsi nelle molteplici sfaccettature dell'identità femminile contemporanea. Attraverso le sue pagine, si ripercorre il suggestivo percorso espositivo articolato in cinque sezioni tematiche, che esplorano la vulnerabilità, la resilienza, le radici culturali, le sfide sociali e la dimensione onirica e trasformativa dell'esperienza femminile. Ogni sezione è arricchita da approfondimenti critici che contestualizzano le opere e ne svelano le connessioni concettuali, offrendo una visione completa e sfumata del complesso universo della donna, "figlia della tempesta" ma anche artefice della propria rinascita.

124-Sorbonne. Carnet de l'École  Doctorale d'Histoire de l'art et Archéologie.
Tous droits réservés.

Hans Richter (1888-1976) fut peintre, cinéaste, théoricien et historien. Allemand, grièvement blessé dans les tranchées durant la Première Guerre mondiale, il a survécu à ce conflit en se réfugiant en 1916 en Suisse, où il est devenu l’un des principaux dadaïstes zurichois. Pour cela, le plasticien et réalisateur est classé parmi les artistes dits « dégénérés » du Troisième Reich dès 1933. Comme dernier recours, il est contraint de s’exiler en juillet 194 aux États-Unis, où il rejoint ses confrères de l’avant-garde européenne.
Nostalgique d’une période révolue, d’un Dada où la liberté était absolue, Hans Richter crée de nombreux parallèles entre sa vie passée et son présent. Vient alors l’idée du long métrage « Dreams that Money Can Buy », ou « Rêves à vendre », sorti en 1948 à New York.Tourné entre 1944 et 1946, le film raconte l’histoire de Joe qui, lorsqu’il découvre qu’il peut révéler aux gens leurs rêves et désirs en regardant dans leurs yeux, décide d’en faire son métier. Sur six personnes – ou « clients » – nous comptons autant d’artistes ayant collaboré à l’œuvre : Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray, Fernand Léger, Max Ernst, Alexandre Calder. Richter lui-même termine ce film par un épisode axé sur l’intériorité de Joe.

»Das Rätsel des Isidore Ducasse« von Man Ray gilt als eines der geheimnisvollsten Kunstwerke. Niemand weiß, was sich unter dem Gebilde aus Filz und Schnüren verbirgt, mit dem der Künstler den Betrachter konfrontiert. Die Verhüllung erzeugt das Rätsel, sie bringt Objekte zum Verschwinden und erzeugt eine neue Sichtbarkeit. In der Welt der KI ist der »latente Raum« ein Schlüsselkonzept und zugleich die berüchtigte Black Box. In ihr verschwinden Dinge und taucht etwas Neues auf. Sie ist der Schauplatz der Posthumanisierung, in ihr verschiebt sich die überlieferte Bedeutung von Kunst. Der gefeierte KI-Künstler Trevor Paglen reflektiert die neuen Bedingungen des Denkens, der Subjektivität und der Politik. Er verweist uns auf die radikale Transformation unserer visuellen Kultur, in der der überwiegende Teil der Bilder von Maschinen für Maschinen gemacht wird und für das menschliche Auge schlicht unsichtbar ist. Es macht Spaß, das »Sehen« der Algorithmen wie ein Puzzle zu lösen. Paglen tut das. Er gibt der Sehweise der Maschine eine Sichtbarkeit. Mit Man Ray verbindet ihn die »sichtbar machende Sichtbarkeit« der Kunst. Das ist aber nicht alles. Die Maschine ist keine Artikulationsmaschine mehr, sie erfasst das Unartikulierbare und Unrepräsentierbare. Algorithmen sind Maschinen der Emergenz von etwas Neuem, offen für das Unberechenbare. Die Frage nach dem Enigma der Kunst sollte neu gestellt werden ...

Surrealism was not only an international artistic movement, but also a political one. Its members denounced European colonial policy, opposed fascist regimes, fought for the Spanish Republic, were persecuted, went into exile, and died in war. They wrote poetry, deconstructed the language of a supposedly rational world, worked on paintings, collective drawings, took photographs, and made collages. Surrealism was associated with later emancipatory concerns not as a style, but as a method, and was taken up by the student protests of the 1960s and the Black Liberation Movement. This volume is published on the occasion of an exhibition at the Lenbachhaus Munich. In the form of an anthology, it presents pivotal texts and manifestoes of political Surrealism from its beginnings to current references in art and politics. It thus offers a valuable contribution to revising the still narrowly defined Surrealist canon.

The article explores Max Ernst's early career interests (1919-1922) in Italian Renaissance art and particularly in Raphael's and Michelangelo's works and it reconsiders their fortune in the rising psychoanalytic literature and contemporary art historiography, within Ernst's education as an art history student in Bonn. As for Ernst, old masters' lesson is fostered in dialogue with Giorgio de Chirico's metaphysical painting and his trust in d'après copying and ritorno al mestiere, as one can see in the "foundation painting" Au rendezvous des amis (1922), in which both Raffaello and de Chirico are present. New approaches to dream activity and its visionary power question the mechanisms of language and test its resilience, amid absences, memories, desires, fears and impulses, that define not only original contents of poetics but also new political forms of expression at the origins of Surrealism, from overpaintings to photocollages. Thus, if de Chirico's credit was in free fall soon after the publication of the 1924 manifesto, especially in the opinion of André Breton, it was Ernst who inherited and renewed the tradition of magic art over the centuries.

This article explores the work of Gee Vaucher. Vaucher is best known for her work with the band Crass but has an extensive range of work from the 1960s until the present. The article delves into Vaucher's relationship with surrealism, through her project A Week of Knots (2013-2022). In this project, Vaucher uses the psychoanalytic insights of R.D. Laing to rewrite Max Ernst's collage novel, Une semaine de bonté. Doing so provides a space for Vaucher to explore the nature of violence, power, and care, among many other aspects. What can we learn from Vaucher's collaging practice that combines influences from Ernst and Laing? And what can this way of using that backdrop as a kind of collective psychoanalytic tool tell us about the family's changing nature?

There has been extensive work on literary discourse in Digital Humanities (DH), although not with respect to Greek. This paper develops an application of corpus stylistics on particular works of Greek literature. An overview of corpus stylistics and existing applications is followed by a discussion of how specific methodological tools can aid to the analysis of themes in the work of poets such as Karyotakis and Polydouri on the basis of frequency lists and concordances. Similar tools are applied to the diachronic analysis of themes and linguistic choices in the poetry of Livaditis and the novels of Samarakis with a view to understanding trends in their work, as well as its relation to overall language change.

American outlier writer William S. Burroughs was a creative force – an homme de lettres in his own right, yes, but as a cultural theorist as well, particularly his anticipation of what we now regularly call ‘a society of control’ or ‘a surveillance culture’, and, moreover, as a textual embodiment as well. That is, Burroughs was as much a media theorist and performance artist as he was a traditional literary figure, what we generally call a writer, or novelist, although he lauded those latter categories. Through such multimodality he offered critiques of a ‘control society’ and of ‘thought control’ by a media that strips us of volition. In his lectures on Michel Foucault delivered at the Université de Paris VIII in the 1980s, Gilles Deleuze detailed Burroughs's influence on both philosophers with his critique of our ‘control societies’, a term they adopted from him.These critiques of what Burroughs calls ‘thought control’ were and currently remain inseparable from his emergence a...

Felix in Exile, 1994, video still, 35 mm animated film transferred to video, 8 min 34 sec 70 CIEL VARIABLE N °87 Les 41 e Rencontres d'Arles Du lourd et du piquant Du 3 juillet au 19 septembre 2010 Journey to the Moon, 2003, video still, 35 mm and 16 mm animated film transferred to video, 7 min 10 sec

Today, I am speaking about an artistic movement from the second half of the 19th century-specifically, the painting of the so-called Pre-Raphaelites. I ask: can understanding this artistic movement help us better comprehend the New Psychoanalysis we are engaging with here? Furthermore, can experiencing Pre-Raphaelite art help us resolve our psychological problems and make us feel better? In short, can this artistic style serve as a form of psychoanalysis? I would define psychoanalysis here as a process of transformation in which a person changes their perspective and relationship with the world, thereby achieving an experience of wholeness. Psychoanalysis is thus a journey of transformation-from fragmentation toward a sense of unity within oneself and with the world.

DieserText basiert aufeinem Beitrag und dessen Diskussion aufder g.Jahrestagung der Osterreichischen Gesellschaft fiir Geschlechterforschung (OGGF) im September/Ol<tober zozz in Salz- burg. Dank an die Diskussionsteilnehmer:innen sowie Tyan Fritschy und Zoe* Steinsberger ftir wertvolle Denkanstci(e. Vgl. Katy Steinmetz,,The Tiansgender Tipping Point. America's next civil rights frontiern, in: Tlnre,z|.Maizor4, (rz'rz'zo4)' Ich verwende die Schreibweise >uans< als inklusiven Uberbegriffoder als Prdfix, um unterschied- liche Erfahrungen und Verkcirperungen zu umfassen' Vgl' Susan Stryker/Paisley CurraVlisa Jean Moore, rlntroduction:Tians-,Tians, orTiansgender?', in Women\ Studies Quarterly,36'18', 3-4/zoo8,S. n-zz,hrtps://www.jstor.orglstable/2764g78t (rz.rz'zo4)' Luf Deutsch findet sich der -Begriffin diesem Sinne entweder als trans oder trans*, Parallel zu trans verwende ich auch die in dertschsprachigenTians* und Inter* Studien etablierten Begriffe 'transgesctrlechdich' bsziehungsweise ,inier*, und ,intergeschlechtlich,' Vgl. Esto Mader et al. (Hg'),Trans* und Inter* Studien' Aktuelle Forscbungsbeitn)ge aus dem deutscbErachigen Raeraz, Miinster: Westfilisches Dampfboot zozr und Christel Baltes-LOhr/Ren6-Rain Hornstein (Hg), trans*, interr und nicht-bindre Gescblecht- I i c h ke it e n, Bielef eld : transcript zoz4. Vgl. Anson Koch-Rein/Elahe Haschemi Yekani{asperJ. Verlinden, "Representing Tians: Visibiiity and its Discontents u,in; EuropeanJoumat of Engtisb Studies,z4'Jg',tlzozo,S' nz,https:// doi.orglro.ro8o/q8z5577.zozo.t73oo4o (rz.rz.zoz3). ZuTians Cinema andMedia Studies siehe das von C7e1 M. Keegan und Laura Horak editierte Dossier 'In Focus'tansing Cinema and Media z J iiber haben u'ir e: :rit einer vergleichsweisen Unsichtbarkeit von genderqueere:----.: intergeschlechtlichen Charakteren, oder aber auch nicht-biniren Charakteren z'-:--,Nicht-bindr. r.envende ich im vorliegenden Text als Uberbegriff ftr Geschleci-.-r::. - keiten, die nicht oder nicht vollstdndig von den Begriffen ,weiblich. oder 'man-:---:- reprisentiert werden, und fiir Personen bzw. Charaktere, die sich nicht oder nich; -" : -- stindig als Frau oder Mann und als nicht-binir identifizieren bzw. von der med''.-Vermittlung als solche identifiziert werden.l Vor dem queertheoretischen Be:----- dass Begriffe und Vorstellungen von Geschlecht kontinuierlich in Bewegung sini ':.i1: sich historisch und lokal spezifische Begrifre nicht einfach auf andere Kontexte '---":- tragen lassen, interessiert mich in diesem Text konlret der reprisentationspolit:.::'. Hintergrund der expliziten Benennung von Nicht-Binaritatin zwei aktuellen Se::. - produktionen. Nach den theoretischen Uberlegungen zu diesem reprisentations: -tischen Kontext analysiere ich zwei Beispiele, einerseits die Figur Charlie, darqe.:.-' von Lea Drinda in der 2022 vom ZDF produzierten Miniserie Becoming Charlii ?- Greta Benkelmann/Kerstin Polte, DE 2022) und andererseits die Figur Cal, da:r.- stellt von Dua Saleh in der dritten Staffel der vom Video-on-Demand-Anbieter \::flix vertriebenen Produktion Ser Education (C.: Laurie Nunn, UK 2079-2023': '' : 2027.5 lch gehe zunichst auf den Kontext ein, in dem sich der Begriff 'nicht-b::in den letztenJahren verbreitet hat und setze nicht-binire und trans Geschlechtl:::-- keiten zueinander in Bez'tg.Ich widme mich in diesem Beitrag medial produzie-"-- Bildern nicht-binirer Verkorperungen, womit ich die Art und Weise meine, in J= Korper, auch medial, mobilisiert werden, um nicht-binire Charaktere zu insze::=- ren. Dabei gehe ich von der These aus, dass sich Darstellungen von Nicht-Bina:::.: auf Tiopen und mediale bzw. filmische Konventionen stiitzen, die sich in Bezus .-' Tiansgeschlechtlichkeit entwickelt haben. Mit Uberlegungen zum Sichtbarkeitsp-.- dox und zu Transnormatiitdt in filmischen Darstellungen erleutere ich daher e:-- gangs zwei zentraleAspekte medialer Darstellungen vonTiansgeschlechtlichkeit. D-. Analyse der beiden Beispiele basiert auf dem methodischenZugangder SomatecL:--r- den ich aus einem zentralen Text der Tians Cinema and Media Studies ableite.' Stndiesu, in:/CMS.Journal of Cinema and Media Studies,fi.Jg.,z/zozz,S. r64-ztz,: umich.edVj/jcms/images/6r.2-in{ocus.pdf Qz n.zo4). Genders, S. 3r1r, (rz.rz.zoz3), hier S. 32. Es gibt auch deo Zngang, ,nicht-bindr, vordergriindig als politische Perspekive oder Haltung zu verstehen. Vgl. Kadji Amin, "We Are All Nonbinary",in: Re1resentations,Nr. r58, Spring zozz,S. ro6-t9,https:// doi.org/ rc.1525/ rep.zozz.r58.rr.ro6 (tz.rz.zo4),tier S. rr5.

2024 marks the centenary of the Surrealist movement-more specifically of its founding manifesto and attendant journal. The title of the latter, La Révolution surréaliste (1924-29) made plain the movement's ambition: nothing less than a social and political revolution, a synthesis of unconscious desire and waking reality. Hamstrung by both communist resistance to its "interior model" and by the rise of fascism and a new World War, this sur-reality never came to pass in the terms imagined by its originators. Yet Surrealism's influence upon everything from Spanish Civil War protest, the Négritude and Black Arts movements, queer theory, Situationism, and other activist phenomena reveals its early anti-colonialist and anti-fascist agitation to be not merely the product of a historical contingency, but a possible model for radical politics more universally. This conference marks Surrealism's centenary while attending to its ideological legacies-in the wake of the movement's frequently de-politicized museumification on the one hand, and an international resurgence of neo-fascist politics on the other. The conference is inspired by and coincides with the Lenbachhaus's exhibition, BUT LIVE HERE? NO THANKS: Surrealism and Anti-Fascism (October 15, 2024-March 2, 2025) as well as the publication accompanying it.

Panel:
“Studi sul Surrealismo” (1973). Surrealism in Italy in 1970’s throught delens of Italian Militant Art Criticism

Abstract
Giulio Carlo Argan et le surréalisme: une approche pas évidente

Lors des rencontres "Studi sul Surrealismo" tenus à Salerne au début des années Soixante-dix, l'historien d'art Giulio Carlo Argan, qui allait peu après entrer en politique, présentait une communication intitulée Il sublime subliminale di Max Ernst, artiste qu'il définissait comme « le plus surréaliste des surréalistes ». C'est bien dans les années 1970 qu'Argan avait commencé à s'intéresser et à écrire sur un certain nombre de peintres et de photographes qui ont fait partie du mouvement de Breton, ou qui y ont participé pendant une brève période. C'est le cas, par exemple, de Joan Miró, de Man Ray et d'Ernst lui-même. Toutefois, le jugement sur le mouvement et sur ses protagonistes n'avait pas été toujours positif, surtout au cours des décennies précédentes. En effet, à plusieurs reprises, pendant les années 1950 et 1960, il avait attaqué le surréalisme comme un mouvement « stérile et dépassé » et ses revendications comme des « immoralismes surréalistes », définissant l'inconscient exhibé par le surréalisme comme « inconscient de classe : l'autre face de la lucidité rationnelle, de l'efficacité, de la clarté de vision du ''manager'' bourgeois ». À cette époque il ''sauvait'' seulement la période surréaliste de Picasso. Une des questions auxquelles notre communication veut répondre est : quelle est la raison de ce changement de jugement ? Et surtout : ce changement a-t-il été réellement sincère ? Cette proposition veut aussi analyser les différents passages, et surtout approfondir la lecture que fait Argan de certains artistes surréalistes, afin de comprendre les raisons de ce que l'on pourrait définir comme une approche contradictoire à l'égard du mouvement bretonien.

Para acabar com o juízo (de deus): Artaud, Foucault e os corpos ingovernáveis RESUMO Este ensaio busca escapes ao sistema do juízo, que modela os corpos a partir do julgamento, da culpa e da falta. Para Artaud, este sistema esvazia a vida de sua potência de fazer-se, a partir de transcendências ordenadoras e subjugadoras do real. O juízo de deus, o invisível tribunal colado à pele, aborta a vida e gangrena processos de subjetivação, garantindo a ordem do destino suposto à custa do silenciamento do que pulsa. A crueldade é, portanto, o combate e a ética de sustentar a vida na respiração e na transpiração, afirmando o desdobrar do tempo nos corpos e acontecimentos. Se é o corpo o território onde se governa, é justamente nele onde é possível produzir enfrentamentos ao sistema do juízo, por meio da ativação de outros regimes sensíveis, da construção de corpos sem órgãos, como propõe Artaud. Deste modo, tanto para Foucault quanto para Artaud, é na materialidade do corpo que se produzem os enfrentamentos ao governo de si e das condutas e os ensaios de uma vida livre.

In sy kuns van die 1920's reageer Max Ernst voortdurend op die denke van die filosoof Friedrich Nietzsche. Hierdle studie benader die collage-roman. The Hundred Headless Woman, vanaf die vertrekpunt van Nietzsche se konsep van die 'ewige wederkeer', gesuggereer deur beelde in die roman. Die studie plaas die konsep van die 'ewige wederkeer' kortliks binne 'n ikonografiese konteks, en ondersoek sentrale beelde in Ernst se reaksie op die konsep. Ernst se dissonante ooreenlegging van betekenislae en sy weerlegging van rasionaliteit, word oorweeg in terme van die disorientering van tyd, lineere denke en die beginsel van identiteit wat geimpliseer word deur die perspektivisme van Nietzsche se konsep van die 'ewige wederkeer'. Die studie argumenteer dat Ernst se gebruik van Nietzsche se idees en konsepte besonder gesofistikeerd is, en suggereer dat hy sommige van die belange in die herinterpretasie van Nietzsche in die onlangse Franse filosofie vooruitloop. Max Ernst often responded to the thought of the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche in his art in the 1920's. This study approaches the collage-novel, The Hundred Headless Woman, from the perspective of Nietzsche's concept of the 'eternal return', suggested by imagery in the novel. The study offers a brief iconographical context for the concept of 'eternal return', and examines key images in Ernst's response to this concept. The discordant superimposing of layers of meaning and the refutation of rationality in the novel are considered in terms of the disorientation of time, seriality and the principle of identity implied by the perspectivism of Nietzsche's concept of the 'eternal return'. The study argues that Ernst's assimilation of Nietzsche's ideas and concepts is exceptionally sophisticated, and suggests that it significantly anticipates some of the concerns in the reinterpretations of Nietzsche by recent French philosophers.

In producing radical forms of art, “schizoanalysis” disobeys rules, breaks with convention, and courts unreason. We see this not only in James Joyce’s “splintering” of language, but also in the art of Max Ernst, Hans Bellmer, and others, where images of bodies are torn apart and reassembled into bizarre mythopoetic mélanges of heads and limbs, fusing the genitalia of both sexes. These assemblages suggest machine-like orgies of polysexual and androgynous bodies. In this chapter, I argue that this Surrealist technique of disassembling and reassembling is driven by desire and the imagination, and complements aspects of queer theory aimed at deconstructing traditional notions of desire.

Starting from the article Donne & Arte dedicated by Daniela Palazzoli in the spring of 1974 to the main centers and theories of feminist art in the United States, «DATA» launched an in-depth reflection on female creativity that would develop in several issues of the periodical until its last year of activity. The ample space reserved for women’s art in the pages of «DATA» and which made it the most up-to-date specialized magazine on these issues in Italy at the time, was due to the sensitivity and interests of the co-founder Ciacia Nicastro and the active collaboration of art critics committed to promoting visibility for the work of female artists and photographers who had generally remained on the margins of the art system. The essay intends to offer a first analysis of some of the main contributions on the female visual arts and criticism published by «DATA» between 1974 and 1978, focusing on the group exhibitions dedicated to the creative expressiveness of women. This is a thematic strand that emerges forcefully from the pages of the Milanese periodical but has not yet been explored through an overall framework capable of rereading and reconnecting, with a chronological focus, the different theoretical-critical and informative perspectives on a rich constellation of expositions germinated in years that were decisive for the spread of feminist demands in the Italian social and cultural context.

This article traces how spots have become representations in the history of art since the Renaissance: spots can become landscape formations in which faces are recognizable. Pliny, Leon Battista Alberti and Leonardo da Vinci discuss random phenomena as inspiration for representational works of art. Alexander Cozens turned this process into a method in 1785. Cloud studies, on the other hand, can be used to recognize faces, as Andrea Mantegna and Charles Meryon showed at the end of the 15th century and in the middle of the 19th century. Victor Hugo's experiments with blots, in symbolism and in informal painting, turned into a principle the overturning of blots into representational formations and their dissolution into blots: from blots to ghosts to blots ad infinitum. With Douglas Huebler and Art & Language, this becomes a questioning of our understanding of images: 'Images' are always interpretations according to the standards of our patterns of perception - seeing and 'seeing as' are inseparable processes. This (non-)differentiability in turn became the starting point for discussions about the inseparability of representation and fiction, of imaginary projection ("seeing-in") as the basis of supposedly factual representation, which is fiction after all. These connections contradict the reductionist notion of a modernity that wants to find itself in pure seeing. Ernst H. Gombrich, Nelson Goodman, Wolfgang Iser and Richard Wollheim provide theoretical guidelines on the inevitability of the fictional.

Leonora Carrington (1917-2011) fa parte del gruppo di artisti che durante la Seconda guerra mondiale lascia l'Europa per l'America. Breton le aveva attribuito due doni che riteneva inestimabili: "l'illuminismo della lucida follia" e "la sublime potenza della concezione solitaria"; per Max Ernst era la Sposa del Vento, "colei che si riscalda con la sua vita intensa, col suo mistero e la sua poesia". L'arrivo in Messico nei primi anni Quaranta, dopo una giovinezza tormentata e ribelle, segna l'inizio di una ricerca artistica straordinariamente sofisticata che poteva solo intuirsi nei suoi esordi all'interno dell'avanguardia surrealista. La cultura messicana conferisce nuova linfa vitale al suo immaginario, dando vita ad una mitografia fantastica nella quale si mischiano, in creazioni originali e raffinatissime, la profonda conoscenza del Rinascimento italiano, le figure ibride del Surrealismo e l'interesse per l'esoterismo e l'alchimia. Il libro coniuga l'analisi approfondita della produzione artistica con la ricostruzione della vicenda biografica: la fuga dall'alta società inglese, l'amour-fou con Max Ernst e la permanenza in Francia fino allo scoppio della guerra, l'abisso della follia e il manicomio, l'arrivo a New York e, infine, l'approdo in Messico. Uno studio lucido e coinvolgente che attraversa le tappe fondamentali della vita di Leonora Carrington collocandone il percorso artistico nella più ampia cornice del Novecento. L'analisi delle opere e dei diversi contesti culturali, che fanno da sfondo agli eventi documentati, è arricchita dal confronto con l'Artista che l'Autrice ha conosciuto e frequentato a Città del Messico nei suoi ultimi anni di vita. Giulia Ingarao insegna Storia dell'arte contemporanea all'Accademia di Belle Arti di Palermo. È specializzata in Storia dell'arte all'Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Il Surrealismo, gli studi di genere e l'arte italiana del dopoguerra costituiscono i suoi principali interessi di ricerca. È autrice di numerose pubblicazioni su Leonora Carrington, tra queste From Europe to Mexico, contributo nel catalogo della prima retrospettiva europea dedicata all'Artista (Leonora Carrington, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin 2013).

Diese Publikation erscheint
im Rahmen des Mentoring-Programm Kunst
Förderprogramm für Absolvent_innen
der Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien
und des Mentoring-Programm für Künstlerinnen
Förderprogramm des Bundesministeriums für
Kunst, Kultur, Öffentlicher Dienst und Sport
November 2022– November 2023
Herausgegeben von Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien

Place focuses on the role of history and memory in literary and architectural practices. The interest in memory has branched out from the overlapping of the humanities and the neuro-and social sciences to include increasingly popular forms of writing and discourse such as personal memoirs and autobiographies. Recollection, confession and being a witness help us to reflect upon the meaning of both individual and collective memory and experience. Memory and its manifestations also touch very significantly and deeply on questions of identity, of nationalism, of power and authority-issues that nowadays fracture our public space as well as our social tissue.

Thomas 1975: 75 gee geen direkte vertaling van die begrip aan nie, nóg in sy teksvertaling, nóg in sy teksbespreking. G 2 8 noem dat hierdie tipe saak dus quadammodo, in 'n sekere sin dus, onder beskerming van die goddelike reg geplaas is. Inst 2 10 verskaf ook 'n verduideliking van die term res sanctae: Romeinse kriminele statute, soos hul hedendaagse eweknieë, het byna altyd 'n strafsanksie bevat-'n sogenaamde sanctio. Aangesien skending van die stadsmure en hekke met die sanksie van die dood strafbaar was, is dié sake dus as res sanctae bestempel. 69 Du Bois 2007: 418. 18 sogenaamde goddelike reg 70 onderworpe was. Waar daar egter spesifiek na res religiosae, religieuse sake, loca religiosae of locus religiosus verwys word, het sodanige verwysing op begraafplase en grafte as `n kategorie of spesie van die genus gewyde of goddelike sake betrekking. 71 'n Alternatiewe sake-indeling, 72 die sogenaamde summa divisio van Gaius, 73 was egter dié wat voorrang aan óf die goddelike óf die profane aard van sake verleen het in plaas van die vatbaarheid vir eiendomsreg daarvan. 74 Hierdie indeling het van die standpunt uitgegaan dat alle sake in die eerste plek óf res divini iuris óf res humani iuris was. 75 Bogenoemde sake-indelings dui reeds met 'n redelike mate van sekerheid die aard en omvang van die sogenaamde religieuse sake oftewel graftombes of begraafplase aan. Die beweegredes wat tot hierdie sake-indeling aanleiding gegee het, word ook reeds tot 'n mate duidelik, bloot uit 'n oorweging van die aard van die onderskeie sake self. Volgens voor-Christelike Romeinse reg 76 is tempels, kerkgeboue en ander aanbiddingsplekke (res sacrae) daargestel en gewy of gekonsekreer aan die erediens en aanbidding 70 res divini iuris.

This article investigates some of the questions, thoughts, and digressions prompted by  the video installation artwork 'Emergence' that disarticulates an animal exploitation film from the early years of the twentieth century. Through Aristotelian and Lacanian lenses, it considers the complex, and seemingly insatiable, nature of human desire and its role in the environmental collapse that we see playing out before us.

The aim of this research was to define, circumscribe, and contextualise my drawing practice and understand its “encounter with the divine” while looking for a framework that would validate those experiences.
While I noticed how most of the literature always points back to the artefact as the means to understand the method and the artist, I used drawing followed by a self-reflective journaling system to explore the processual part of the practice with regard to these spiritual experiences. Once I realised that both performativity and in-the-zoneness were providing incomplete answers, materiality presented a connection to alchemy which offered a means to reading my drawing experience.
The findings confirmed the spiritual experiences but also indicated that among all the assessable parameters, at the conjuncture between the Artist, the Material, and the Work, there is always something elusive and ineffable.

MA by Research awarded in FEB 2024

In the 1920S Ernst found his way into painting as a way of enlarging his collages; and allegory in the form of the emblematic nutshell informs his paintings, permitting various ironies about iconographic tradition and the cryptic core of language. That any given emblem might have acquired variant texts and images over time, or shifted domain from philosophical and hermetic to populist or children's moral guides, serves Paris Dada ironies and nascent surrealist investigations of commonplaces in poetic language.

Ralph Ubl takes Max Ernst very seriously in unforeseen ways, not as a pasticheur of fashionable lines of thought-the fire bringer of Freud to Paris-and not as a great painter. This Ernst is more a dark mechanic dismantling the parts of painting (perspective, ground, picture plane, rectangle, contour), which then persist as a "repressed power"  in his painting, enigmatically but powerfully generating "effects of the unavailable". What is at stake in the "unavailable" is Ernst's figuring of the conditions of Surrealist revolution.

David Lomas's meditative study is a résumé of the role of psychoanalytic theory in Surrealism in several ways: as the writing of Sigmund Freud and others was consciously adapted by the Surrealists for their various intellectual ends; as psychoanalytic theory was used to produce the iconographic art history of Surrealism; and as contemporary psychoanalytically-inflected theory.

Rolf Lauter
Werner Schreib - An artist between reality and dream', in: Art in Frankfurt 1945 to today, project book, Frankfurt am Main 1995.

“My paintings and graphics are inventions between reality and dreams. Nearest and most distant associations are captured and playfully and spontaneously interwoven into structures. As objects, they claim their own reality. The creative interaction takes place in the largest possible number of seemingly contradictory decisions, which are not calculated in advance and are concentrated in the smallest area. This creates a work of art of fascinating beauty. All possibilities of art - correctly proportioned - can be used.

The viewer is captured sensually. He will then transform the optical-sensual into the magical-poetic in an individual, inner process. He will fall under his own spell, which he cannot escape. The work of art has taken possession of him; it affected the artistic sense. Now he can enjoy. It goes without saying that my paintings are primarily determined by painterly problems and qualities - because I am a painter; and my graphics are primarily determined by graphic problems and qualities, because I am a graphic artist: I know that this puts me in contradiction to many of the art concepts that exist today and that I will elicit strong protests from many of my colleagues because, in my opinion, they in particular are treating these problems in an inadmissible way Mix them up or disregard them in their simplicity.” (Werner Schreib)

Werner Schreib is an artist who has developed his works into a special artistic expression from three perspectives. His particular affection for the art of the Surrealists - and here again for the pictures of Max Ernst - led him to the areas of spontaneously executed lines and movement traces, blot or flow forms, informal painting and to the processing of impasto material with embossed or sealed ones Signs and symbols. He also saw himself as an artist of his time and tried - similar to the Dadaist Kurt Schwitters in the 1920s and 1930s - to incorporate the human world determined by technology into his work using a concise sign language. Finally, Schreib reflected on the material conditions and the technical processing of the work of art, on its physical presence, which determines his conception of the work as an important aesthetic category. In this respect, his entire work is based primarily on the interaction of the areas of dream (creative imagination) and reality (civilizational lifeworld, matter).

Rolf Lauter
Werner Schreib - Ein Künstler zwischen Wirklichkeit und Traum', in: Kunst in Frankfurt 1945 bis heute, Projektbuch, Frankfurt am Main 1995.

„Meine Malerei und Graphik ist Erfindung zwischen Wirklichkeit und Traum. Nächste und fernste Assoziationen werden eingefangen und spielerisch-spontan zu Gebilden verflochten. Sie beanspruchen als Gegenstand eine eigene Wirklichkeit. Der schöpferische Umgang vollzieht sich in einer größtmöglichen Anzahl scheinbar widersprechender Entscheidungen, welche nicht im Voraus berechnet werden und sich auf kleinster Fläche konzentrieren. So entsteht ein Kunstwerk von faszinierender Schönheit. Alle Möglichkeiten der Kunst - richtig proportioniert - können verwendet werden.

Der Betrachter wird sinnlich gefangengenommen. Er wird sodann Optisch-Sinnliches in einem individuellen, inneren Prozess zu Magisch-Poetischem verwandeln. Er wird seinem eigenen Zauber verfallen, dem er sich nicht zu entziehen vermag. Das Kunstwerk hat sich seiner bemächtigt; es hat den Kunstsinn affiziert. Nun kann er genießen. Selbstverständlich, dass meine Gemälde primär von malerischen Problemen und Qualitäten bestimmt werden - denn ich bin Maler; und meine Graphik wird primär von graphischen Problemen und Qualitäten bestimmt, denn ich bin Graphiker: Ich weiß, dass ich damit in Gegensatz zu vielen der heute bestehenden Kunstauffassungen gerate und etlichen Kollegen argen Protest entlocken werde, weil gerade sie nach meiner Meinung diese Probleme in unzulässiger Weise vermengen oder sie in ihrer Einfalt missachten.“ (Werner Schreib)

Werner Schreib ist ein Künstler, der seine Werke unter drei Gesichtspunkten zu einem speziellen künstlerischen Ausdruck geführt hat. Seine besondere Zuneigung zur Kunst der Surrealisten – und hier wiederum zu den Bildern von Max Ernst – führte ihn zu den Bereichen der spontan ausgeführten Linien- und Bewegungsspuren, der Klecks- oder Fließformen, der informellen Malerei und zu der Bearbeitung pastoser Materie mit geprägten oder gesiegelten Zeichen und Symbolen. Daneben verstand er sich als ein Künstler seiner Zeit und versuchte – ähnlich wie der Dadaist Kurt Schwitters in den 20er und den 30er Jahren –, die von der Technik bestimmte Lebenswelt des Menschen mit Hilfe einer prägnanten Zeichensprache in seine Arbeiten miteinzubeziehen. Schließlich reflektierte Schreib über die materiellen Voraussetzungen und die technische Bearbeitung des Kunstwerkes, über seine physische Präsenz, die seine Werkauffassung als eine wichtige ästhetische Kategorie bestimmt. Insofern basiert sein Gesamtwerk vor allem auf der Wechselwirkung der Bereiche Traum (schöpferische Phantasie) und Wirklichkeit (zivilisatorische Lebenswelt, Materie).

Le plat pays" (Jacques Brel) poetically praised in Afrikaansnotes on iconicity in the original and translated chanson texts The authors of this article translated the well-known chanson about Flanders, "Le plat pays", into Afrikaans as part of an extensive and ongoing Jacques Brel translation project initiated in 2005. In this analysis of both the original and translated "Le plat pays" lyrics, the marked poetic qualities of Brel's chanson are laid bare, as are some semantic differences-and the implications for the analysis thereof-between source (original) and target (translated) texts. Opsomming "Le plat pays" (Jacques Brel) poëties besing in Afrikaansaantekeninge oor ikonisiteit in die oorspronklike en vertaalde chansontekste Die outeurs van hierdie artikel het die bekende chanson oor Vlaandere, "Le plat pays", in Afrikaans vertaal as onderdeel van 'n uitgebreide en voortgaande Jacques Brel-vertaalprojek, wat in 2005 van stapel gestuur is. In hierdie ontleding van sowel die oorspronklike as die vertaalde "Le plat pays"-lirieke word die opmerklike poëtiese kwaliteite van Brel se chanson blootgelê, asook bepaalde semantiese verskille-en die implikasies vir die interpretasie daarvan-tussen die bron-en doeltekste (oorspronklike en vertaalde tekste).

Dada is the infant terrible of art history, an anarchic movement that is typically referred to as nihilistic, pathological, and firmly enshrined within the modernist paradigm and the context of WWI. Through the lens of classical, romantic, and psychoanalytic notions, it certainly appears almost antithetical to creativity. Yet from a cognitive point-of-view, Dada marks a watershed in the understanding of creativity, and articulates principles of creative cognition with surprising insight and precision many decades ahead of science.

In questo saggio mi soffermo su alcune opere di Leonora Carrington - artista inglese che attraversa il secolo XX - seguendo il filo analitico-narrativo del libro "Leonora Carrington. Un viaggio nel Novecento" di Giulia Ingarao, edito da Mimesis. Il volume, pubblicato dalla stessa casa editrice nel 2014, conta con due nuove edizioni, in italiano e in inglese, entrambe del 2022.
Concludo la recensione con un approfondimento su Remedios Varo, artista spagnola emigrata in Messico - come Carrington - durante la Seconda Guerra Mondiale.

The output is a curated exhibition and catalogue of Viktor Wynd&#39;s impressive collection of Leonora Carrington artworks.This collection is macabre as it is unique, bringing together little-known prints and drawings which detail the surrealist bestiary of Carrington’s imaginative universe (explored further by Marina Warner), as well as four early canvases from Carrington’s pre-surrealist period (analysed in- depth by Susan L. Aberth). An anecdote by Wynd and short story by Carrington’s son, Gabriel Weisz, further nuance the visual narratives under consideration. Until this exhibition, the collection had never been shown together. Leeds Arts University hosted the collection as a major part of its Leonora Carrington/Lucy Skaer research exhibition (15 July – 2 September 2016). The artworks included in the catalogue toured subsequently to The Viktor Wynd Museum in London. Special thanks go to Viktor Wynd for his enthusiasm, generosity and support in realising the exhibition as well as...

Öz Bu araştırma metninde Sürrealizm ve peygamberdevesi metaforu, André Masson, Salvador Dali ve Max Ernst'ün resimleri üzerinden incelenmektedir. Peygamberdevelerinin fiziksel ve davranışsal özelliklerinin ele alındığı giriş bölümün ardından Sürrealizmin genel özelliklerinden bahsedilmiş, Sigmund Freud'un bilinçaltı çalışmalarının ve Roger Caillois'in peygamberdeveleri üzerine yayımladığı makalelerin Sürrealist sanatçıların çalışmalarını hangi açılardan etkiledikleri ele alınmıştır. İki dünya savaşı arasındaki bu dönemde peygamberdevelerinin yıkıcı bir güç ve ölümle olan ilişkisi, dişi peygamberdevelerinin çiftleştikten sonra eşlerini yemeleriyle ifade edilmiştir. Bu yıkım Masson ve Ernst'ün resimlerinde biçimsel olarak böcek formu üzerinden anlatılırken, Dali'nin resimlerindeyse farklı metaforlar üzerinden sunulmuş ve böcekler onun korkularının sembolleri haline gelmiştir. Sonuç bölümünde ise peygamberdevelerinin Sürrealist resimlerdeki biçimsel ve kavramsal özellikleri karşılaştırılarak değerlendirilmiş, bilim ve sanat arasındaki ortaklıkları incelenmiştir.

Iliazd: A Meta-Biography of a Modernist is a monographic study by scholar, critic, and theorist Johanna Drucker whose work has long been addressing visual culture and the processes of knowledge production. Drucker is also a practitioner of artists' books and has written extensively on modernism. Besides covering the career of Ilia Zdanevich (1894-1975), this monograph revisits the very form of biography by combining the narrative with the story of the study conducted by the author.