Sabotaging Reality
Surrealism in European Photographic Art in 1922–1947
"Arbitrarily comparing contradictory pictures, surrealism cultivated 'sabotage of reality',"
wrote the artist Raoul Ubac in 1977. Ubac thus repeated the words of writer André Breton, the
leading figure of surrealism, who 50 years earlier saw 'total defiance' and 'regular sabotage' in
the surrealists' activities. A wish to destroy reality, the core of surrealism, acquired different
forms in the 1920s and 1930s, shifting from automatic writing to pictorial or word games,
encouraging chance, unpremeditation, free flow of the imagination, examining the
subconscious. To bring back the supernatural, end the reign of reason, morals and logic,
create art that would not correspond to any principles of morals or aesthetics – these were
some of the principles of surrealism.
In the arts, it was photography rather than painting where the sabotage of reality was carried
out most extensively and creatively. André Breton regarded photography as autonomous
writing: photographs can be treated ('burning', distorting), various mishaps can be used
(photogram), photographs can be reversed and manipulated, or you can just take pictures. In
the hands of surrealists, photography has become a favourite tool in their aspirations towards
"a purer subconscious which is at the same time increasingly captivated by the world of
emotions." In that sense, surrealist photography in its entirety displays a slightly shifted point
of view, trying to shake reality.
The aim of the three-part exhibition is to go beyond the famous representatives of different
schools of surrealism, be they French, Belgian or Czech, and attempt to capture the surrealist
spirit, expressed in the work of other artists who were to a varying extent influenced by the
Paris surrealists. Traces of that spirit were found also in Germany and England. Besides
artistic works the display wishes to introduce commercial photographs published in the avantgarde magazines or in the surrealist manifestos of the time. The art of photography has greatly
benefited from these advertisements, fashion photographs and illustrations that ever since the
1930s have spread the surrealist spirit among wider audiences.
Urban Poetry
For the avant-garde photographers of the 1920s and 1930s, the metropolis was a favourite
hunting ground, and the surrealists were no exception. However, where many photographers
unambiguously extolled the modernity of the city, iron and electricity, the surrealists turned
the urban space, especially the streets of Paris, into the domain of impartial chance and
mystery.
All these unexpected encounters exude poetry, which occasionally reaches from the mundane
and banal to the fantastic or terrible. Various apparitions, shop windows with changing
reflections, unusual scenes, unsuitable objects, mysterious writing on the wall – all are
puzzles waiting to be solved. In front of the surrealists’ lens, the city becomes a dream;
innovative shots, overexposing the picture and nocturnal views are some of the factors that
cause this metamorphosis. The key words of this type of urban poetry included an interest in
exciting places and folk culture, found (often discarded) things, time and layers of time, and
unexpected meeting places.
Fragmented bodies
Photography was the main ally of surrealists in their research of man and the body. Being
keen on staging and disguising, allowing any kind of distortions and alterations, the surrealists
found a chance in photography for endless, often comic games of occasionally cruel
metamorphoses regarding an individual and a human body.
Their fascination with mannequins, dolls and masks, at the same time encouraged reflections
on personality. The eternal topic of the other, the Doppelgänger, who is now disturbing and
artificial, finds expression in people who have lost their humanity and in mannequins that are
more authentic than reality. The surrealists who had repeatedly confirmed their intention to
"give supreme power to desire," finally directed their photography to the erotic, often spiced
by violence and over-dramatisation. They focused on various changes experienced by female
flesh and body.
Dream world
Although the surrealists could find inexhaustible inspiration in the most mundane life, they
worked quite a lot – in studios too – especially Man Ray, creating a totally new reality where
the connections between space and objects were dream-like and delusional. To achieve that,
the surrealists used various techniques: on the one hand experimental photography, taking
pictures and developing them by different methods (overexposure, photogram) and using
different treatments (collages, photomontage, ‘burning’). On the other hand, they use
theatrical photography, i.e. creating impossible locations in the studio that seemed to be torn
out of dreams or nightmares. Such photographic staging often displayed a fascination with
objects, found or reversed items or household utensils, which are the cause of the absurd
meetings and associations seen in the photographs. In front of the lens of a surrealist, an
inanimate object springs to life and becomes a fetish with magical powers. Surrealists were
fond of using close-up together with scale-related difficulties, as this was an excellent means
to throw the viewer’s eye out of balance.