Maggie's Graphic Arts Blog: The Influence of Modern Art

Surrealism

Maggie Merkin

ARTH 230.01

T. Long

The art movement Surrealism burst on the scene in Paris in 1924, and has since been one of the more well known movements in art. This particular art movement explored the world of intuition, dreams, and the unconscious realm. Surrealism wasn’t a style or matter of aesthetics, but rather was a way of thinking, knowing, feeling, and a way of life. It was a movement where humanity could be liberated; intuition and feeling could be freed and provided a platform to seek an uninhibited truth. Poets, writers, and painters were all a part of the movement, though the painters really were the ones in which surrealism affected society and visual communications. Images ranging from deeply personal to emotional content that was impacted with symbolism and fantasy were the products of the surrealist movement. For example, Giorgio de Chirico (1888-1978), who was considered to be one of the first surrealist painters, painted images of haunting, empty spaces that possessed a melancholy feel to them, filled with images of vacant buildings, intense perspectives, and harsh shadows. Those who joined the surrealist movement helped influence visual communication today, and have had a major impact on photography and illustration as well. One such artist, Max Ernst (1891-1965), used several techniques that have influenced graphic communication today. He reinvented nineteenth century wood engravings by using collage techniques to create strange and different juxtaposed images. He also used the process of decalcomania, transferring images from a printed matter to a drawing or painting. His various techniques have had major impact in illustration, painting, and printmaking today. Another artist, Spanish painter Salvador Dali (1904-89) also influenced graphic design- his use of deep perspective in his prints and paintings influenced other artists to explore bringing vast depth to the flat, printed pages of their work. The diversity of this artistic movement provides modern art with a poetic example of how people were beginning to liberate themselves from social and moral conventions, and how they started to explore their subconscious minds and begin to communicate through their dreams and fantasy worlds. It helped pioneer new techniques that we have come to study today, and allowed for fantasies and intuition to be expressed visually and communicatively in the art and media world today.

"The Philosopher's Conquest" (1913/14) Giorgio de Chirico