An Investigation into Surrealism Throughout History and in Practice Through the Photographic Lens -
Introduction:
The study of surrealism is significant in the understanding of society and its criticisms of reality and unreality. Surrealism has been a prevalent artistic form since the 1920s and was renowned for its resolution and contradiction around the issue of dream and reality. The form itself can be interpreted in various ways but a common definition would be the abstract opposition or juxtaposition of ideologies alongside each other. This medium is hugely important in society as far too often the masses are caught up in a cycle of traditions and normality which art and, more specifically, surrealism provide a release from; if surrealism is the study of dream and reality then its technique places the audience in a position of lucid dreaming where they are able to navigate the realities of their own lives through the dream-like state of photography. Therefore, this technique has provided the opportunity for many to engage with the implicit meanings of this form from their own understandings in that it allows for critical perspectives on societal attitudes, exploration of the human psyche and a deeper understanding of human identity.
History and Technology:
Surrealisms' origin derives from written mediums such as novels and poetry before it later evolved and became a technique of artistic rebellion to criticise society. The movement that created surrealism was developed in Europe under the title of the Dada Movement; this was created by a group of artists who, for the first time, were creating conceptual art rather than working to simply create aesthetically pleasing outcomes. The reasoning for this new style was that it had been a response, a retort, aimed at a society that had allowed the ugliness of war and nationalism responsible for it. Moreover, surrealism is significantly linked to the artistic styles of abstract art mediums such as cubism, futurism, constructivism and expressionism although their ideologies vary greatly in reference to aesthetic outcomes. The aesthetic avant-garde style of surrealism revolves around criticism of materialistic and nationalistic attitudes as an attack on the lifestyle of the bourgeoisie. No artistic group was intended to be as anti-society to the extent of the Dada Movement; their ideology was that a society which creates war is not worthy of art and such was the style choice of anti-art to create ugliness as a replacement of aesthetic. The supposed targets of surrealism and the Dada Movement, the bourgeoisie, soon adopted the style after believing its critical perspectives being aimed at the old masters or old art and a society ruled by church dominion instead of at themselves. Consequently, anti-art became art and the connotations of ideologies were lost. Even though, such artists as were involved in the Dada Movement, as with all surrealists, can be divided into two categories: Automatists or the Verisitics. Automatists are those who follow the ideas of suppression of the conscious in favour of the subconscious; those who delve into the mind and challenge constructions of reality and unreality without burdening their work with meanings. However, there are also the Verisitics who understand Automatism as a technique of allowing the subconscious to rise to the surface untouched and allow the audience to decipher the meanings. Some examples of surrealists throughout multiple mediums are Voltaire and novels, Magritte in the medium of paintings and Man Ray's photography. Technology and surrealism have developed together over a period of time with various photographers employing various techniques. One early surrealist photographer who was involved in technological experimentations but also in the history of surrealism routed in the Dada Movement is Man Ray. Man Ray was an influential figure in surrealism as one of the initial, informal, members of the Dada group to create art for a conceptual purpose whilst also representing the journey of surrealism through his own artistic journey; an evolution from paint to photography and a continued moving between mediums. Man Ray had been experimenting with photography in the 1920s when the 1922 image ‘Marquise Casati’
(1) was created as a silver positive
(2) on a glass plate. Other means of surreal photographic mediums include processes such as collage or assemblage, the 3D version of collage, cinematography and photograms or “rayographs” as eponymously coined by Man Ray himself. The method of capturing and developing images has changed over time with the development from creating positives and negatives to digital cameras or from physical collages to modern Photoshop. To further this, famous surreal photographers who implemented techniques of collage, or more specifically photomontage, include Hannah Hoch and Raoul Hausmann
(4). Hoch was a member of the Dada Movement who used images from within the media and combined them to create a disjointed interpretation of social roles and society. More recently photographers and artists such as Tommy Ingberg, another photomontage surreal photographer, employs both the old medium of cutting and sticking combined with Photoshop
(6) to create a smoother final outcome than Hannah Hoch was able to; partly because of varying interpretations of artists in reference to aesthetic ideals but also due to the developing technology of the photographic world. Surreal work has been celebrated for its thoughtful subtleties and such ideas have been conveyed through processes including developing film to the more recent accessible tools incorporating DSLR cameras and electronic printers. The technique of production does not so much matter to surrealism as long as the implied meanings of the creator are present.
Photographer Research:
To elaborate, one specific photographer relevant to surrealism historically and contemporarily in his influence of others is Man Ray. Man Ray, originally born Emmanuel Radnitzky, was a Russian-Jewish American photographer and artist based in France who became an important figure in the Dada Movement and later the surrealism movement. Although, his skills also extended to poetry as Surrealism itself began foremost as a literary movement. A reason for his influence on others is the extent and variation of his works. Man Ray was influenced by many movements and therefore his work reflected wide varieties of styles with Ray even becoming involved as a highly rated fashion photographer. Ray was extremely significant in Surrealism due to his image manipulations of photographs before, during and after the developing process. For instance, Rayographs, the eponymously named version of a Photogram, were formed by arranging props "on a sheet of photosensitised paper and exposing it to light"
(G) thus meaning that photographs were captured without the aid of a camera. Man Ray had also delved into photographic styles such as solarisation and collage techniques which are also influential to many contemporary works today. Image
(7), a 1936 collage, by Man Ray is one example of surrealism in a now historical temporal period. Collage itself has been described as a medium "as diverse as it is politically charged"
(H) and Man Ray, much like the medium itself, is diverse in his own styles. The collage
(8) of the nicknamed "Queen of Montparnasse"
(I) is one in a sequence of many to contextually feature Man Ray's favoured companion who was also a muse for many artists of the area in France as both a socialite and model. This particular image features a fragmented haunting recollection of the lady of Montparnasse which denotes techniques of solarisation, photographic manipulation and specific compositional ideas such as the rule of thirds but could also connote the feelings of having multiple personas as a female rejecting many expectations of the time and her rebellion against her mother after deciding to pose nude for artists from the age of fourteen. The solarisation could also connote that situations are not simply black or white, right or wrong but instead that the overlapping sections of composition creates grey areas; we as humans are neither fully good or fully bad. Rejecting one persons ideals in favour of your own or another's is not an act of evil but maybe instead growth. Furthermore, the positioning of the subject is like that of a victim through the closed eyes and raised open hands which could display how a nude form is often seen as vulnerable but to Man Ray it is art and society should all see it in a way that is not solely one of vulnerability but one of celebration in either its darkest forms as outlined within this example or in a more positive way as in image
(9). Photograph
(9) is titled "Nude Torso" and is a 1947, later gelatine silver print, of Man Ray's. The model used is unknown but contextually, as Man Ray met his wife, "Juliet Browner"
(K), in 1940 and remained with her until 1976 it is likely that he used his wife as he did in other images although other models may have been used during this period. As most of Ray's work focused on "femininity and form"
(H) this image could infer connotations of societal expectation of women within society. The female form has often been seen as an artists muse, a medium for art, or within society a medium for sex. Man Ray could be challenging female sexual objectification by photographing the female form without revealing the sexual features; moreover, the fact the image is of a torso and without a head means that it is able to be applied to any female within society. Although, the image could simply denote an interesting form of shape and composition and Man Ray's appreciation for the female form.
Photographer Research Continued:
In comparison to Man Ray is the contemporary photographer and photomontage surreal artists Tommy Ingberg. Ingberg begun with a sketchbook before channelling more towards photography and digital image editing software Photoshop. The stance taken by Ingberg is that photographic work of surreal artists exist as a "visual diary"
(F) which serves to express "the subconscious with a picture"
(F). Despite Tommy Ingberg's status as a contemporary photographer he believes that almost all surrealism within a final outcome should be created pre-production with modern aids such as Photoshop existing within the genre for minor adjustments as a quality photograph could be cut up and pasted "onto an empty piece of paper and be done with it"
(F). The desire to fulfil realistic images without the employment of modern software is evidenced by image
(6) from Ingberg's blog focusing on behind the scenes of the surreal work. Image
(5) entitled "Puppet" has denotations of importance in that the subject is central in the rule of thirds grid with the subject hanging by a hand with a leading line taking the audiences eye on a journey through the landscape. This image, as are all of Ingberg's photographs, is edited into black and white thus adding to the mono tonal style heightening the contrasts between light and dark. However, the connotation of this photograph
(5) could imply that the hand suspending the subject
above the landscape is almost like a criticism of an omnipotent god-like character; whether it truly is in relation to religion, the opium of the masses as coined by Karl Marx, or aimed towards other intuitions such as government is for the audience to interpret. If the hand is linked to god then the audience could perceive the formally dressed subject to be embodying the clothes of a funeral as though they have died and as a result the leading line of the road could be an idea about the bright light at the end of a tunnel or the reference to the crossroads of life or death. However, I believe that the hand could resemble the hegemonic people in power physically manipulating the the anonymous masses of suits and ties in the rat race of life. The road could also, in reference to this, symbolise the never ending journey towards the unachievable 'American Dream' or other such ideologies that are flawed due to a capitalist society. To expand upon this, the other image of Ingberg's (7) is one that explicitly conveys a different style to other works by the same photographer. There is no use of landscape but instead more elements of portraiture are present with another anonymous central subject as the main focus revealing a clockwork inside. On the more implicit level this image (7) uses multiple subjects which create an army of people and a more sinister tone. The main protagonist of the work is facing the audience whilst revealing their mechanical anatomy which appears to connote ideas that within society we are an army of anonymous masses just cogs in the mechanical system which must all follow the same path for the machine to work. However, the subject facing the opposite direction has become sentient and aware of the society they live in and wishes to instead lead a life different to the others ruled by the institutions of socialisation such as education, religion and government. Contextually, this image is significant in that the Reality Rearranged series is "[his] first try at describing reality through surrealism" as this series falls before the ongoing series 'Journey' which began in 2015. This further implies ideas about the "unreality of reality" and in contrast the "reality of unreality" as equal and opposite ideologies on life. Life often provides many challenges which society copes with from within the mind which is the unreality of reality. However, a surreal idea draws its inspiration from society and therefore displays the reality of unreality. This is further evidence by Ingberg in that he stated that he "settled into a safe non-challenging “normal” life" but soon realised "something was missing" (F); the aspect of life missing was the reality balance of surrealism and life in his photography.
Relevance of Photographer Research:
Photographers that have been researched for this project fit within the sub-categroies of both surrealism and fashion which are highly inspired by fine art. As such the work created so far has been experimental delves into surrealism and its ideas.
For instance, surreal photographers that have been discussed include Katerina Plotnikova, Pierre Javelle and Akiko Ida, Christian Hopkins, Sarolta Ban, Tommy Ingberg, Man Ray, Slinkachu and Yorch Miranda. Some examples of researched fashion photographers include Tim Walker, Margarita Kareva, Ernest Artillo and Elizaveta Porodina.
Most of the shoots completed so far have been results of surreal influences and as such most of the outcomes so far can only be linked to surreal photographers explicitly whilst undertones of fashion revolving around lighting are present they are implicit. For instance, one example is photoshoot 1 which draws some inspiration from Man Ray. To expand, the first photoshoot in this investigation focuses on physically manipulating the subject by painting directly onto them as one canvas as was a technique employed by Man Ray in his photograph "The Violin of Ingres" (10) where a model was painted to resemble a cello by adding the f-holes on her lower back. The style was adapted to fit a more surreal F.X. makeup idea with backlighting to create a skeleton (11) to study the ideas of beauty standards and concepts such as race being skin deep.
Moreover, shoot 2 was a combination of various surreal photographers who experimented within the physical manipulation mediums. Such photographers who inspired me include Flora Borsi, Matthieu Bourel, Ernest Artillo, Hannah Hoch, Lucas Simoes and May Xiong. Some works are almost a pastiche of the artist who inspired the work whilst others are solely that, inspired by the influences of the photographers and artists. For example, image (13) is inspired by Hannah Hoch (12) but took ideas from travel and technological advancements; the heads are meant to resemble planets with the rocket travelling past them. The idea was that we can be as far from each other as if we were in space but humanity are still able to communicate. Furthermore, image (15) draws a direct pastiche from the work of Ernesto Artillo (14). The sporadic lines and collage style alongside the anonymity of the subject through the removed face are intended to draw direct comparison to the original work. My version is to deconstruct ideas of beauty standards in that the face is removed and the subject surrounded by magazine cutouts of beauty products whilst Ernesto Artillo's original could be understood as connoting the dissection of the social construct of female femininity.
Additionally, shoot 3 focused on a technique that had been expired previously relating to David Hockney's photo joiners (16). The idea was that shoot 3 was a natural progression from physical manipulation to technical manipulation and one that was inspired by an extremely famous artist who experimented in various mediums one being photography. The final outcome of image (17) is that it was inspired by the photo joiners technique but did not implement as many artistic ideas that Hockney brought from his paintings such as use of colour, saturation and unusual composition. As a result, the work is not a direct pastiche but instead takes ideas and interprets them to follow a direction variant from the original.
The Future:
The surrealist movement is strongly routed in the past and has seen the deaths of many of its key influential leaders, Man Ray, Raoul Hausmann and Max Ernst, who set the ideologies of the art form as notable members in the Dada Movement. Surrealism was important in providing the first platform for variation in the art world that was not solely for aesthetic purposes but to challenge ideas and encode conceptual meanings in a narrative of photography. The movement was a kindred spirit with groups such as cubism who also challenged the notion of art as providing a mirror of actuality and wanted to blur the lines of dream and reality.
Surrealism is also strongly significant in the future as a medium that challenges society and its belief systems which is prevalent in modern society due to the voice of the people rebelling against the rulers as was the Dada movements original intentions. Activism in modern day has called for surrealism to blur the lines between reality and dream, or in most cases nightmares, even more so. War is again a plague on society as it had been prior to the movements origin in the 1920s and as such its reason for existence is just as strong now as before.
Surrealisms evolution not only as an ideology but physically and technically also will change in a new temporal context. New software such as Photoshop and hardware such as DSLR cameras has meant that the medium of photography has become more easily accessible to the masses and that therefore the idea of surrealism has too. Photoshop is a platform that allows for editing images in more surreal ways than was ever provided when developing film at a cheaper and more efficient rate. Colourisation, distortion and layering are just some tools that have created many surreal works such as that of Christopher McKenney and Tommy Ingberg in contemporary surrealism.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, surrealism is a vital component in the composition of the art and photographic communities and will continue to hold a significant role as the art world continues to develop.
As such, the outlined investigation will continue to focus on surrealism but from more experimental perspectives using varied techniques and drawing inspiration from diverse photographers and artists who are not only within the movement of surrealism but also work within fashion.
Therefore, plan for shoots have developed around cross-textual sources such as "Alice in Wonderland", self-made ghosts and the everyday surreal in the form of masked family members as a family portrait that can extend to a wider audience.
Bibliography -
A. Sanchez, M, (Unknown Date), Go Surreal, [
http://www.gosurreal.com/history.htm ], (Accessed: 1 November 2016)
B. Unknown, N/A, (Unkown Date), The Art Story, [
http://www.theartstory.org/movement-dada.htm ], (Acessed: 1 November 2016)
C. Unknown, N/A, (Unknown Date), The Art Story, [
http://www.theartstory.org/artist-ray-man.htm ], (Accessed: 15 November 2016)
D. Unknown, N/A, (Unknown Date), Artsy, [
https://www.artsy.net/artwork/man-ray-marquise-casati ], (Acessed: 8 November 2016)
E. Unknown, N/A, (30 September 2016), Wikipedia, [
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photographic_processing ], (Acessed: 8 November 2016)
F. Ingberg, T, (16 June 2015), Tommy Ingberg Photographic Art, [
http://www.ingberg.com ], (Accessed: 8 November 2016)
G. Unknown, N/A, (Unknown Date), Met Museum, [
http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/265487 ], (Accessed: 15 November 2016)
H. Unknown, N/A, (14 January 2014), AnOther,
[ http://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/3318/top-10-collage-artists-hannah-hoch-to-man-ray ], (Accessed: 17 November 2016)
I. Unknown, N/A, (14 Novemember 2016), Wikipedia, [
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Prin ], (Accessed: 17 November 2016)
J. Unknown, N/A, (Unknown Date), Mutual Art, [
https://www.mutualart.com/Artwork/Solarization--Nude-torso-/D17A6B2A4C550E58 ], (Accessed: 17 November 2016)
K. Unknown, N/A, (Unknown Date), The Pleasure Trove, [
http://cargocollective.com/thepleasuretrove/FEATURED-Man-Ray-s-muses ], (Accessed: 17 November 2016)
Image References -
1. (Man Ray: 'Marquise Casati': Silver positive on glass)
2. (Silver positive dark room process)
3. (Man Ray: Rayograph/ Photogram)
4. (Hannah Hoch: Photomontage)
5. (Tommy Ingberg: 'Puppet': Photomontage)
6. (Tommy Ingberg: 'Puppet': Behind the scenes)
7. (Tommy Ingberg: 'Inside')
8. (Man Ray: 'Alice Prin'/ 'Kiki de Montparnasse'/ 'Dora Marr': Collage: 1936)
9. (Man Ray: 'Nude Torso': Solarisation)
10. (Man Ray: 'The Violin of Ingres')
11. (My Work: Photoshoot 1)
12. (Hannah Hoch: Collage)
13. (My Work: Photoshoot 2)
14. (Ernesto Artillo: Collage)
15. (My Work: Photoshoot 2)
16. (David Hockney: Photo joiners)
17. (My Work: Photoshoot 3)
