Borne out of the reactionary precepts of Dada (1915 - 1920) -- itself a violent reaction against the evolution of the society of the times which had culminated in World War One, Surrealism strove to break the traditions and incorporate the subconscious into the conscious, a theory Andre Breton described in his Surrealist Manifesto of 1924. In it, he included all forms of expression: visual and written. He advocated the use of free-thought, in which a person could tap into his inner mind, let loose all of the censorship which would dilute these thoughts, and express them in physical form whether they made sense or not. It diverged from Dada in the fact that Dada was anti-art in every form -- it valued nihilism and destruction of preordained forms, whereas Surrealism brought the irrational into rational form.
During the 1920s Surrealism enjoyed its most prolific expressions. On canvas, Andre Masson was the principal exponent of automatic drawing. Giorgio de Chirico created disturbing landscapes of ominous dread, even though later on he would come to deny his involvement in the genre. Salvador Dali embraced the genre with so much fervor this is where he stayed until his dying day, and to this day, whenever anyone thinks Surrealism, it's inevitable that Dali becomes the first name to be thought of. Such has been Dali's association with the movement, and it's said that with his death in 1989, so died the movement.
However, at its beginning, Surrealism seemed to touch everything it came in contact with. This included film as well. Luis Bunuel, a man who couldn't relate to writing or painting, sought to express it in film. His collaboration with Salvador Dali was this 17 minute nightmare in which disjointed events were woven together by the inherent presence of the dream factor. It's famous now for its shocking depiction of a woman's eye being sliced at the same time a razor-like cloud passes in front of a shining moon. The scene comes with no warning, so the viewer can't be prepared to anticipate its occurrence. It solves nothing, it means nothing, but there it is, oozing sudden violence that ends as quickly as it appears.
Much has been the attempt to disclose the meaning of UN CHIEN ANDALOU. It has none. Having studied Surrealism for most of my incursion into Architecture, I am aware of the fact that because Surrealism delved into the subconscious so openly it flew in the face of concrete explanation. However, the influence the short has had in how movies and stories are told -- whenever a dream or bizarre sequence would be needed -- is unquestionable. Surrealism is present in media advertising, in music videos, in literature, even in architecture, to a lesser degree: one has to only see the bizarre yet beautiful creations of Frank Gehry to see how appropriate they would be in a De Chirico landscape. And anyone who has bought recent compilations of Lovecraft's short stories will see the most bizarre descriptions of a corrupted, blackly sensual world.
Bunuel in his short created a masterpiece that is a must-see for anyone who is studying art and surrealism. Seeing its images, which marry the foldings of time with the notions of death and sex and decay almost seamlessly, is a thing of horror and beauty. While Bunuel only made one more completely Surrealist movie in L'AGE D'OR, this is it, the first one, the most important. It's influenced everyone who's made movies whether they've seen it or not because of Surrealism's inherent presence in the visual. And it's best seen without the annoying soundtrack, added much later to give a sense of time and movement within its deconstructed reality.
During the 1920s Surrealism enjoyed its most prolific expressions. On canvas, Andre Masson was the principal exponent of automatic drawing. Giorgio de Chirico created disturbing landscapes of ominous dread, even though later on he would come to deny his involvement in the genre. Salvador Dali embraced the genre with so much fervor this is where he stayed until his dying day, and to this day, whenever anyone thinks Surrealism, it's inevitable that Dali becomes the first name to be thought of. Such has been Dali's association with the movement, and it's said that with his death in 1989, so died the movement.
However, at its beginning, Surrealism seemed to touch everything it came in contact with. This included film as well. Luis Bunuel, a man who couldn't relate to writing or painting, sought to express it in film. His collaboration with Salvador Dali was this 17 minute nightmare in which disjointed events were woven together by the inherent presence of the dream factor. It's famous now for its shocking depiction of a woman's eye being sliced at the same time a razor-like cloud passes in front of a shining moon. The scene comes with no warning, so the viewer can't be prepared to anticipate its occurrence. It solves nothing, it means nothing, but there it is, oozing sudden violence that ends as quickly as it appears.
Much has been the attempt to disclose the meaning of UN CHIEN ANDALOU. It has none. Having studied Surrealism for most of my incursion into Architecture, I am aware of the fact that because Surrealism delved into the subconscious so openly it flew in the face of concrete explanation. However, the influence the short has had in how movies and stories are told -- whenever a dream or bizarre sequence would be needed -- is unquestionable. Surrealism is present in media advertising, in music videos, in literature, even in architecture, to a lesser degree: one has to only see the bizarre yet beautiful creations of Frank Gehry to see how appropriate they would be in a De Chirico landscape. And anyone who has bought recent compilations of Lovecraft's short stories will see the most bizarre descriptions of a corrupted, blackly sensual world.
Bunuel in his short created a masterpiece that is a must-see for anyone who is studying art and surrealism. Seeing its images, which marry the foldings of time with the notions of death and sex and decay almost seamlessly, is a thing of horror and beauty. While Bunuel only made one more completely Surrealist movie in L'AGE D'OR, this is it, the first one, the most important. It's influenced everyone who's made movies whether they've seen it or not because of Surrealism's inherent presence in the visual. And it's best seen without the annoying soundtrack, added much later to give a sense of time and movement within its deconstructed reality.