Surrealism

Description

Surrealism looks beyond the post-1945 period to survey all of the twentieth century’s major art movements. Mary Ann Caws is an internationally respected scholar of Surrealism who has translated many of its major texts and published extensively on the Surrealists’ art and writings.

Aside from academic studies and museum catalogues, this is the most comprehensive, art book format survey on Surrealism to date, as it provides an essential overview of the links between the Surrealists’ famous artworks. Mary Ann Caws is uniquely qualified to do this; reviewing one of her previous books, Rosalind Krauss, Columbia University’s Meyer Schapiro Professor of Art, writes:

‘The specialization of critical labour has meant that gifted readers of surrealist texts are rarely in contact with canny viewers of surrealist objects … Mary Ann Caws brings her readerly skills on both sides of the divide, producing an analysis that, in its generosity, erudition and originality, greatly enriches our experience of the movement.’

Mary Ann Caws is Distinguished Professor of Comparative Literature, English and French at the City University of New York. Her numerous publications include extensive writings on surrealist and modernist art and literature, and translations of major writers and poets, including André Breton, Stéphane Mallarmé and Tristan Tzara. Her books include Robert Motherwell: What Art Holds (1995); The Surrealist Look: An Erotics of Encounter (1997) and Picasso’s Weeping Woman: The Life and Art of Dora Maar (2000). She has edited Joseph Cornell’s Theatre of the Mind: Selected Diaries, Letters and Files (2000); Manifesto: A Century of Isms (2000); and Surrealist Love Poems (2002).

“Surrealism is a must-have.”—Sarah Kent, Time Out

“An extraordinary, fascinating compendium: Mary Ann Caws has unlocked the gate to Surrealism’s beautiful road.”—Frederick Tuten, novelist and critic

“The large and well-captioned picture section […] shows us how various the art produced by the movement was, from Dali’s sharp, mesmeric figurations to Miro’s strange constellation of images.”—Frank Whitford, Sunday Times

“[An] attractive mixture of analysis, images and texts offers lively and fresh-feeling introduction.”—James Hall, The Independent

“A darker side of reality is explored in Surrealism, a resplendently illustrated overview of four decades of subversion.”—The Times

“A massive and well illustrated book which combines powerful and less familiar images… with iconic works.”—Tribune

Additional information

Dimensions	0.625 × 9.875 × 11.375 in
Imprint	Phaidon Press
Format	General Trade
ISBN-13	09780714856735
ISBN-10	0714856738
Author	Mary Ann Caws, Jonathan Eburne
Illustrator	Angus Hyland
Audience	General / adult
Subjects	art history, art book, history of art, coffee table books, art coffee table books, art history book, art history books for adults, gifts for artists, art gifts