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Virtu Art Books

Surrealist + Dadaist Movement: Dali to Duchamp

Joan Miro, 1917-1934
Though close to the Dadaists and the Surrealists, Miro created his own distinctive style - paintings with strong erotic overtones that play sophisticated games with materials, surfaces and space. Miro worked within Cubism to achieve another way of seeing. This volume explores these themes of his work

Surrealism (Themes + Movements)
The Works section follows the movement from its beginnings in the 1920s up to the 1940s and 1950s. Its six sections trace the themes which predominated at different stages: Chance and Freedom - the earliest work, characterized by complete 'automatic' spontaneity; Poetics of Vision - the strategies of surrealist image-making, reflecting the mind's inner visions; Elusive Objects - the fascination with objects of all kinds from which emerged artworks such as Meret Oppenheim's celebrated fur-lined cup and saucer; Desire - the investigation of desire, eroticism and 'mad love' which is central and unique to the movement; Delirium - Surrealism's high-risk engagement with extreme mental states and disturbing, uncanny visions; and the Infinite Terrains of later Surrealism, ranging from Joseph Cornell's magical assemblages in box frames, like 'theatres of the mind', to the infinite fields and dynamic energy of late surrealist painting at the dawn of Abstract Expressionism. The Documents section includes important rediscovered writings alongside the key texts by leading figures. Many of the texts have been specially translated for this volume by Mary Ann Caws and Jonathan Eburne

Surrealism (Themes & Movements S.)
The Survey essay by Mary Ann Caws - a distinguished scholar, translator and associate of the Surrealists - describes in clear, perceptive and lively prose the essential characteristics that define Surrealism, as well as tracing a concise path through the chronology of this prolific and wide-ranging movement. The text also demonstrates how surrealist art and writing are interdependent. The Works section follows the movement from its beginnings in the 1920s up to the 1940s and 1950s. Its six sections trace the themes which predominated at different stages: Chance and Freedom - the earliest work, characterized by complete 'automatic' spontaneity; Poetics of Vision - the strategies of surrealist image-making, reflecting the mind's inner visions; Elusive Objects - the fascination with objects of all kinds from which emerged artworks such as Meret Oppenheim's celebrated fur-lined cup and saucer; Desire - the investigation of desire, eroticism and 'mad love' which is central and unique to the movement; Delirium - Surrealism's high-risk engagement with extreme mental states and disturbing, uncanny visions; and the Infinite Terrains of later Surrealism, ranging from Joseph Cornell's magical assemblages in box frames, like 'theatres of the mind', to the infinite fields and dynamic energy of late surrealist painting at the dawn of Abstract Expressionism. The Documents section includes important rediscovered writings alongside the key texts by leading figures. Many of the texts have been specially translated for this volume by Mary Ann Caws and Jonathan Eburne

Surrealism in Britain
A comprehensive study of the British surrealist movement and its achievements. The illustrated text provides a year-by-year narrative of the development of surrealism among artists, writers, critics and theorists in Britain. It also seeks to make a major contribution to the understanding of the individual achievements of the writers and artists involved and their allegiance to this key 20th-century art movement. Michel Remy draws on 20 years of studying British Surrealism to provide this biographically rich account.

Women Artists and the Surrealist Movement
Examines the work and careers of Eileen Agar, Leonora Carrington, Leonor Fini, Frida Kahlo, Dorothea Tanning, and Kay Sage, all surrealist painters.

Pop Surrealism: The Rise of Underground Art
With its origins in the 1960s hot rod culture and underground comix and rock music posters, Pop Surrealism/Lowbrow Art has evolved and expanded into the most vilified, vital, and exciting movement in contemporary art. Pop Surrealism is the first book to offer a comprehensive survey of this movement featuring twenty-three of today's most important and interesting artists

Dali's Optical Illusions
This visually gripping book focuses on a central but relatively unexamined aspect of the work of Salvador Dali: his fascination with optical effects and visual perception. The book examines Dali's use of various pictorial techniques, photography, and holograms to further his exploration of visual perception and the ways that optical illusion affects our sense of reality. Dawn Ades and other authorities in the field discuss such paintings as The Enigma of William Tell, in which Dali experimented with anamorphosis, the perspectival distortion that produces on the canvas elongated forms demanding an oblique viewpoint. They also note his interest in other more conventional forms of perspective and their sources in both Dutch and Italian art.

Miro
One of the most significant Spanish painters of the twentieth century, Joan Miro (1893-1983) was also the imaginative creator of ceramics, sculpture, costumes, tapestries, and poetry. From his early interpretations of fauvism and cubism to his later "enchanted realism" dreamscapes and grotesque "savage paintings," Miro's art always expressed a highly personal mixture of humor, reverie, and intense emotion. In this rich examination of the man and his art, French art critic and historian Jacques Dupin, a friend of Miro, gives us a unique look at the sketchbooks, poems, and correspondence to which the Miro family has given him priviledged access. With 450 stunning color images, this monograph spans the entire career of a highly prolific artist, and gives detailed descriptions of the various phases of evolutions in his style. Informed and insightful, Dupin's text is complimented by detailed notes, an extensive bibliography and chronology, and exhibition references

Maniac Eyeball: The Unspeakable Confessions of Salvador Dali
Maniac Eyeball contains the frank and uncensored confessions of Salvador Dali, from his childhood and first adolescent sexual experiences to his emergence as a painter, surrealist, and eventually the most famous - and possibly richest - artist of modern times. These inspired tracts, covering art, love, sex, money, death, fame, science, his famous friends and enemies, and his extraordinary creative genius, reveal the intricate workings of Dali's mind to create not only an unparalleled biography, but also one of the key surrealist texts yet published

Andre Breton: Surrealism and Paintings
Reprint of the 1965 volume that collects writings by Breton, the founder and prime theorist of surrealistic art. They include his seminal treatise on the origins and foundations of artistic surrealism; essays on Picasso, Duchamp, Dali, Ernst, Massoon and many others; and pieces on Gaulish and outsider art and the arts of Haiti and Oceania.

Dali: The Centenary Retrospective
Salvador Dali is perhaps the most universally famous and popular artist of the twentieth century. On the occasion of the centenary of his birth comes the definitive retrospective of the artist's work from his early years. Dali explores the development of the artist's technique and style, his relationship with the Surrealists, and his exploitation of Freudian ideas, as well as the image Dali created of himself as the mad genius artist. This catalogue will be the major reference work for Dali for decades to come. It includes illustrations of all the works loaned to the exhibition, as well as comparative illustrations and photographs. The volume contains an introductory essay by Dawn Ades, with scholarly research incorporated in a 'Dali Dictionary' in the entries on individual works, and in the chronology, which includes a quantity of new material. The guide draws upon the best scholarship available on Dali, including that of Hank Hine, Director of the Salvador Dali Museum, Jennifer Mundy, Senior Curator at the Tate, and Michael Taylor, Acting Chief Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Paula Rego (Modern Artists S.)
Rego draws on well-known sources, including literature, fairy tales, religious stories and cartoons, to give her paintings strong narrative element that draws in the viewer. However, the stories being told are often hard to read as they are subverted to produce an enigmatic, dreamlike atmosphere, influenced by Rego's interest in surrealism. Multiple levels of reference and symbolism both build up and frustrate expectations. Key motifs (dogs, young girls, dominant father figures, claustrophobic family scenes) recur, creating a uniquely personal iconography. She is widely regarded as one of the leading representational artists working today. This book provides a chronological survey of Rego's life and pictorial concerns, drawing heavily on her own assessments of works as revealed in recent interviews. Certain works, illustrating key moments in the development of her practice, are discussed individually, in depth. Making use of her extensive professional and personal involvement with Paula Rego and her work, Fiona Bradley provides the essential key to this mysterious yet hugely popular artist. This title forms part of Tate Publishing's new Modern Artists series

Alberto Giacometti
This is the most comprehensive survey in many years of the work of one of the 20th century's greatest artists, Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966). Published to celebrate the centennial of his birth, the book accompanies an exhibition jointly organized by The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Kunsthaus, Zurich. The Swiss-born Giacometti was a supremely inventive sculptor as well as a painter and a draughtsman of the highest distinction. This volume includes many of his early Cubist-influenced and Surrealist works, often slyly humorous and allusively erotic, as well as his masterful drawings and paintings, and the elongated sculptures of the human head and figure for which he is best known. Published with the full involvement of the Alberto Giacometti Foundation, this will become the standard reference on the artist

Dada (World of Art S.)
In this first-hand account, the author, closely associated with the radical and transforming movement from its earliest days, records and traces Dada's history from its inception around 1916, in wartime Zurich, to its collapse in the Paris of the 1920s

Dadaism (Basic Art S.)
Each book in Taschen's Basic Art movement and genre series includes a detailed Introduction with approximately 30 photographs, plus a timeline of the most important events (political, cultural, scientific, sporting, etc.) that took place during the time period. The body of the book contains 35 of the most important works of the epoch; each is presented on a 2-page spread with a full page Image and, on the facing page, a description/interpretation of the work, portrait of the artist, and biographical information. A precursor to surrealism, the Dada movement stressed the absurd and unpredictable, lashing out against traditional standards of aesthetics. Jean Arp, Marcel Duchamp, and Man Ray were among the most famous proponents of Dada, creating works that dared viewers to expand their notions of what can be considered art

Dada Almanac
Review: This is an excellent acquisition for anyone who wishes to delve into the fascinating world of dada. It is a facsimile of the original 1920 almanac allowing the reader to experience a wide variety of original material, in the context which Huelsenbeck placed it; alongside this runs an well researched set of notes, identifying individuals and outlining their careers. Altogether a fine way to gain an impression of the triumphs and squabbles of the dadasphere!

The Dada Spirit
Born of WWI, Dada is a movement bringing together both artists and writers. A single spirit governs the works of this movement, which is at once anti-conformist, anti-bourgeois, and above all, anti- artistic. This is the spirit the author explains through the texts, works of art, and a few of the movement's protagonists.

Seven Dada Manifestos and Lampisteries
Paperback - 118 Pages
Publisher: Calder Publications Ltd; New Ed edition (1 Oct 1981)

Manifestoes of Surrealism
Andre Breton discusses the meaning, aims, and political position of the Surrealist movement.
Paperback - 316 Pages
Publisher: University of Michigan Press; New Ed edition (30 April 1969)

Dada and Surrealism (Art & Ideas)
This introductory survey traces the origins and development of two revolutionary 20th-century art movements: Dada and Surrealism. It explores the full range of artistic production, including film, photography and painting. The art is situated within a context of ideas. Against the background of the slaughter of World War I, the Dadas embarked upon a total reconsideration of nationalism, materialism and the basis of art. Hugo Ball and Tristan Tzara in Zurich, Richard Huelsenbeck and Raoul Hausmann in Berlin, Francis Picabia and Andre Breton in Paris - all emphasized the freedom of the individual in their art.