Magritte And Photography

by Roegiers, Patrick

• ISBN13: 9789055445622
• ISBN10: 9055445622
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-12-05
• Publisher: Distributed Art Pub Inc

Summary

"Rene Magritte, the great Surrealist painter, begin experimenting with photography at an early age. While still a young student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels, he posed in a three piece suit, standing before his easel with brush and palette in hand - already projecting the carefully constructed image of the artist he wanted to become. His finely calibrated, bourgeois persona eventually entered into his own paintings, becoming a uniform image of the dark, dark-suited man with umbrella and hat. But it was in photographs that Magritte first incarnated the figure of himself as a great painter, instantly recognizable and before long, universally celebrated." "Magritte and Photography is an illuminating and enjoyable study of the ways in which the photographic medium played a constant role in Magritte's social and artistic life. Beginning with turn-of-the-century pictures of his parents and siblings, running through surrealist scenarios involving friends Louis Scutenaire and Paul Nouge, and ending with haunting portraits taken by Duane Michals, this volume explores both Magritte's life and his construction of it - though the camera lens."--BOOK JACKET.

Table of Contents

Prologue: Watch the (Real) Birdie!	6	(6)
Educating the Painter (1898--1930)
Family Photos: The Tender Secrets of Childhood	12	(9)
My, How You've Changed, Rene!	21	(6)
Georgette and Rene: A Love Story in Pictures	27	(7)
Oh, My Friends, Let Us Laugh Hearty and Drink Deep!	34	(5)
The Double Figure, or the Challenge to Resemblance	39	(4)
The Conquest of Paris, or the Outskirts of Success	43	(9)
Self-Portrait of Creation: Attempting the Impossible	52	(9)
Creating the Photographer (1930--1954)
The Return to Brussels, Georgette's Charm	61	(10)
Photography Is the Art of Disobedience: Let's Use It for All It's Worth	71	(3)
Vacations from Life, Vacancies of Sight	74	(11)
The Genius of Discoveries, the Gaiety of Rediscoveries	85	(12)
Painting Put to the Test of Fixed Images	97	(9)
Incarnating the Character (1955--1967)
Commissioned Portraits, or the Irony of Fame	106	(7)
Self-Portrait, or the Artist's Face Captured in Photographs	113	(7)
``We're Not Nonexistent Enough''	120	(9)
May I Take Your Portrait, Dear Rene Magritte?	129	(17)
Epilogue: Please---You Look Like You've Just Come from a Funeral...	146	(5)
Notes	151	(15)
By the Same Author	166	(1)
Acknowledgements	167