Surrealism and the Sacred

by Rabinovitch, Celia

• ISBN13: 9780813365572
• ISBN10: 0813365570
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-03-01
• Publisher: Westview Pr

Summary

From archaic fetishism, found objects, dream images and free association, Surrealist artists and writers such as Giorgio de Chirico, Max Ernst, Salvador Dali, Meret Oppenheim and Wolfgang Paalen transformed the ordinary into the extraordinary by deliberately evoking the ambivalence of sacred power.Surrealism and the Sacredtraces the conflict between the secular and sacred forces from prehistory and paganism through the Renaissance and the occult revival of the 19th century to the Surrealist movement of the 20th century. Against the tyranny of reason and the European bourgeoisie, Surrealists drew from occultism, Asian religions and mysticism, and psychoanalysis to create an uncanny and creative state of mind that continues to have a profound effect on the modern imagination. This remarkable book challenges conventional assumptions about modern art and its larger meanings in the history of knowledge.

Author Biography

Celia Rabinovitchis an artist and professor who has written for the Dictionary of Art, C Magazine, and Artweek. Her paintings have been shown in solo exhibitions in Canada, Europe, and the U.S. Previously a Program Director for Fine Arts and Graphic Design at the University of California, Berkeley, Extension, she has also taught at the California College of Arts and Crafts, Syracuse University, the University of Colorado, and Cabrillo College. She earned her Ph.D. in the history of art and religions from McGill University, and her M.F.A. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She lives in the Bay Area..

Table of Contents

Illustrations	ix
Preface	xv
Acknowledgments	xix
PART ONE In Pursuit of the Uncanny	1	(54)
The Weird, the Uncanny, the Epiphany: Capturing the Surreal	3	(32)
Naming the Unnameable	35	(8)
At the Threshold of the Sacred	43	(12)
PART TWO Surrealism and the Politics of Knowledge	55	(38)
A New Mythology	57	(14)
Poets of the Daemonic	71	(22)
PART THREE Mapping the Imagination	93	(72)
The Ethnographic Attitude	95	(22)
Freud and the Occult	117	(28)
``And What Shall I Worship Save the Enigma?''	145	(20)
PART FOUR Power, Eros, and the Occult in Modern Art	165	(68)
Ordinary and Extraordinary Objects	167	(20)
From Matter to Metaphor	187	(14)
The Daemonic Goddess in Archaic and Modern Art	201	(20)
Modernism as a State of Mind	221	(12)
Notes	233	(26)
Bibliography	259	(16)
Index	275