Surrealism

Emerging in the early 1920s from the turmoil of post-World War I Europe, Surrealism sought to liberate creativity from the confines of rationalism and moral convention. Rejecting reality and logic, Surrealist artists turned to Freudian psychoanalytic theories to access their mind’s involuntary mechanisms, specifically their subconscious, in an effort to reveal deeper truths about human existence. Found in their fantasies or nightmares, this was, in part, influenced by the return of missing-limbed veterans from the front lines.

While initially centred in Paris, Surrealism’s reach soon became international, encompassing a diverse group of artists who redefined the possibilities of visual and literary expression. Within the movement, however, double standards and gender dichotomies proliferated.

Surrealism’s projected ethos of equality and radical thought was a compelling proposition for women although was not often seen in practice, leading many women to reject the movement’s formal group and its founder, André Breton, due to the profound misogyny of the male members.

While for male artists, Surrealist ideas were built around the sexuality of the female image and the femme-enfant, with the likes of Max Ernst and Salvador Dali filling their canvases with violent and brutal images of fragmented or idealised bodies. However, despite the gatekeepers of art history so often writing it in such a way, being seen as little more than a muse was not something these strong-willed women intended to settle for, and so the eroticised portrayal of the feminine body was turned in on itself and they showed women as strong, dominating and sexually and socially free.

The work of Leonora Carrington (1917 - 2011) exemplifies Surrealism’s capacity to explore transformation and the fluid boundaries between the human, animal, and spiritual realms. Fusing myth, alchemy, religious iconography and symbolism, her dreamlike compositions transform personal mythology into mysterious, otherworldly narratives wherein women are situated as autonomous and magical protagonists.

Known for her arresting portrayals of powerful female figures, Leonor Fini (1907 - 1996) approached Surrealism with theatrical sensuality and psychological intensity. Her depictions of sphinx-like women, poised between allure and authority, offered a radical counterpoint to the objectified female muse typical of male Surrealists. Fini’s work, steeped in eroticism and myth, asserts the sovereignty of feminine desire and imagination through her sorceresses who possess all the powers and complexity denied to women of her era.

The Czech artist Toyen (Marie Čermínová) (1902 - 1980) used enigmatic imagery and androgynous figures to challenge conventions of gender, sexuality and identity. Her dreamscapes and war-time allegories reveal a haunting lyricism that combines eroticism with political resistance.

Marie Oppenheim’s (1913 - 1985) precarious walks on the ledges of high buildings and the “surrealist” food she concocted from marzipan in her studio, all contributed to the creation of an image of the Surrealist woman as young, beautiful, sensual and creative. As one of the most original and influential artists of the movement, her fearless spirit of experimentation and enduring fascination with the subconscious embodied the Surrealist impulse to transform the ordinary into the uncanny.