See also film blog for poncy celebration of nuns without clothes.

23rd April 2013

Photo reblogged from theater of diminished faculties with 121 notes

todf, beetleinabox:


Man Ray, Waking Dream Séance (image first published on the cover of La revolution surrealiste, 01/12/24). The seated woman is Simone Breton; standing around her (from left to right) are Max Morise, Roger Vitrac, Jacques André-Boiffard, André Breton, Paul Eluard, Pierre Naville, Giorgio de Chirico, Philippe Soupault, Jacques Baron, and Robert Desnos.
Walter Benjamin writes:

Any serious explora­tion of occult, surrealistic, phantasmagoric gifts and phenomena presupposes a dialectical intertwinement to which a romantic turn of mind is impervious. For histrionic or fanatical stress on the mysterious side of the mysterious takes us no further; we penetrate the mystery only to the degree that we recognize it in the everyday world, by virtue of a dialectical optic that perceives the everyday as impenetrable, the impenetrable as everyday. The most passionate investigation of telepathic phenomena, for example, will not teach us half as much about reading (which is an eminently telepathic process), as the profane illumination of reading about telepathic phenomena. And the most passionate investigation of the hashish trance will not teach us half as much about thinking (which is eminently narcotic), as the profane illumination of thinking about the hashish trance. The reader, the thinker, the loiterer, the flâneur, are types of illuminati just as much as the opium eater, the dreamer, the ecstatic. And more profane. Not to mention that most terrible drug—ourselves—which we take in solitude.

todfbeetleinabox:

Man Ray, Waking Dream Séance (image first published on the cover of La revolution surrealiste, 01/12/24). The seated woman is Simone Breton; standing around her (from left to right) are Max Morise, Roger Vitrac, Jacques André-Boiffard, André Breton, Paul Eluard, Pierre Naville, Giorgio de Chirico, Philippe Soupault, Jacques Baron, and Robert Desnos.

Walter Benjamin writes:

Any serious explora­tion of occult, surrealistic, phantasmagoric gifts and phenomena presupposes a dialectical intertwinement to which a romantic turn of mind is impervious. For histrionic or fanatical stress on the mysterious side of the mysterious takes us no further; we penetrate the mystery only to the degree that we recognize it in the everyday world, by virtue of a dialectical optic that perceives the everyday as impenetrable, the impenetrable as everyday. The most passionate investigation of telepathic phenomena, for example, will not teach us half as much about reading (which is an eminently telepathic process), as the profane illumination of reading about telepathic phenomena. And the most passionate investigation of the hashish trance will not teach us half as much about thinking (which is eminently narcotic), as the profane illumination of thinking about the hashish trance. The reader, the thinker, the loiterer, the flâneur, are types of illuminati just as much as the opium eater, the dreamer, the ecstatic. And more profane. Not to mention that most terrible drug—ourselves—which we take in solitude.

Tagged: surrealismphotographyman raywaking dream seancela revolution surrealiste1920squotewalter benjaminmax moriseroger vitracjacques andre boiffardandre bretonpaul eluardpierre navillegiorgio de chiricophilippe soupaultjacques baronrobert desnos

Source: beetleinabox

10th March 2013

Photo reblogged from foxes in breeches with 78 notes

foxesinbreeches:

Cover for André Breton’s Spojité nadoby by Toyen, 1934
Via calypsospots
Also

foxesinbreeches:

Cover for André Breton’s Spojité nadoby by Toyen, 1934

Via calypsospots

Also

Tagged: book artbook coverscover arttoyensurrealsurrealismandre breton1930sspojite nadobyczechFTTbirds

3rd December 2012

Photo reblogged from Poe's Mistress with 139 notes

frenchtwist:
Cadavre Exquis (Untitled) by André Breton, Gala, Salvador Dalí, and Valentine Hugo, 1932Also

frenchtwist:

Cadavre Exquis (Untitled) by André Breton, Gala, Salvador Dalí, and Valentine Hugo, 1932

Also

Tagged: illustrationcadavre exquisexquisite corpsesurrealismsurrealsurrealist gamesandre bretonsalvador dalivalentine hugo1930scats

3rd November 2012

Quote with 24 notes

It is true of Surrealist images as it of opium images that man does not evoke them; rather they come to him spontaneously, despotically. He cannot chase them away; for the will is powerless now and no longer controls the faculties.
— André Breton, First Surrealist Manifesto

Tagged: surrealismquoteandre bretonfirst surrealist manifestoimages

29th October 2012

Photo reblogged from Regard Intemporel with 228 notes

regardintemporel:

André Breton - Egg in the church or The Snake, Musée d’Ixelles, Belgium, n.d.

regardintemporel:

André Breton - Egg in the church or The Snake, Musée d’Ixelles, Belgium, n.d.

Tagged: andre bretoncollagesurrealsurrealismegg in the church

18th October 2012

Photo with 128 notes

Ses yeux de fougère… by André Breton for Nadja, Paris, Gallimard, 1964

Ses yeux de fougère… by André Breton for Nadja, Paris, Gallimard, 1964

Tagged: andre bretonnadjaphotographybook artsurrealismeyessurreal1960s

23rd September 2012

Photo reblogged from snowce with 668 notes

Union Libre by Léon Ferrari, 2004 (poem by André Breton embossed in Braille on a photograph)
(via snowce, ratak-monodosico)

Union Libre by Léon Ferrari, 2004 (poem by André Breton embossed in Braille on a photograph)

(via snowceratak-monodosico)

Tagged: augusto ferraribraillenudephotographyandre bretonpoetry

Source: ratak-monodosico

22nd September 2012

Photo reblogged from Regard Intemporel with 182 notes

regardintemporel:

Vitrine de New York  décorée par Marcel Duchamp pour la sortie de la revue Arcane majeure dirigiée par André Breton, 1945

regardintemporel:

Vitrine de New York  décorée par Marcel Duchamp pour la sortie de la revue Arcane majeure dirigiée par André Breton, 1945

Tagged: arcanephotographymannequinssurrealismmarcel duchampandre breton1940s

23rd August 2012

Quote with 69 notes

Everything tends to make us believe that there exists a certain point of the mind at which life and death, the real and the imagined, past and future, the communicable and the incommunicable, high and low, cease to be perceived as contradictions.
— André Breton, Second Manifesto of Surrealism, 1930

Tagged: andre bretonquotesecond manifesto of surrealismsurrealism1930sthe uncannycontradictionsbinaries

13th July 2012

Photo with 509 notes

Unión libre by León Ferrari, 2004 (a poem by André Breton embossed in Braille on a photograph)

Unión libre by León Ferrari, 2004 (a poem by André Breton embossed in Braille on a photograph)

Tagged: andre bretonbrailleleon ferrarinudephotographymirrors