VAMPIRE’S & SURREALISM
Eliška Belejová
[DISCLAIMER “Valerie & Her Week of Wonders” and “Nosferatu 2024 Vs. Nosferatu
The Vampyre 1979 - The Surrealism That Lurks In Shadows” are NOT separate
blogs, rather separate sections of the blog posts.]
The world of daydreams : Surrealism -
What is it?
Born among the many ideas that came with modernism, the surrealist movement was an
avant-garde style form artists used to depict what lies at the core of our imaginations, our
imagination itself, or in other words, what (day)dreams are made of. Though it also made its
way to the land of nightmares.
Most often noted for its dreamy visuals complete with a hazy and faded finish, often even
glowing look of the visual art, surrealism conveys the unusual, strange and everything that
lies beyond common sense, combining an infusion of madness with what exists beyond the
real world.
Breton (1924) defined it as
“Psychic automatism in its pure state, by which one proposes to express - - verbally, by
means of the written word, or in any other manner -- the actual functioning of thought.
Dictated by the thought, in the absence of any control exercised by reason, exempt from any
aesthetic or moral concern.”
, I find this interesting as in his 1924 surrealist manifesto, as seen above, Breton defines it as
a movement that is directed purely by the wildest thoughts of the human psyche and directly
dismisses the concept of realism, but by no means is an aesthetic in itself as a whole - a
very different outlook than that of today where it very much is seen as a visual aesthetic. The
first thing that might come into mind when you mention surrealism to the first person that
passes you is more likely to be the borderline ethereal visual concept rather than the
definition of madness one has managed to express in an art form.
However, Breton was not the only surrealist of the new found avant-garde movement in the
1920’s. On the other end of the table sat Yvan Goll. A rival surrealist leader to Breton. In
October 1924, they both published their books of the same name “Manifeste du
surrealisme.” But while Breton said he had gone “beyond Apollinaire” Goll claimed to have
directly descended from Apollinaire’s invention, keeping his feet firmly on the ground, even
though his head was up in the clouds of surrealism. He believed that at the heart of all art
was reality and that nature was what everything would eventually return to as opposed to
Breton who based the concept on the wildest, most unexplainable occurrences of a mad
mind.
Goll and Breton might be the most influential names as far as surrealism goes, however the
man behind the word was none other than the inspiration to all avant-garde that followed;
Guillaume Apollinaire. Apollinaire, an influential French poet of the early 20th century, coined
the word after completing one of his works “Les mamelles de Tiresias: Drame surrealiste
(The Breasts of Tiresias).”
Surrealist Filmmakers In Eastern Europe:
The Czechoslovak New-Wave
Eliška Belejová
[DISCLAIMER “Valerie & Her Week of Wonders” and “Nosferatu 2024 Vs. Nosferatu
The Vampyre 1979 - The Surrealism That Lurks In Shadows” are NOT separate
blogs, rather separate sections of the blog posts.]
The world of daydreams : Surrealism -
What is it?
Born among the many ideas that came with modernism, the surrealist movement was an
avant-garde style form artists used to depict what lies at the core of our imaginations, our
imagination itself, or in other words, what (day)dreams are made of. Though it also made its
way to the land of nightmares.
Most often noted for its dreamy visuals complete with a hazy and faded finish, often even
glowing look of the visual art, surrealism conveys the unusual, strange and everything that
lies beyond common sense, combining an infusion of madness with what exists beyond the
real world.
Breton (1924) defined it as
“Psychic automatism in its pure state, by which one proposes to express - - verbally, by
means of the written word, or in any other manner -- the actual functioning of thought.
Dictated by the thought, in the absence of any control exercised by reason, exempt from any
aesthetic or moral concern.”
, I find this interesting as in his 1924 surrealist manifesto, as seen above, Breton defines it as
a movement that is directed purely by the wildest thoughts of the human psyche and directly
dismisses the concept of realism, but by no means is an aesthetic in itself as a whole - a
very different outlook than that of today where it very much is seen as a visual aesthetic. The
first thing that might come into mind when you mention surrealism to the first person that
passes you is more likely to be the borderline ethereal visual concept rather than the
definition of madness one has managed to express in an art form.
However, Breton was not the only surrealist of the new found avant-garde movement in the
1920’s. On the other end of the table sat Yvan Goll. A rival surrealist leader to Breton. In
October 1924, they both published their books of the same name “Manifeste du
surrealisme.” But while Breton said he had gone “beyond Apollinaire” Goll claimed to have
directly descended from Apollinaire’s invention, keeping his feet firmly on the ground, even
though his head was up in the clouds of surrealism. He believed that at the heart of all art
was reality and that nature was what everything would eventually return to as opposed to
Breton who based the concept on the wildest, most unexplainable occurrences of a mad
mind.
Goll and Breton might be the most influential names as far as surrealism goes, however the
man behind the word was none other than the inspiration to all avant-garde that followed;
Guillaume Apollinaire. Apollinaire, an influential French poet of the early 20th century, coined
the word after completing one of his works “Les mamelles de Tiresias: Drame surrealiste
(The Breasts of Tiresias).”
Surrealist Filmmakers In Eastern Europe:
The Czechoslovak New-Wave
