The Eye of the Poet: Andre Breton and the Visual Arts

Description

This is the first comprehensive study in English of surrealist leader Andre Breton's life-long commitment to the visual arts. As an essayist, art critic, collector, gallery director and artist, he actively promoted many painters, from Gustave Moreau and outsider artists to fellow surrealists like Max Ernst and Andre Masson. The book tracks both the development of Breton's surrealist aesthetics within the Parisian avant-garde art scene and the centrality of art to his political agenda. It also highlights Breton the collector/collagist - the works he displayed in his Paris apartment, ranging from Oceanic masks to African sculptures, paintings to pebbles, are themselves seen as an ever-changing assemblage.

Elza Adamowicz is Emerita Professor of French Literature and Visual Culture at Queen Mary University of London. She has published numerous studies on the European avant-garde, including Dada Bodies: Between Battlefield and Fairground (2019).

'An excellent overview of Andre Breton as the leader of the surrealist movement as a collective experiment with writing and visual art in equal measure that dominated the avant-garde in the twentieth century. This book should become an essential reference for anyone interested in surrealism.' - Kate Conley, Professor of French & Francophone Studies, William & Mary; 'This book manages to be both concise and comprehensive, giving the reader an excellent sense of the scope, variety and contradictions of Breton's interactions with artists, art practices and artworks. Though informed by a deep and detailed scholarly background in the field, it is a lively and engaging read, offering a new perspective on both Breton himself and the vagaries of the visual arts as a category of surrealist activity.' - Johanna Malt, Professor of French Literature & Visual Culture, King's College London