The Lives of the Surrealists
2018
First Published
4.21
Average Rating
272
Number of Pages
Life histories of the Surrealists, known and unknown, by one of the last surviving members of the movement―artist and best-selling author Desmond Morris Surrealism did not begin as an art movement but as a philosophical strategy, a way of life, and a rebellion against the establishment that gave rise to the First World War. In Lives of the Surrealists, Desmond Morris concentrates on the artists as people―as remarkable individuals. What were their personalities, their predilections, their character strengths and flaws? Unlike the Impressionists or the Cubists, the surrealists did not obey a fixed visual code, but rather the rules of surrealist work from the unconscious, letting your darkest, most irrational thoughts well up and shape your art. An artist himself, and contemporary of the later surrealists, Morris illuminates the considerable variation in each artist’s approach to this technique. While some were out-and-out surrealists in all they did, others lived more orthodox lives and only became surrealists at the easel or in the studio. Focusing on the thirty-five artists most closely associated with the surrealist movement, Morris lends context to their life histories with narratives of their idiosyncrasies and their often complex love lives, alongside photos of the artists and their work. 70+ illustrations, 35 in color
Avg Rating
4.21
Number of Ratings
312
5 STARS
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4 STARS
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3 STARS
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Author
Desmond Morris
Author · 42 books
Desmond John Morris (born 24 January 1928) is an English zoologist, ethologist and surrealist painter, as well as a popular author in human sociobiology. He is known for his 1967 book The Naked Ape, and for his television programmes such as Zoo Time.
