In four chapters I draw from an investigation of archival art-objects and documents. By situating the surrealist interest in the object as a vehicle for artistic experimentation the 1930s, I argue that Breton’s collecting can be viewed as a revolutionary and poetic practice within everyday life. “Andre Breton the Collector: A Surrealist Poetics of the Object” explores this facet of Breton’s life and work which has been largely overlooked in scholarship. By the end of his life, Breton possessed more than 15,000 items in his home: man-made and natural objects, books, manuscripts and other miscellaneous curiosities and ephemera. The fact that Breton chose to live among a myriad of objects in his atelier, at 42 rue Fontaine, suggests the construction of an intimate relationship between his work, his house, and the material collection he inhabited. Breton’s statement, no doubt made in affirmation of the Surrealist project to revolutionize everyday life offers reflection on the complex experience of writing as a practice inspired by daily encounters with our material surroundings. In 1937 André Breton declared in his surrealist novel L’Amour fou, “what I write is my life, my house,” suggesting a direct relationship between his writing and his home which was uniquely curated, wall to wall with collected objects.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |