Surrealism at Play
Surrealism at Play by Susan Laxton, published by Duke University Press on February 22, 2019, is an illustrated exploration of the surrealist movement, spanning 376 pages. This book presents a new history of surrealism, emphasizing the significance of play within the movement and its lasting impact. Laxton examines how surrealist artists engaged with a post-World War I world increasingly shaped by technology and functionalism, using play as a central element in their creative processes.
Readers will find an in-depth analysis of various techniques employed by surrealists, including exquisite-corpse drawings and Man Ray’s rayographs, which highlight the role of chance in artistic creation. Laxton illustrates how these artists shifted their focus from the final product to the process itself, thereby challenging the conventions of industrial modernism. Through this lens, the book delves into how play influenced artistic practice, everyday experiences, and the understanding of subjectivity, providing a comprehensive look at the intersection of art and play in the surrealist context.
Official synopsis Publisher
In Surrealism at Play Susan Laxton writes a new history of surrealism in which she traces the centrality of play to the movement and its ongoing legacy. For surrealist artists, play took a consistent role in their aesthetic as they worked in, with, and against a post-World War I world increasingly dominated by technology and functionalism. Whether through exquisite-corpse drawings, Man Ray’s rayographs, or Joan Miró’s visual puns, surrealists became adept at developing techniques and processes designed to guarantee aleatory outcomes. In embracing chance as the means to produce unforeseeable ends, they shifted emphasis from final product to process, challenging the disciplinary structures of industrial modernism. As Laxton demonstrates, play became a primary method through which surrealism refashioned artistic practice, everyday experience, and the nature of subjectivity.
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