Text and photographs by Emily Burkhart*
June 8, 2023
*Unless otherwise noted
Salvador Dalí (Spanish,1904-1989), Remorse or Sphinx Embedded in the Sand, 1931. Oil on canvas, 7½ x 10½ in. Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, Michigan State University, Lansing, Michigan. Image courtesy of the Flint Institute of Arts.
Surrealism is based on the belief in the omnipotence of dreams,
in the undirected play of thought.
André Breton (1896-1966)
The Surrealist Manifesto, 1924
Surrealism…the term conjures a multitude of images and associations. More than a twentieth-century visual art movement, Surrealism (1917-1966) extended into literature, poetry, and film. Its enduring legacy exploring dreams, fantasy, the uncanny, fear, and desire influences artists into the modern day. A new exhibition at the Flint Institute of Arts entitled Beyond Dreams: Surrealism and Its Manifestations features artwork from Surrealist artists of the past and those of the present demonstrating the influence Surrealism has had on contemporary artists. The exhibition opened May 13 and runs through August 20, 2023.
Surrealism is represented in the exhibition by such old guard artists as Salvador Dalí, Gerome Kamrowski, and Louise Bourgeois to more recent artists like Kyra Markham, Scott Fraser, and Kendra North. Curated by the Flint Institute of Arts, the exhibition consists of work from both the FIA’s own collection and loans from other museums and private collections. Working in a diverse array of mediums including painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, and film, the artists featured illustrate that the ideology, themes, and techniques of Surrealism are still alive today. An introductory wall panel gives an overview of the Surrealist movement from its literary origins in Paris in the late 1910s to its decline in the mid-1960s with the death of many first generation Surrealists and the emergence of Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art. Supplementing the usual museum labels describing the artworks are two other explanatory panels discussing major Surrealist themes. “Glossary of Surrealism” defines important Surrealist ideas and influences including automatism, assemblage, biomorphism, the artistic and literary movement called Dada (1916-1924, considered the precursor of Surrealism), Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), the uncanny, and the unconscious mind. Another panel entitled “What Lies Behind Reality: Chance, Dreams, Desire, and Fantasy” describes the pictorial and written technique of automatism pioneered by Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, whose ideas formed the basis of many Surrealist philosophies.
The following discussion highlights some of the works in the exhibition.
The Art
Clarence Holbrook Carter, Balancing Act (1976)
Exhibition introductory panel, Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, Michigan. From Clarence Holbrook Carter (American, 1904-2000), Balancing Act, 1976. Serigraph on paper.
An enlarged reproduction of Clarence Holbrook Carter’s (1904-2000) 1976 serigraph called Balancing Act with the exhibition title printed on it introduces the exhibition. A former American Scene painter, Carter turned to Surrealism in the 1960s with works embracing otherworldly and spiritual themes. Balancing Act, the actual work appearing elsewhere in the exhibition, presents a giant egg shape with a photograph of a single human eye upon it. This shape balances on end atop a smaller, similar egg shape to form an exclamation point. For Carter, the egg–or “ovoid,” as he described it–came to represent fertility, death, and rebirth. Carter believed his mystical egg paintings or “Eschatos,” (The Final Things, from eschatology, the part of theology concerned with death, judgment, and the final destiny of the soul.) ultimately symbolized life. The museum label additionally notes the significance of the eye in Surrealist imagery, stating that “the Surrealists believed that the eye acted as a portal between the inner self and external world.” It further suggests that the egg in Balancing Act can be seen not only as a symbol of rebirth but because of its shell as “the hard defenses we build to protect ourselves.” The large ovoid “balanced” on the smaller also seems to indicate some difficulty in achieving this balance.
Scott Fraser, Metronome (1990)
Scott Fraser (American, b. 1957), Metronome, 1990. Oil on panel. Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, Michigan.
Another artist using egg symbolism is Scott Fraser (b.1957), a realist painter known for taking ordinary objects and juxtaposing them in unique compositions. Fraser’s hyperrealistic painting Metronome (1990) is so lifelike that it may be mistaken for a photograph from a distance. Ordinarily, a metronome, a device used by musicians and dancers, marks time by giving a click at regular intervals. In Fraser’s painting, the lever of the metronome is tied down by a string attached to a table with a pushpin, stopping the rhythmic counting of time. Perched atop the metronome is an egg, its shadow thrown on the beige wall behind. More eggs and broken eggshells are arrayed on the table. Fraser uses the egg and metronome as symbols of vanitas representing time, mortality, and the fragility of life.
Salvador Dalí, Remorse or Sphinx Embedded in the Sand (1931)
Salvador Dalí (Spanish,1904-1989), Remorse or Sphinx Embedded in the Sand,1931. Oil on canvas, 7½ x 10½ in. Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, Michigan State University, Lansing, Michigan. Image courtesy of the Flint Institute of Arts.
Remorse or Sphinx Embedded in the Sand (1931) by one of the most iconic Surrealist artists, Salvador Dalí (1904-1989), is as autobiographical as it is a reflection of Dalí’s inner state of mind. This tiny painting of only 7 ½ x 10 ½ inches portrays Dalí’s wife Gala in the foreground submerged in sand from the waist down with her back toward the viewer as she covers her face with one hand. On the ground before her, a deep shadow silhouette mirrors the grief of her form. Her figure faces jagged rock outcroppings receding into the distance. A woman's high heeled shoe and a glass of milk protrude from beneath her back’s translucent skin, adding a note of further incongruity to the piece. According to the museum label, women’s shoes and glasses of milk were fetishes of Dalí at the time. In the foreground of the picture near Gala’s side, a small egg-shaped stone casts its own dark silhouette.
The alternate title, Sphinx Embedded in the Sand, refers to the creature in Greek mythology with a human head, the body of a lioness, and a bird’s wings who killed those seeking passage who could not answer her riddle. When Oedipus successfully solved the riddle, the sphinx killed herself. Dalí likened his wife to a sphinx as “a keeper of riddles and enigma.” Though for André Breton, a writer and leader of the Surrealist movement, the sphinx represented the figure of the femme fatale, in Dalí’s painting, she is a tragic figure. The word “remorse” in the title refers to the sorrow Gala and Dalí felt in their struggle with infertility. Gala’s despairing figure manifests the couple’s intense grief as do the shadows.
Salvador Dalí, Cybele (1972-1973)
Salvador Dalí (Spanish, 1904-1989), Cybele, 1972-1973, bronze. Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, Michigan.
In addition to Remorse or Sphinx Embedded in the Sand, a rare sculptural work by Dalí is also included in the exhibition. A later piece, Cybele (1972-1973), too, draws inspiration from mythology. Cybele was the great mother of the Gods in Phrygia, a kingdom in Anatolia (modern Asian Turkey). Not only was she considered to be mother of the gods but she was believed to have birthed humanity, the animal kingdom, and all of nature. Dalí’s representation is a small bronze figure on a black marble base. His long necked Cybele is an armless, legless torso with massive primary breasts. The breast theme has been replicated down the front and sides of her torso, reflecting Cybele’s status as the universal mother and giver of life.
Gerome Kamrowski, The Feted Wedding (1945)
Gerome Kamrowski (American, 1914-2004), The Feted Wedding, 1945. Oil on canvas. On loan from the Gerome Kamrowski Estate.
American artist Gerome Kamrowski’s (1914-2004) The Feted Wedding (1945) is the first artwork seen upon entering the exhibition. Kamrowski pioneered Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism in the United States. As the museum label notes, Kamrowski’s work “symbolizes an important shift in Surrealism from a movement concentrated in Europe to one internationally practiced.” He executed this painting using a palette of blue, green, brown, and red. The work consists of two swirling biomorphic forms, the figures neither human nor animal. The gender of the “couple” depicted cannot be determined. The painting is a study in color, cellular form, and expressive line against a dark blue background, reflecting Kamrowski’s interest in automatism or the avoidance of conscious intention as well as science. The Feted Couple was one of the last paintings Kamrowski produced while living in New York before moving to Ann Arbor, Michigan, to teach at the University of Michigan School of Art from 1946 until his retirement in 1984.
Louis Bourgeois, Metamorfosis (1997)
Louise Bourgeois (American, born France, 1911-2010), Metamorfosis, 1997. Aquatint on paper. Flint Institute Arts, Flint, Michigan.
The French-born artist Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010) was one of the Surrealists whose work often incorporated the influence of Sigmund Freud. In her lifetime, Bourgeois underwent psychoanalysis using the therapeutic method developed by Freud. In her art, she explored the memories and experiences she confronted during therapy. Metamorfosis (1997), Spanish for metamorphosis, a late career work, explores the unconscious mind. A faceless figure lies in a red floored, blue room with a single window in an old-fashioned bed with black headboard and footboard rails. The reclining figure is presumably female and asleep. She is covered by an undulating blanket composed of thin black lines and bold gray block stripes on white that hangs to the floor over the foot of the bed. Some of the bedding seems to flow off the head of the bed as well, the figure appearing to lie in a river of sleep. Reminiscent of an egg shape, a small white oval footrug lies next to the bed on the floor. Apparently the bed was a common autobiographical theme for Bourgeois who used it to “symbolize and explore her childhood experiences and the sexuality and innocence constantly at play, as well as her tumultuous relationship with her father.”
Kyra Markham, Editorial in Paint (1952)
Kyra Markham (American,1891-1967), Editorial in Paint, 1952. Oil on canvas. On loan from the collection of Ed and Karen Ogul.
Another late career work, Kyra Markham’s (1891-1967) Editorial in Paint (1952) intricately blends art historical and surreal elements. In the center of the painting are four figures in rough triangular composition. Prominent are two androgynous women. One stands barefoot with her eyes closed in a short, open black blazer just covering her bare breasts and a pink tutu. She sports a mitre, a religious headdress, and grasps a crosier, a gold staff topped with a shepherd’s crook carried by bishops in the Latin Church. In her other hand, she nonchalantly holds a carrot as though about to take a bite. Her companion, severely featured and clothed, wears a short-sleeved white blouse, navy skirt, and orange sash, her feet clad in a pair of sensible loafers. She is kicking a copy of the Classical sculpture Venus de Milo off its base. On the right sits a cross-legged humanoid figure with a bull’s head and hooves wearing a monk’s robes. One of its horns is crooked and the ring held in its hand matches the ring in its nose. In front of this figure, a wide-eyed man with pointed ears speaks through a megaphone, while cocking an ear as if listening to himself speak.
A cluster of headstones with the names of renowned artists and writers from the past, including Rembrandt, Paul Cézanne, Leonardo da Vinci, William Blake and others, occupies the lower left of the painting. In the bottom left foreground, a white arrow-shaped sign with the words “To Parnassus” points to “Mount Parnassus” in the middle ground of the painting, where the earlier described figures are arrayed. Mount Parnassus was the residence of the Muses in Greek mythology, known as the home of literature, science, and the arts. At the foot of the “mountain” in the bottom left corner, an old white-haired man and black-haired young boy lie on their knees, hands clasped in prayer as they look up to the woman with the crosier. Next to them, reclining against some rocks, is the artist Henri Matisse, presumably, depicted as a plump elderly man at work on one of his paper cutouts.
Above, instead of Greek gods, is a collection of paintings suspended in the clouds as if on a gallery wall, including works by Giorgio de Chirico, Piet Mondrian, Pablo Picasso, and Marc Chagall, among others, all titans of modern art. A balding man in a brown suit holding a sketchbook gazes up at these representations, as if deciding which to copy or emulate, while another younger man in a black sweater seemingly influenced by these works holds a paintbrush and painting while staring at the viewer from over his shoulder. A patch of blue sky peeks through clouds from the upper lefthand corner illuminating this dream-like scene of the personification of art history. Looking at this work one feels the significance of each detail.
Kendra North, Bliss (2012-2018)
Kendra North (American, b. 1951), Bliss, 2012-2018. Ultrachrome pigment print. Gift of Kendra North. Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, Michigan.
Besides dreams, Sigmund Freud, and the unconscious, the Surrealists were fascinated by photography and experimented with the medium in non-traditional ways as a means of expressing themselves. Contemporary artists such as Kenda North (b. 1951) have carried on the legacy of photography in the Surrealist movement to create their own unique imagery. North’s Bliss (2012-2018) completed over the course of several years, is an example. Taken underwater, the photograph consists of a human hand rising from the waves of rushing blue and white water. A dark mass on the right resembles a boulder in the waves, with waters rushing around it. In the background, a waterfall, and possibly more rocks cluster behind the boulder. The entire image is blurred and distorted except for the hand reaching from the water in the foreground which is clearly articulated. According to the museum label, North “believes that being submerged underwater brings you closer to an alternate reality where dreams and desires float within and around you,” like the hand suspended in the waves.
In addition, the exhibition includes an interesting 2015 documentary about Surrealist photographic techniques called Photo: A History Behind the Lens of Surrealist Photography directed by Luciano Rigolini playing on loop. The documentary begins with the late 1920s discussing techniques such as double exposure, combination printing, montage, and solarization that Surrealist artists used to manipulate their images. It also discusses rayographs, photographic prints made by laying objects onto photographic paper and exposing it to light, a technique employed by André Breton, Man Ray, Dora Maar, and others.
Beyond Dreams: Surrealism and Its Manifestations runs through August 20, 2023, at the Flint Institute of Arts. I especially encourage anyone not familiar with Surrealist art to visit the exhibition. All will come away enlightened and impressed.