Frida Kahlo among the "101 surrealists" featured in the last book of Desmond Morris
28 August 2024
One of the movement's last living members, bestselling author and artist Desmond Morris, who personally knew several of the major figures, has compiled a brief overview of the lives and works of the 101 most important surrealists.
2024 marks the centennial of surrealism, one of the most significant artistic movements of the modern era. The Surrealist Manifesto, written by André Breton in 1924, was a call to action that helped to establish surrealism as a literary and artistic movement.
Originally, surrealism was a philosophical approach rather than an artistic movement. It was a way of life, an uprising against the system that had unleashed the horrific carnage of World War I on the world. Bestselling author and surrealist artist Desmond Morris focuses on the surrealists as individuals rather than attempting to analyze their work. What were their character defects and strengths, their attitudes and personalities? Were they friendly people or lonely? Were they secluded individuals or proud eccentrics?
In "101 Surrealists" we find the renowned Leonora Carrington, Marcel Duchamp, Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst, Frida Kahlo, René Magritte, Joan Miró, and Francis Picabia along with the overlooked Hans Bellmer, Ithell Colquhoun, Leonor Fini, Julio González, E. L. T. Mesens, Edith Rimmington, and Kay Sage. The book condenses the lives, loves, and eccentricities of the surrealists into a manageable format by drawing on the author's firsthand knowledge of them. The darkest, most irrational forces of the unconscious shaped the spectacular and transnational arts of surrealism. Morris's accounts are shocking, witty, and consistently entertaining. They highlight the striking differences in the artists' lives and works regarding how they approached the surrealist philosophy.
Morris's previous biographical volumes will be enhanced by 101 Surrealists, which will provide a succinct and concise overview of each artist, instantly communicating the significance and influence of each of the 101 artists.
The book will be out with Thames & Hudson on October 29.
