acs | CHOLASTIC tiwmischolaatlccomfart ak René Magritte Working With Surrealismt SPOTLIGHT RENE MAGRITTE In1916, Magritte enralled at an advanced art echool, where he learned to paint in many different stylas. The young artist found his passion in the adty of : F Reneé Magritte: peresiaiSenstate teigea tok s ideas from the strange things that happen: Man of Many Hats veces images seem both real and unroal-sur-real This artist dreamed up impossible ideas and painted them into reality Inventing Mysteries Magritte couldn't support himself and his wife just by painting, 60 he also worked as a graphic designer. Like other businessmen of the time, he dressed in & suit and hat, called a bowler hat. Seeing 60 many other mon drassed lke him on the street inspired Magritte, The man wearing ‘a bowler hat became @ motif, or subject, that appears often in the artist’s work. In fact, Magritte created at least 21 different paintings featuring the businessman! Magritte’ first painting of the man in the bowler hat was 2 self-portrait. Many historians beliave that the artist referred to himself whenever he used this motif, but Magritte often left this unclear, In the 1864 work The Son of Man, below, a bright René Magelttsin1838,, vision a world where apples defy shown next to one of revity, a human eye is a window his paintings. ee i to the sky. and trains travel ewe eraraes through time. Impossible as these scenes are in the real SSteerina ect world, René Magritte (rebr-NAY rme-SREET), brought them to life on canves. An Early Interest in Art Magritte, shawn above next to one of his paintings, wes born in Bolgium in 1888, René took his first art lesson at age 12. He painted so well that his family believed he was a prodigy. When René was just 13, his father even entered one of the boy's paintings in an international art show. How does Magritte ceste a mystary about the ‘entity ofthe man in this painting? 4) scHOLASTIC ART» DECEMBER 2019 / JANUARY 2004a ry J yt) green apple hovers unnaturally justin front of the figure's face. It hides the man's facial features. The figure could be anyone, Including the artist himself. In this surreal composition, Magritte invitae viewers to wonder what the apple is hiding and why. An Idea Develops Inhils 1953 work Golconda (goFKON-duh), above, Magritte uses repetition, painting the man in the bowler hat dozens of times, Arranged in layers of varied seale, the smaller men are in the background and the larger men are in the foreground, which makes them seem closer to the viewer, Magritte painted ina realistic style, Including many specific details ike the architecture of the building, the shadows (on the wall, even the buttons on the men's coats. The men seem identical, but closer inspection reveals variation among them, Some have their hands in thelr pockets. Others carry briefcases. Without variation, the repeated figure might make the painting boring. But subtie differences encourage viewers ta laok mare closely. ‘The boviler hat motif appears again in Magritte's 1968 work Gecalcomania (QEE-CAL-co-marria}, bola The image Is bisected, with the man on tha lft and accurtain on the right. By shaping the negative space lke a figure, Magritte adde 8 veil of mystery toa simple painting, | Wis it important that Magrtto varied ‘tha image ofthe man Inthe bower hat? ‘What sth role ot negative space inthe inking below? wwwsckovasrie.comjant 5SPOTLIGHT RENE MAGRITTE Driven by Dreams When Magritte puts ordinary objects into unfamiliar situations, they become extraordinary u dream, your How does Magritte Cee challenge the way ne ‘subconscious mind puts thinkabout afireplace different parts of your and atrain? life side-by-side, For example, your science teacher might dance the erate ‘tango with your aunt an the school soccer fiold, Magritte and other Surrealist artists played with this concept. They found that juxtaposing ordinary but unrelated objects could be as disorienting and powerful as waking up fram a strange dream. ‘Magritte knew that he needed to move to Paris, the haart of the Surrealist ‘movement, to get noticed, He arrived in 1927 and soon met important Surrealist s like Max Ernst, Salvador Dall, and Joan Mir6 These artists were interested in the way the mind works, so they read up on the latest theories of psychology. They were especially interested in dreams. Magritte and Miré became good friends, meeting for lunch every Thursday. During these lively meals, the artists discussed the meaning and purpose of art, Since we ‘already know what the world looks like, why represent it literally on the canvas? If our dreaming minds can create strange worlds, perhaps artists should try to do the same in waking life Why do you think Magritte chose to replace the subject's ribcage with a birdcage inthis portrait? {G SCHOLASTIC ART + DECEMBER 2013 / JANUARY 2014What da you think the title of this painting, The False Miror, ‘means? Isthisa olan rose ora tiny room? Why do you think so? ‘Magritte developed techniques to mimic the things that heppen in dreams, Look at the painting of the fireplace and train, on the top left. The scene is impossible! And yet, you can probably come up with a story to explain where the train came from and where it is going. In our dreams, strange Juxtapositions make sense to us. Here Magritte asks you to make sense af them hile you're awake, Can you make sense of The Therapist on the bottom loft? Magritte substitutas a 33 René Magritte birdcage for the ribeage of a man, inviting you to look for similarities between the ‘two. But why does the man wear a hat If he hhas no head? And how does he sit if there {sno chair beneath him? The artist doesn't provide an answer. Dreams, after all, can't ‘always be explained. In The Tomb of the Wrestlers, top right. Magritte uses an unnatural scala to disorient you. This could be a normal-size room filled with a giant rose, or a narmal- size rose in a room inside a dollhouse. As in @ dream, tis open to interpretation. Magritte felt that the titles of his warks Were just 8s important as the images themselves. His 1928 The False Mirror, bottom right, is a startling painting af an eye, ‘The artist eropped the image tightly around the eye and painted the ris ta look like the sky But why? Magritte’ ttle references «a false mirror. Since we don't know what 2 false mirrors, there isn'ta clear way to understand this image and its title, Using techniques like juxtaposition, altered scale, and language, Magritte explores the ideas behind Surrealism. He pulls viewers like you into his compasitians by using rich imagery, but refuses to provide all the answers. In this way, you are part of the work Your experience in seeing it changes the meaning of each painting, wwwescuoasrie.com/ant 7t CONTEMPORARY CONNECTION Magritte’s Legacy Four contemporary artists take old techniques to wild new places esigners, illustrators, and artists today stil find Ingpiration in Magritte's vision. His influence didn't end with his death in 1867; examples of it are everywhere, Even the logo for broadcasting company CBS is inspired by the artist's The Faise Mirror (page 7), Although these four ertists don't draw directly from Magritta, they do incorporate ‘some of the Surrealist master’s techniques. How doos Warhol Warhol: A Motif Repeated 4 Artists commonly use repetition and variation, like Magritte did in Golconda (page 5). American Pop artist Andy Warhol sh repeats the same image nine times on nine separate canvases in his 1988 Self-Portrait. Unlike Magritte, who painted his canvases by hand, Warhol created each of these portraits ever Using a process callad silkseresning, In silkscreening, the artist creates a special ‘stencil that can be used more than ance. Tha result is a set of identical prints, But ‘Warhol also uses variation by selecting @ different combination of bright calors for each canvas. He then arranges the canvases in a grid, U0 scho.astic arr - DECEMBER 2019 / JANUARY 2014 Wy do you think Koons chose a ‘common toy 28. bis subject? Koons: Not What It Seems 4 Magritte uses text to remind his viewers that a painting is not an apple in Ceci nest ‘pas une pomme (page 9). American artist Joff Koons plays with the idea that things are not What they seem by using unexpected ‘materials. This sculpture looks just like an Infiatable toy rabbit-but itien't. Koons's 1986 Robbit is made of rigid stainless steel, Since the sculpture captures al the dateils cof the equishy plastic original, we can easily believe the metal doll might deflate right before cur eyes,Baldessari: Juxtaposition > In his 2008 digital collage, Brain/Cloud With Seascape and Palm Treel, American conceptual artist John Baldessari reinvents one of Magritte's recurring motifs: fluffy white clouds against serene blue skies. The focal point is 8 palm tree, which stands out against the ocean and sky. But this, realistic print looks surreal hecause the large cloud above the tree resembles a human brain, Magritte encourages viewers tobe curious about the unexpected Juxtapositions in his paintings. Baldessari does the same, inviting viewers to think about the visual similarities and differences between a cloud and a brain in this digitally altered image. Abakanowicz: Scale ¥ Polish artist Magdalena Abakanowicz (Mag-dat-LAY-na al-bak-keh-NOH-vich) takas repetition to new heights-lterally- with her 2005-06 Agora, The iran figures in this installation are monumental, or larger-than-life. Each of the 108 figures stands nine feet tall, Located in Chicago's Grant Park, the giants ara close together, 2s if walking down a crowded city street. But they seem oddly coitary, not interacting with one another. Like many af the figures in Magritte’s work, these figures do nat have heads, giving them a strange Surrealist quality, Cee eee eet Would you consider thisarealite artwork? Why or why not? How might these affoct you hferentyif they had nControversy surrounds copies of a famous Surrealist’s sculptures alvador Dalf was a Spanish Surrealist artist working around the same time as René Magritte. Known for its bizarca imagery, one of Oal's mast famous ‘works Is painting of melting clocks, He also made bronze sculptures of the clocks. few museums and auction houses have recently decided that seme of the sculptures cannot be considered legitimate because it's unclear whether ali wes actually involved in their creation. The controversy stems from the way bronze sculptures are cast. Branze casting Is @ complicated process that can be completed only at e foundry. Most artists, like Dall hire foundries to cast thelr sculptures for them, In the casting process, the foundry makes a mold fram the artist's original sculpture. It can produce many bronze copies using that mold, Then the foundry is allowed to cast a limited number of viorks, called an edition size. Edition sizes vary and are set by the artist. Late in his life, Dali signed contracts allowing several foundries to praduce his work. His business manager sold ‘additional rights after the artist's death in 1889. Today, 10 companies have the right to produce more than 100 different Dali sculptures, They'a stil casting new ones 12 sonoLasric aRT DECEMBER 2013 / JANUARY 2014 today, but no one knows whether they are rospocting the edition sizes that were set by the artist. Some people argue that new casts of sculptures created 24 years after the artist died can't be coneidered "real" Dall sculptures. Others say the new castings ere just as valuable as earlier castings of the same work, What do you think? Should the ‘questionable Dalt sculptures be considered authentic? ‘Surrealist artist Salvador Dat Dall i best known for Imagery of melting clocks.