Tharandeep Virdi

150 5012

University for the Creative Arts- Farnham Campus

BA (hons) Interior Architecture and Design- Year 3

Vladimir Kush- Dream Catcher

The depiction of the female within the surrealist movement.

How and where are women portrayed & what are the social implications of this?

February 2018

Word count: 5328

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 C O N T E N T S:

Introduction 3

Chapter One: The History of Surrealism

Movement Overview 5

The Start of Surrealism 6

Chapter Two: Women in the 20th Century

What was it like to be a Woman in the 20th Century? 7

The General Depiction of Females 9

Chapter Three: Women at Home and Domestic Spaces 10

Chapter Four: Female Bodies in Surrealism

Surrealism and Still Life 12

Surrealism and Portraiture 13

A Female Perspective: Frida Kahlo 14

Chapter Five: Women in Surrealist Photography

Animal Representation 16

Anamorphic Bodies 17

Chapter Six: Women in the 21st Century 18

Conclusion 19

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Introduction

“Male Surrealists look at women as objects of desire..." (J, Dawes, 2015)

Is this how the role of a woman is to be perceived? A female is much more than an object
or anything that one can use for their own desire. The social depiction of how females were
perceived had to change. In the early 1920’s many women faced being objectified simply
because they were female; they were seen as objects of desire and used within different
spaces to attract or sell to the public. But to what extent did the depiction of women, within
the developing of Surrealism, contribute to this?

Surrealists held a strong opinion on how creative people should embrace their imagination
by using a method called “Automatism”. (Andre Breton, Biography.com) Automatism is
accessing materials for art from the unconscious part of the mind. This form of expression
later developed into abstract art and the European movement of Art Informel. The creation
of automatism was all about the thoughts that we never really speak about as we cannot
truly process these ideas with ease and therefore it didn’t make sense when viewers looked
at it as a piece of art. This method then leads us into the world of surrealism. (Schopp,
1991, 132-133) The art movement was started by Andre Breton in Paris, in 1924. The
principal aim of the movement was to release the creative potential of the unconscious
mind. (Wood, 2007, 02)

So how was this achieved in surrealist art? All surrealist art pieces, including poetry were
based on ‘juxtaposition’ which is putting normal everyday objects together, which in the
real world are not supposed to be together. (Wood, 2007, 09) This made people feel
uncomfortable, as it was seen as abnormal behaviour and it enabled art to “politically
disrupt conventional notions of art production and to reveal the workings of commodity
fetishism” (Wood, 2007, 09). Surrealism mainly consisted
of male artists which is why the women were regarded as
a fetish. This took away the idea of individual creativity
and celebrated the idea of new ways of thinking.
Surrealism also massively turns away from the idea of
beauty and is more focused on pure idiocy. An
advantage of this, is that by juxtaposing objects, the
viewers are forced to create their own interpretation and
think of a concept for why the two objects are placed
together.

The image on the right [Fig. 1] is an oil painting by

Salvador Dali, a male surrealist artist. The painting was
intended to represent “Freud’s discovery of the typical
dream with a lengthy narrative, the consequence of the Figure 1: Salvador Dali, 1944

instantaneousness of a chance event which causes the

sleeper to wake up.” (S, Dali, 1944). The painting is of a
naked female figure which poses as the sleeping character that’s dreaming. The ‘dream’
element behind the image is prompted by the buzzing of the bee which can be seen above
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the woman. Then a pomegranate on the left of the canvas is shown bursting open to
release a red fish which then releases two bigger tigers, thus awakening the woman from
her sleep. This is an example of how a male surrealist of 1944 depicted his sexual obsession
which made viewers face their own anxieties. He had represented a female figure within his
work which portrays her as nothing but an object with no purpose as to why she was
painted in her naked state.

Surrealism mainly consisted of male artists which is why the woman was perceived in such a
way.

Being a female artist in the surrealist art movement, women were not given an equal
amount of respect of that of the male artists. Idols such as Frida Khalo and Claude Cahun’s
work did use the surrealist practices like portraying automatism and creating dream like
paintings through portraits.

However, since they were women, I feel as if they were not given the same recognition
platform as male artists because they were women and rather than using their work to
continue to represent what the male surrealists had been doing in objectifying the female,
instead they utilised these techniques to change the social understandings of a female by
representing the mental state & characteristics of women, rather than the physical. (T,
Diarywala, 2014)

“Men make the moral code and they expect women to accept it.” (E, Pankhurst)
With us being in the Centenary year of the 1918 Women’s Suffragette act, I will be
researching to have a more in depth understanding of the importance of the role of females
and discussing how the female figure in various art forms and genres of art has changed the
perception and social understandings that people had of a woman being more of an object
of desire, during the period of Surrealism to present day.

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 C H A P T E R O N E: T H E H I S T O R Y OF S U R R E A L I S M

Movement Overview

Surrealism is a movement that took shape 5 years after the Dadaist negation, which was
cased by the First World War. Dadaism was mainly a visual movement whereas Surrealism
moved more into the literary form at the beginning of its journey through society.
The visual aspect included pieces that had been assembled, painted or printed. ‘The Spirit
of our Time’ [Fig. 2] was in the form of a sculpture and was intended to represent the failed
changes that were needed to make Germany a better place in the 1920’s. It shows that a
member of the supporting public in which he had considered to be a corrupt society “has
no more capabilities than those which chance has glued to the outside of his skull; his brain
remains empty.” The eyes are deliberately excluded from the sculpture as the ‘spirit of our
time’ was intended to be a blind automaton.

The more literary form of surrealism included pieces that were mainly printed. The surrealist
art work later moved into paintings and other forms of art. One of the most earlier literal
surrealist pieces was that of ‘Poeme’ by Bréton, himself. [Fig. 3] This example combined
both text and image. It was in the same year that he published the ‘Surrealist Manifesto’. It
showcases his increasing belief in journalism as an artistic medium.

Surrealism has been mentioned and discussed in a vast amount of literature over the years
as it has engaged itself into many social and political events in the history of the twentieth
century, such as the beginning of when artists were looking for a new language to avoid
using the ‘painting from nature’ ideology that most art work had at the time (Adés, 2015, 8).
It was a movement that was a more playful association of words and literature. (Robinson,
2005, 13)

Figure 2: Raoul Hausmann, 1920 Figure 3: André Breton, 1924

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The Start of Surrealism

The movement was started by André Breton in Paris, in 1924. The principal aim of the
movement was to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind. (Wood, 2007, 02).
Breton (1896-1966) was a French poet and is known as the writer of the famous ‘Manifesto
of Surrealism’ in which he wrote then published his ideas and expression of the movement
and also the rejection of social and moral conventions. He found that art and literature such
as poems are one of the ways that we can express our childhood thoughts and dreams.

As Breton says: “Surrealism is not just an art movement. It’s a way of thinking, a way of
transforming existence.” (unlock art, 2014).

He could sense the potential within the creative energies that we didn’t know existed,
within the unconscious part of the mind, which was waiting to be released in the form of
surrealist art (Robinson, 2005, 14).

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) was an Austrian Neurologist and is considered the ‘Father of
Physcoanalysis’. (IndiaToday.in) His research indicated that we have both conscious and
unconscious states of mind but not everyone knows how to access the unconscious.
(bbc.co.uk). Breton was a strong believer in the theory that was first stated by Freud that:
we as humans store our dreams and childhood thoughts in our ‘unconscious mind’
(simplypsychology.org) and when we become adults it is more difficult for us to go into that
state of mind.

Breton’s main intent of the Surrealist movement was to create a ‘new declaration of the
rights of a man’. So, did this mean that women of the 1920’s were considered less equal to
a man? (Robinson, 2005, 17).

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C H A P T E R T W O: W O M E N I N T H E 2 0 TH C E N T U R Y

What was it like to be a Woman in the 20th Century?

Being a woman in the 20th century came with its disadvantages, especially as girls had
limited opportunities at having a life of purpose. This was largely due to the conventions of
that time and the expectation that a woman would get married very young, with an
immediate start in the role of a housewife, with all the monotonous duties associated with
being a stay at home wife, such as raising a family of their own. It was an extremely difficult
time for girls to have an equality of education which would help them in the future. Despite
this, even as a consequence of the position women held, the twentieth century will always
be known as ‘The Woman’s Hour’.
It was only after peaceful protests by campaigners such as Millicent Fawcett and Elizabeth
Garret Anderson that male orientated professions or career paths, for example medicine,
were opened up to women. Even then this was only afforded by the privileged, but
certainly a step closer to equal rights. This was the era that suffragettes, such as Emmeline
Pankhurst, had begun to protest for women to be given the right to vote. (J. Murray, 2011)
[Fig. 4]

Figure 4: Suffragettes

In 1918, women’s right to vote had been granted, but only to those that were property
owners and it was only until 1928, the age limitation was automatically made equal to that
of men. The women of Britain were essentially bribed by being misled information in
thinking that their right to vote would make them equal to the men. This information being
that they would be able to do things that men do so freely such as being a homeowner or
even having a career, but this was not the case. In the beginning, votes were only limited to
those women, over the age of thirty, based on their privilege and social status.

7

Women fought for the right to vote and used it as a stepping stone to help them achieve
equality in both sexes. Further on, the suffragette movement achieved many other great
things such as Nancy Astor becoming the first female MP to sit in the House of Commons,
in 1919 to passing the Men and Women Equal Pay Act of 1970. It was the start of a new
social revolution.

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The General Depiction of Females

The general depiction that many males had of women is that they should be domesticated;
stay at home and take on the realms of a being a dutiful housewife. The reason why women
fought for the right to vote is because they wanted to be seen and treated equal to that of
a man. As well as this, they fought for the right to gain an education as well as raise a family
and have a career. I find the idea that a female’s total dependency on a male, such as, a
father, brother or husband, as being unjust and women should have been given the right to
a more equitable role in society, coupled with independence. A woman should have had
the opportunities to work in a profession of their choice; stood up for what they believed in
and if it meant raising a family, as opposed to any of the other duties dictated by the
society of that time, then it should have been of their own free will.

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 C H A P T E R T H R E E: W O M E N A T H O M E AND
DOMESTIC SPACES

It is prevalent that men have always had a strong belief that on marrying, a woman’s sole
purpose is to serve in both the private and public domain. Clearly, this demonstrates the
alpha male’s ignorance of all the many capabilities a woman holds and I’m sure, could teach
them a thing or two!

The ideology that women can operate with a long list of expectations; raising a family,
being independent and having a career, integrated with fulfilling the wider roles and
responsibilities as both a mother and a dutiful wife has often been frowned upon by not
only the opposite sex, but, from certain cultures that still hold some of the old fashioned
views/opinions associated with the belief, ‘a married woman’s place is at home’ and the
expectation she carries out all that would be expected of her from a long list of chores. This
has evolved quite remarkably to a more positive view of what the vast majority of the
modern day society expects and accepts.

Equality between both sexes has vastly improved and they both continue to narrow the gap
to present more evidence of an egalitarian society, where men and women openly share
the responsibilities associated with married or partner life together. This being the chores
we commonly associate with being in partnership with someone and when living under the
same roof together. Thus, the cooking, cleaning and ironing are but a few examples of what
is equally shared or at least worked on together. This is quite prevalent of twenty first
century marriages and the acceptance of this is profound. In fact, the egalitarian life
together, working together hand in hand has proven to be quite successful for the vast
majority of marriages.

Clearly, we have moved a long way from what was deemed as twentieth century bigotry,
where young girls were raised with the training required to be a wife of the future and
holding the key attributes associated with that, carrying out the daily household chores
such as cooking, cleaning, washing and ironing. Back then, there was no option for a
woman to lead an independent life and whilst the man of the house made all the decisions
relating to the budgetary requirements of running a household, especially as he was the
‘bread winner’, it was justified as being ‘only fair’ that the woman to her duties as an
expected and with no questions asked!

In the 20th century, young girls were raised in such a way that they were deprived of an
education and bought up learning the main tasks that a housewife would do. This included,
washing, laundry, cooking, cleaning and much more. Their life was evidently them learning
to be a housewife before actually becoming one, as they were married off at a young age.

Women who were married young, were expected to do as their husbands said. Not only
this but the male would inevitability assume that she was an ‘idiot’. This indicates that the
the woman did not receive any respect in marriage and would just automatically be made a

10

housewife. This meaning she would have to cook, clean, and wait for her husband to return
to await her next job or task as his wife.

“Nothing destroys the happiness of married life more than the lazy, slovenly wife”
(telegraph.co.uk). This demonstrates that it was a general understanding that the
responsibility of a happily married life, lay solely with the woman and it is this
understanding that has helped change the way people perceive the role of a woman.

Surrealism was essentially a new declaration of the

rights of a man, which is quite clear in the role of a
female in the home and domestic spaces. There
was no equality with both genders and the female
had no real purpose but to be a slave to the male
[Fig. 5]. The image on the right demonstrates the
role of a woman in the home whist she serves her
husband. This is what was expected of a woman
after marriage, as well a being able to fulfil her
husband’s sexual desires.
Figure 5: A Domesticated Wife

This depiction of women slowly led into a world of objectivity of the female, mentally and
physically, in the world of art- specifically Surrealism.

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 C H A P T E R F O U R: F E M A L E B O D I E S I N
SURREALISM

Surrealism and Still Life

In the world of art, Still life refers to objects being represented for what they look like, in its
untouched, natural state. It means that we can see the detailing through what we have in
front of us, which allows us to draw from it or create a painting. The idea is to view the
objects but focus on the private space and experience the art in which the object creates,
many people often describe this process as quite feminine.

“Beauty will be convulsive or will not be at all.” (A, Breton)

Male surrealists found that surrealist still life and art in general was a way to build on what
their idea of a female should be. They never saw women as humans of purpose but instead,
used them as a projection and objects to make their own dreams of femininity a reality.
Therefore, these masculine approaches to still life paintings that included women as objects
played an active part in the misogynistic positioning of the female model. [Fig. 6]. Only
through these 20th century paintings, we can gain a clear understanding of what the male
desires and finds interesting.

Figure 6: Vlaho Bukovac, 1914

“Surrealist Art and Poetry are addressed to men; women are only means to bring about
these works. Woman is seen by the male Surrealists only in terms of what she can do for
them.” (Caws, 1991, 18)

Because surrealism was mainly a male dominated movement, the art produced by men, was
only really understood by the men. It became a way for them to explore their inner
thoughts and deal with their own experiences whilst portraying their interpretation of a
woman. The female was the object in which they would illustrate this by. But it wasn’t until
the female surrealists decided to take a stand against these demeaning morals.
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Surrealism and Portraiture

Women surrealists, started to create a dialogue which would communicate the female body
to a state of defiance, creative energy and power of the mind, rather than focusing on the
physical attributes of a woman.

The art of women surrealists was essentially a matter of self- reference and an ideal way for
them to display this was through the process of portraiture [Fig. 7]. This was an advantage
for them as it allowed them to explore their identity and demonstrate that women are more
than a mans desire and do not have to be objectified to produce a piece of art. The
portraits recorded the woman’s likeness, characteristics, interests and social status.

This in comparison to the male artists was a refreshing thing to see, in terms of how a more
meaningful and deeper concept was found in a simple portrait. However, these portraits
sought to reconstruct the identities of the female through self representation.

“This genre became a form of representation in which the artist is both the subject and
object and conceives of how she looks in the sense of how she sees herself rather than how
she appears”. (LCMA, 2017).

Figure 7: Helen Lundeberg, 1944

As stated before, Surrealism was a male dominated movement which meant that the female
who practiced the surrealist methods were not given the recognition and never officially
became surrealist artists. However, now, in the 21st century their work has become more
familiar than ever before. And now, possibly one of the most mentioned and recognised
female surrealists is Frida Kahlo.

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A Female Perspective: Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) was a painter of Mexican descent who gained a lot of attention
after she began to stand up for her rights as a socialist. During the 20th century, Mexico was
involved in class conflict which divided the nation between the rich, working class and poor.
As of this, Mexico was in need of Social Justice, which is the kind of atmosphere that Kahlo
was born and raised in. She understood the ideals of social justice and inequality among
men and women.

She was a portrait artist who always put a huge amount of passion into her work which is
what makes her one of the most recognised women in art. “I paint myself because I am so
often alone and because I am the subject I know best”- (Frida Kahlo, Date unknown). This
quote illustrates that her paintings mainly consisted of self portraits which is what many
women in surrealism began to do. This was because they were able to fetch into the
mentality of a woman which is something a man could not do when he was visualising a
female within his work. Frida’s explanation of her work was that she painted things so that
they would not die. An example of this in her paintings would be the use of vivid colours
included in the paintings of flowers.

During the surrealist era, being quite feminine was

normal, and many women thought that this was
the way they had to be, especially since the men
would expect this of a woman. It was a topic of
discussion when she released her self portrait
[Fig. 8], when Frida went against these social
standards and was not embarrassed by her facial
hair, but instead, she embraced it and went on to
depict this in her work.

This was a step in the right direction of change of

the depiction and social expectations and
understandings of what a woman should be. The
image on the right, represented many symbolic
aspects which meant a lot to her personally. The
concept behind the painting is that she was using Figure 8: Frida Kahlo, 1940
the symbolic elements to express how she was feeling.
This was in a period of her life that she was suffering in.

14

It shows her fully clothed and in her natural state where she poses as a calm person,
however her surroundings demonstrate the things which are making her suffer. The
hummingbird aspect is what stands out the most, as they are normally bright and colourful
but in the painting its black and lifeless, which many people say, is a representation of Frida
herself.

So what makes her an inspiration to women? She was a strong woman who didn’t let the
expectations of a woman define her. She didn’t let her illnesses, pain and suffering limit her
and she always stayed true to herself, thus being portrayed in her paintings. Her work
examined her inner feelings and individuality of what makes a woman, this wasn’t based on
any sexual desires, nudity or physicality of a woman, but instead she focused on the mental
side and life itself, which was the opposite to what male surrealists had been doing before
this.

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 C H A P T E R F I V E: W O M E N I N S U R R E A L I S T
PHOTOGRAPHY

Surrealist Artists and Photographers began to indulge in the world Photography, and this
became a wide method of art. Artists like ‘Man Ray’ (1890-1976) used photographic
techniques such as double exposure, combination printing, photo montage, solarisation,
rotation and distortion which helped to illustrate the surrealist definition of dreams and
reality. There were other photographers like Hans Bellmer (1902-1975) who also
photographed his own fabricated dolls to create surprisingly weird sexualised images.

Animal Representation

One form of surrealist photography was the ‘Animal Representation’ concept. Animal motifs
have been used for centuries dating back to the times of cave paintings, medieval
manuscripts and also old Egyptian tapestries. Other animal species were represented on a
wide range of levels including mimetic realism to being used as metaphors, symbol or even
myths. (Allmer, 2009, 65)

Since the 1970’s and 1980’s women started

to incorporate animal representation within
their paintings and other work [Fig. 9]. They
worked so hard and finally found their own
creative individuality, which at the same time
rejected the mainstream surrealist ideology
of art.

Figure 9: Leonora Carrington, 1941

However, towards the 21st century, this

concept of animal representation has moved
into photography. The image on the right
[Fig. 10] illustrates the use of modern day
photography whilst using the 20th century
ideology of combining animals and women.

The image shows the artist dancing being

struck through the chest area by an exotic
bird. The movement is shown through what
could possibly be a result of long exposure
Photography where lines of movement are
shown by the hands and the dress.
Figure 10: Josephine Cardin

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Anamorphic Bodies

Anamorphic refers to the use of illusions within art. Its when something that is presented
one way, can be seen differently by others depending on how it is viewed. This is similar in
the way that others depict women in surrealism. Males undoubtedly have a different view in
comparison to the female’s view of a woman which is clear in the recent examples.

An example of one of the most famous

Anamorphic Illustrations is that of Hans
Holbein. [Fig. 11]. At first glance the
painting is of two Ambassadors showing
their power and representing mortality.
However, when the painting is viewed at an
angle from the right, a skull can be seen
which is unrecognisable when looking
straight upon it.
Figure 11: Hans Holbein, 1535

The idea that something can be viewed differently by males

and females is apparent in surrealist paintings, but the same
concept is now, in the 21st century, put through the process
of photography and ‘morphing’ within the image to make it
look distorted but still attracting the viewers eye.

The image on the right [Fig. 12] is an example of the

anamorphic concept within photography. The image shows
the artist in a self portrait photograph. However, this is
morphed by the additional use of the facial features from
another person, which have been cut and places where they
should be. My personal interpretation of this image is that
the artist is hiding her real emotions by trying to morph into
someone else. The idea of Anamorphic images is that its an
illusion, making everyone’s views different.
Figure 12: Josephine Cardin

Women in surrealism also went through Anamorphic prejudice in that they were perceived
by males as a symbol of beauty and used as objects within surrealist art however, females
represented themselves as strong and independent women, as well as being full of beauty.

17

 C H A P T E R S I X: W O M E N I N T H E 2 1 ST C E N T U R Y

The role of women has been defined by men over centuries. Now the woman of the 21st
century has overcome the social injustice of feminism and as a consequence, she now
possesses freedom and is far more liberated than before. Women have a greater degree of
autonomy now; the freedom of speech, choice, religion and the freedom to vote. There are
greater opportunities for women to combine careers with that of running a household, but,
under their own terms.

Life for women now in the 21st Century on both the political and social ladder can be
described as one where women are far more active and where they have a voice. Today we
live in a world where women do not need to look anywhere for the ‘perfect role model’.
The right to an education for all, most especially in Europe and most other parts of the
world is a given or expectation. All females have the right to an education in which will help
define them as strong and confident female leaders of the future, without any fear of being
targeted for what the expectations of a woman should be.

The surrealist movement has had a major impact on the journey of feminism and equality.
Whilst looking back at how men perceived women, its clear that we, as the next generation
have come a long way from objectivity and fulfilment for desire. Males and females are now
considered equal. Some recent studies indicate that women now make up 47% of the UK
workforce (gender.bitcorg.uk), which would have been impossible if this had been the 20th
century in the that females were unable to work or have any kind of career.

Women are also advancing in creative industries and professions because of the surrealist
women of the 20th century.

Artists such as Frida Kahlo stood to make a change,

and by doing this they paved to way for females in the
21st century to make something of themselves, gain an
education and be successful in their careers. One
example of this is Dame Zaha Hadid (1950-2016). She
was a successful female architect and designer and the
first woman in the industry to win the Pritzker
Architecture Prize in 2004. [Fig. 13].

Figure 13: Zaha Hadid, 2004

But what makes artists and designers like this so influential? They both went against the
normal ideology of a woman and had rewarding careers in male dominated industries. As
well as being a difficult thing to do, they were most recognized and thus have become an
inspiration to young practicing women of the 21st century.

18

Conclusion
To conclude, I believe that women have become stronger as a class of their own. There is
more of a sense of acceptance in society towards women who want to move away from the
domesticated and subjected way of living. The social aspects of the 20th century have made a
way for women to make a change in society and allow more freedom for individuals to live
and grow, both physically and mentally.

2018 marks 100 years since the right to vote was passed for all men and some women which
has since become a major point in history for everyone. The Centenary is a milestone
achievement and triumph of the struggle that we have overcome and every social success
since. It’s what has helped shape our future and make today what it is.

We now live in a world where men and women are treated more equally without being judged
on their background, status, ethnicity or gender. Instead we celebrate it, embrace culture and
integrate it into society.

One thing that I’ve learnt from these women, is that to be successful, you still need to defy
the general expectations. It may be considered wrong or abnormal but to do something worth
being recognised, you need to make a change in society, and to do this you do not have to
be a man.

Women are more than a housewife to do the daily washing, cooking and cleaning.

They are more than an object in art and paintings or to pose as a man’s sexual desires and
fantasies.

They do not need to be represented as an animal or morphed into something they are not.

The woman is a masterpiece in herself without the needs of scriptures, paintings or any kinds
photographs to be illustrated to others.

19

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 R E F E R E N C E L I S T:

Cover Image: Vladimir Kush, Dream Catcher

Figure 1: Salvador Dali, the dream caused by the flight of a bee, 1944

Figure 2: Raoul Hausmann, The Spirit of our Time, 1920

Figure 3: André Breton, Poeme, 1924

Figure 4: Suffragettes, Date Unknown

Figure 5: A Domesticated Wife

Figure 6: Vlaho Bukovac, Before the toilet mirror, 1914

Figure 7: Helen Lundeberg, A Self Portrait, 1944

Figure 8: Frida Kahlo, Self portrait, 1940

Figure 9: Leonora Carrington, Down Below, 1941

Figure 10: Josephine Cardin, Dance and Surrealism

Figure 11: Hans Holbein, The Ambassadors, 1535

Figure 12: Josephine Cardin, The distorted self

Figure 13: Zaha Hadid with Pritzker Architecture Prize, 2004

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