Surrealism

Historical – Time Period and originating Counties

Time period and country originated from -

Surrealism is a cultural movement which developed in the late 1910's and early 20's, it sought to release creativity from the unconsciousness mind. The movement was made up of a number of artists including poets and writers who expressed their theories work.

The movement developed out of the Dada activities from World War 1 with the most important centre of the movement being Paris before spreading its movement across the globe eventually affecting the visual arts, literature, film and music of many countries and languages.

predominantly found in advertising. Surrealism is used in contemporary advertising to create new perceptions on the service/product which is being advertised as seen in the WWF advert (above).

Historical - Key Art and Design Techniques

The key art and design techniques used in historical surrealism is the use of cut outs and paints. The design were created using less technology, this meant that the access to inspiration was limited. The designs are very random and proportions are out of scale. This adds an appealing dynamic to the art which can create a layered hierarchy.

Historical - Common themes, concepts and ideas in work

- Disjointedness and disorientation- Inexplicable and unfamiliar- More dream and nightmare based than real life

- They aimed to portray the subconscious mind

A lot of surrealism artwork featured everyday objects that have been distorted or enlarged to give them a new perspective.The scenes created within the work often reflected dreams and aims to connect the viewer with their subconscious mind.

Historical Artist

Salvador Dali

Rene Magritte

Max Ernst

Man Ray

Contemporary - common themes, concepts and ideas in work

• Contemporary surrealism can be seen throughout an array of media, but predominantly found in advertising. Surrealism is used in contemporary advertising to create new perceptions on the service/product which is being advertised as seen in the WWF advert (above).

• Common themes of surrealist art include the use of miscellaneous objects which are used to replace a part of the image as well as strong relation to dreams and nightmares. Modern day surrealist images use the idea of an optical illusion alongside the idea of fantasy and mystery.

• Photo manipulation is a favorite technique used throughout modern day surrealism as well three-dimensional images instead of illustrations.

• With surrealist web design, flash is a common theme to use because it can incorporate dream effects, animation and music.

Contemporary – Key Companies that have used this within their Advertising

WWF have used surrealism to create an impacting message through imagery in their advertising. WWF are one of the many organizations using surrealism to give a clear representation of the situation that occur around the world which may not be directly effected by human activity. The technique uses digitally enhanced imagery to represent world wide issues.