Suridealism

Suridealism, a term used to describe fine art and literary art movements in the early 20th century.

History

Émile Malespine (1892 – 1952) coined the term in his "Manifesto Du Suridealisme" published in a 1925 Manometre magazine. He described Suridealism as "Idea, ideal: suridealism is both of these things at the same time; the idea is mixed with the word and becomes an image." and "Conscious and unconscious: these two terms must be identified in a higher idealized term. Suridealism will therefore be, in its most general expression, a consciousness awakened by unconsciousness, and this consciousness, in turn, modifies the subconsciousness."

Malespine listed the following fine and literary artists as Suridealists in his manifesto.

Hans Arp, Andre Desson, Marcel Arland, Manuel Maples Arce, Victor Brauner, Giuseppe Leonardi, Celine Arnauld, Sofronio Pocarini, F. L. Bernardez , Nore Brunel, J. L. Borges, Bourgeois, Tilly Brugman, Rogelio Buendia, Giorgio Carmelich, Julio Casal, Alvaro Cebreiro, Serge Charchoune, Paul Dermee, Maurice Casteels, Arthur Petronio, Emile Didier, Robert Delaunay, Joseph Delteil, Karl Teige, Van Doesburg , Edwards, Marcel Raval, Hans Richter, Ivan Goll, Gino Gori, Fernant Berckelaers, Jozef Peeters, Vincent Huidobro, Louis Kassak, Jacques Laplace , Pierre Laurent, Emile Malespine, Marius Riollet, Lissitzki, Georges Linze, Marinetti, Kurt Schwitters , Hannes Meyer, Moholy-Nagy, Enrico Prampolini, Jean Hytier, Vinicio Paladini, Thadee Peiper, Paul Nouge, Benjamin Peret , Jules Roblin, Correa-Calderon , Ramon Gomez De La Serna, Louis Thomas , Tristan Tzara, Isaac Del Vando Villar, Vasari, Alberto Vianello, Victor Servrankx, Ilia Zdanevitch.

In 1927 Suridealism was used to describe a literary movement by the novelist Maryse Choisy in her Manifeste Suridealiste. The movement had a feminist objective and countered the male-dominated Surrealist movement wanting to expand upon the novel genre of fiction writing.

In describing the Suridealist movement, Choisy said, "Women are often criticized for being conservative, for being incapable of creating or even following the avant-garde movements. It is up to a few creative women painters and talented musicians to prove otherwise. A Suridealist group of under 30s has just been founded, which has gathered the most important names among the rising generation."

Choisy continues, "Our century is the century of youth. But it is also the century of women. The purely masculine civilization is a failure. It is up to the woman to set the tone, which does not mean that we exclude the man from our songs or from our meetings. We are more generous, more inclusive. There are men in our group and even in our committee. But the crusade of Suridealism is led by women.

Pure intelligence has gone bankrupt. Help will come from the heart. Not from a heavy heart or a heart lush from the senses, but from a heart bursting from emptiness. A Suridealist heart. In the heart vs. intelligence match. Suridealism cheers for the heart."

In the July 1928 issue of Der Sturm, Malespine published an article entitled "Proteste," in which he protests against Choisy being the founder of Suridealism, and rightfully defends his claim that he was in fact the first person to use and define the term.

In Graphic Arts, the term is first used in the French publication, Tambour (1929 – 1930). Author Richard Thoma in his 1930 article "Alastair," describes schools of art, including Suridealists, in the statement -"It is an error to believe that the Surrealists, the Cubists, the Impressionists, the Futurists, the Symbolists, the Expressionists, the Vorticists, the Pandemoniumists, the Suridealists possess imagination and superhuman powers of interpretation to the exclusion of all other schools of art."

Suridealist was first used in an American publication on April 25, 1937, in the New York Times. The article labels artist Frank Marvin Blasingame the "suridealist." Frank is the only American painter of the time with this label, and the term was conceivably used unknowing and independent of its French literary origins.

The term is used again on July 17, 1938, describing Blasingame's work. Author Edythe Siegal of the Asbury Park Press titles the article "'Suridealist' Settles Down" and describes the work as "ultra-modern." In the same article, Donald Bear, then Director of the Denver Art Museum, is quoted saying, "The paintings have a great power of spirit. They have a very interesting effect upon me. They are not pictures in the ordinary sense. Rather they appear to be provocative symbols that call up states of imaginative tension."

Suridealism is again used in 2018 by Antonello Morsillo in his exhibition Il Suridealismo nell'arte (Suridealism in Art). Celeste Network described Morsillo’s exhibition book as “a small treatise on philosophical aesthetics, is completely pervaded by the perception of considering art as an ethical urgency.”

General references to text above

• Salemson, Harold J. Tambour: Volumes 1-8, a Facsimile Edition, University of Wisconsin Press; 1st edition, January 20, 2002, ISBN 0-9602974-0-5
• “Suridéaliste manifesto” Manometer no. 7, February 1925.
• Malespine, Emile Manomètre. Collection complète, Editions Jean-Michel Place, 1977, Reprint. Originally published trimestrially: Lyon : Gambetta. Editor: Emile Malespine., ISBN 9782858930081