Exploring the imagination in the wake of Surrealism

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dc.contributor.advisorHuman, E. S.
dc.contributor.advisorDu Preez, A.
dc.contributor.authorVan den Berg, Corneli
dc.date.accessioned2016-02-18T09:28:01Z
dc.date.available2016-02-18T09:28:01Z
dc.date.copyright2015-10
dc.date.issued2015-10
dc.date.submitted2016-02-05
dc.description.abstractEnglish: This thesis reports an exploration of various interrelated facets of human imaging and imagining using the literary and artistic movement, French Surrealism, as catalyst. The ‘wake of Surrealism’ – a vigil held at the movement’s passing, as well as its aftereffects – indicates my primary focus on ideas concerning the imagination held by members of the Surrealist movement, which I trace further in selected artworks of a cluster of women surrealists active in Latin‐America as well as select artists in the South African context. The Surrealists desired a return to the sources of the poetic imagination, believing that the so‐called ‘unfettered imagination’ of Surrealism has the capacity to create unknown worlds, or the potential to envision often startling and strange realities. Not only did members of Surrealism have a high regard for the imagination, they also emphasised particular involuntary actions and unconscious functions of the imagination, as evidenced in their use of the method of automatic writing, dreams, play, objective chance, alchemy and so‐called primitivism. In this investigation I follow digital‐archival procedures rather than being in the physical presence of the artworks selected for interpretation. Responding to this limitation and to the current interest in image theory, I elaborate a method of art historical interrogation, based on the eventful and affective power of images. This exploration of the imagination into Surrealism’s wake therefore also functions as a ‘pilot study’, to determine the viability of this approach to image hermeneutics. I appropriate and expand W.J.T. Mitchell’s notion of ‘hypericons’ to develop the proposed concept of ‘hypericonic dynamics’. The hypericonic dynamic transpires in ‘hypericonic events’, through the cooperative imaging and imagining eventfulness of the interaction between artist and spectator, mediated by artworks. The dynamic is especially prominent in artworks with a metapictorial tenor. With hypericonic dynamics and metapictorial thematics as my heuristic method, I investigate artworks by three women surrealists – Frida Kahlo, Remedios Varo, and Leonora Carrington – living and working in Latin‐America after the Second World War, and after the French Surrealist movement had already experienced its decline. Against the backdrop of indigenous visual culture their distinct individual styles are also related to Magical realism in the Latin‐American literary context, a style which overlaps and intersects with Surrealism. I expand upon insights gained in investigating the women in Mexico, to determine whether select South African artists, Alexis Preller, Cyril Coetzee, and Breyten Breytenbach belong in the wake of Surrealism. The central aim of my exploration of the imagination is to gain a deeper understanding of the everyday human imagination and its myriad operations in daily life, for the greater part conducted below the threshold of consciousness. The imagination is a universal human function, shared by all, yet also operational at an individual level. It also performs a unique function of image creation in the specialised domain of the fine arts. I understand the imagination to be irreducible, while often working in a subconscious, involuntary, and supportive, but nevertheless primary manner in everyday human life.en_ZA
dc.description.abstractAfrikaans: Hierdie verhandeling lewer verslag van ’n ondersoek na verskeie onderling verwante fasette van die menslike verbeelding en beeldvormingsvermoë, met behulp van ’n studie van die Franse Surrealisme as literêre en kuns‐beweging. Die ‘wake of Surrealism’ – ’n nagwaak gehou by die beweging se afsterwe, sowel as die wyer uitkringende nagevolge in die volgstroom – dui my primêre fokus op idees aangaande die verbeelding wat lede van Surrealisme gehad het aan, wat verder ook aftrek vind in geselekteerde kunswerke van ’n groep vroue surrealiste in Latyns‐Amerika, sowel as enkele gekose kunstenaars in die Suid‐ Afrikaanse konteks. Die Surrealiste begeer om terug te keer na die bronne van die poëtiese verbeelding, aangesien die sogenaamde ‘ongebonde verbeelding’ van Surrealisme oor die vermoë beskik om ongekende wêrelde te skep, met die potensiaal om dikwels verrassende en vreemde realiteite te bedink. Naas ’n hoë agting vir die verbeelding het die lede van Surrealisme ook by uitstek die onwillekeurige optrede en onbewuste aksies van die verbeelding beklemtoon, soos ondermeer blyk uit hul voorliefde vir die metode van outomatisme, drome, spel, toeval, alchemie en die sogenaamde primitivisme. In hierdie ondersoek volg ek ’n digitaal‐argivale prosedure eerder as om in die fisiese teenwoordigheid te wees van die gekose kunswerke van interpretasie. In reaksie op hierdie beperking, asook weens die huidige belangstelling in beeldteorieë, ontwikkel ek ’n metode van kunshistoriese vraagstelling gebaseer op die affektiewe mag van beelde. Hierdie ondersoek van die verbeelding in ‘the wake of Surrealism’ funksioneer dus ook as ’n loodsstudie, om die lewensvatbaarheid van hierdie benadering tot beeldhermeneutiek te peil. Ek eien W.J.T. Mitchell se idee van 'hypericons' toe en verbreed die begrip om die voorgestelde konsep hiperikoniese dinamiek (hypericonic dynamics) te ontwikkel. Hierdie dinamiek tree na vore as hiperikoniese gebeure – as koöperatiewe verbeeldings‐ en na beeldings gebeure in die interaksie tussen kunstenaar en toeskouer, bemiddel deur kunswerke. Die dinamiek word veral gevind in werke met ’n metapikturale strekking. Met die hiperikoniese dinamiek en metapikturale tematiek as heuristiek ondersoek ek enkele kunswerke van drie vrouesurrealiste. Frida Kahlo, Remedios Varo en Leonora Carrington woon en werk in Latyns‐Amerika na die Tweede Wêreldoorlog en na die Franse Surrealisme reeds sy verval ervaar het. Teen die agtergrond van inheemse visuele kulture ontwikkel hul elk individuele style wat ook verwant is aan Magiese realisme in die Latynse‐ Amerikaanse literêre konteks, ’n styl wat soms ook met Surrealisme oorvleuel. Deur verder uit te brei op insigte wat ek verkry het tydens die ondersoek van die Latyns‐Amerikaanse vroue, word gekose Suid‐Afrikaanse kunstenaars, Alexis Preller, Cyril Coetzee, en Breyten Breytenbach ook ondersoek om te bepaal of hul tot die ‘wake of Surrealism’ gereken kan word. Die sentrale doel van my ondersoek na die verbeelding is om ’n dieper begrip van die alledaagse menslike verbeelding en sy magdom funksies in die alledaaglikse lewe te verkry, veral ook in optredes onder die drumpel van bewussyn. Die verbeelding is ’n universele menslike funksie, deur almal gedeel, dog slegs werkend op ’n individuele vlak. Dit verrig ook 'n unieke funksie van beeldskepping in die gespesialiseerde terrein van die skone kunste. Ek verstaan die verbeelding as onherleibaar, wat dikwels op onbewuste, onwillekeurige, en ondersteunende, maar nogtans primêre wyses in die alledaagse menslike lewe funksioneer.af
dc.description.sponsorshipNational Research Foundation (NRF)en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11660/2324
dc.language.isoenen_ZA
dc.publisherUniversity of the Free Stateen_ZA
dc.rights.holderUniversity of the Free Stateen_ZA
dc.subjectSurrealismen_ZA
dc.subjectImaginationen_ZA
dc.subjectBildwissenschaften_ZA
dc.subjectMetapicturesen_ZA
dc.subjectHypericonsen_ZA
dc.subjectPower of imagesen_ZA
dc.subjectHypericonic dynamicsen_ZA
dc.subjectSt Anthonyen_ZA
dc.subjectImage studiesen_ZA
dc.subjectWomen surrealistsen_ZA
dc.subjectArt, Modern -- 20th centuryen_ZA
dc.subjectDissertation (M.A. (Art History and Image Studies))--University of the Free State, 2015en_ZA
dc.titleExploring the imagination in the wake of Surrealismen_ZA
dc.typeDissertationen_ZA
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