ART 253 - Transnational Surrealism: Art, Photography, and Film

Founded by poets, writers, artists, photographers, and filmmakers in Paris in the early 1920s, Surrealism quickly spread to many corners of the globe. By 1929, when the Surrealist Map of the World was published, France had disappeared, the US and Canada were removed, and the Pacific Ocean became the center of the world. The Surrealists’ map drew attention to many other important places in the world – Mexico, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa–where different forms of the Surrealist imaginary flourished, shaping identities and seeking liberation from diverse forms of oppression. Examining art, film, and theoretical perspectives that framed surrealist goals and practices. from the 1920s to the late 1960s, this course will address various topics central to the movement, such as amour fou (mad love), convulsive beauty, the fantastic, the uncanny, madness, black humor, magic andoccult, Négritude, and Afro-Surrealism. Alternate years. (4 Credits)