Enchanted Ground : André Breton, modernism and the Surrealist appraisal of fin-de-siècle painting

Enchanted Ground is about the challenge to modernist criticism by Surrealist writers – mainly André Breton but also Louis Aragon, Pierre Mabille, René Magritte, Charles Estienne, René Huyghe and others – who viewed the same artists in terms of magic, occultism, precognition, alchemy and esotericism generally. It introduces the history of the ways in which those artists who came after Impressionism – Paul Cézanne, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Georges Seurat, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh – became canonical in the 20th century through the broad approaches we now call modernist or formalist (by critics and curators such as Alfred H. Barr, Roger Fry, Robert Goldwater, Clement Greenberg, John Rewald and Robert L. Herbert), and then unpacks chapter-by-chapter, for the first time in a single volume, the Surrealist positions on the same artists. To this end, it contributes to new strains of scholarship on Surrealism that exceed the usual bounds of the 1920s and 1930s and that examine the fascination within the movement with magic. "Enchanted Ground is about the challenge to modernist criticism by Surrealist writers-mainly André Breton but also Louis Aragon, Pierre Mabille, René Magritte, Charles Estienne, René Huyghe and others-who viewed the same artists in terms of magic, occultism, precognition, alchemy and esotericism generally. It introduces the history of the ways in which those artists who came after Impressionism-Paul Cézanne, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Georges Seurat, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh-became canonical in the 20th century through the broad approaches we now call modernist or formalist (by critics and curators such as Alfred H. Barr, Roger Fry, Robert Goldwater, Clement Greenberg, John Rewald and Robert L. Herbert), and then unpacks chapter-by-chapter, for the first time in a single volume, the Surrealist positions on the same artists. To this end, it contributes to new strains of scholarship on Surrealism that exceed the usual bounds of the 1920s and 1930s and that examine the fascination within the movement with magic." --Amazon.com Enchanted Ground' is about the challenge to modernist criticism by Surrealist writers - mainly Andre Breton but also Louis Aragon, Pierre Mabille, Rene Magritte, Charles Estienne, Rene Huyghe and others - who viewed the same artists in terms of magic, occultism, precognition, alchemy and esotericism generally. It introduces the history of the ways in which those artists who came after Impressionism - Paul Cezanne, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Georges Seurat, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh - became canonical in the 20th century through the broad approaches we now call modernist or formalist (by critics and curators such as Alfred H. Barr, Roger Fry, Robert Goldwater, Clement Greenberg, John Rewald and Robert L. Herbert), and then unpacks chapter-by-chapter, for the first time in a single volume, the Surrealist positions on the same artists. To this end, it contributes to new strains of scholarship on Surrealism that exceed the usual bounds of the 1920s and 1930s and that examine the fascination within the movement with magic Contents 8 List of Illustrations 9 Acknowledgements 19 Introduction: Art aft er Impressionism aft er Surrealism 20 1 Greengrocer, Bricklayer or Seer? Psychoanalysing Paul Cézanne 50 2 Painting as Propaganda and Prophecy: René Magritte and Pierre-Auguste Renoir 94 3 Method and Poetry: Georges Seurat’s Surrealist Dialectic 132 4 Between Dog and Wolf: Georges Seurat, Brassaï and the City of Light 174 5 Civilization, Realism, Abstraction: Paul Gauguin and Surrealism, 1948–53 220 6 Dialectic of Brittany: Paul Gauguin’s ‘Myth’ and Surrealist ‘Celtomania’ 264 7 Magic Art, Folklore and Rural Tales in Le Pouldu: André Breton, Paul Gauguin and Charles Filiger 292 Epilogue: Disenchanted Ground, or Vincent van Gogh, Antonin Artaud and Magic in 1947 312 Coda: On André Breton 342 Select Bibliography 346 Index 358 Enchanted,Ground Introduction: Art After Impressionism After Surrealism 1. Greengrocer, Bricklayer or Seer? Psychoanalyzing Paul Cezanne 2. Painting as Propaganda and Prophecy: Rene Magritte and Pierre-Auguste Renoir 3. Method and Poetry: Georges Seurat's Surrealist Dialectic 4. Between Dog and Wolf: Georges Seurat, Brassai and the City of Light 5. Civilization, Realism, Abstraction: Paul Gauguin and Surrealism, 1948-53 6. Dialectic of Brittany: From Myth to Folklore in Paul Gauguin and Surrealism Epilogue: Disenchanted Ground, or Vincent van Gogh, Antonin Artaud and Magic in 1947 Conclusion: On Andre Breton