Lives of the Surrealists Hardcover by Desmond Morris

Product Details

• Publisher: Thames and Hudson (2018-05-01)
• Language: English
• Paperback: 272 pages
• ISBN-13: 9780500021361
• Item Weight: 759.78 grams
• Dimensions: 24.71 x 17.35 x 3.4 cm

Life histories of the Surrealists, known and unknown, by one of the last surviving members of the movement—artist and best-selling author Desmond Morris

Surrealism did not begin as an art movement but as a philosophical strategy, a way of life, and a rebellion against the establishment that gave rise to the First World War. In Lives of the Surrealists, Desmond Morris concentrates on the artists as people—as remarkable individuals. What were their personalities, their predilections, their character strengths and flaws?

Unlike the Impressionists or the Cubists, the surrealists did not obey a fixed visual code, but rather the rules of surrealist philosophy: work from the unconscious, letting your darkest, most irrational thoughts well up and shape your art. An artist himself, and contemporary of the later surrealists, Morris illuminates the considerable variation in each artist’s approach to this technique. While some were out-and-out surrealists in all they did, others lived more orthodox lives and only became surrealists at the easel or in the studio.

Focusing on the thirty-five artists most closely associated with the surrealist movement, Morris lends context to their life histories with narratives of their idiosyncrasies and their often complex love lives, alongside photos of the artists and their work.

About the Author

Desmond Morris (1928–2026) was a bestselling author, surrealist painter, and renowned zoologist. After completing his doctorate in zoology at Oxford University, he spent his early career alongside David Attenborough in the natural history unit of the BBC. He has written a number of books, including The Naked Ape, which ranks among the top 100 bestsellers of all time, with over twenty million copies sold, and The Lives of the Surrealists, Postures: Body Language in Art, The British Surrealists, and 101 Surrealists.