Surrealism: Selections from the Reva and David Logan Collection of Illustrated Books

Although the term Surrealism was coined by the writer Guillaume Apollinaire in 1917, it was André Breton who formalized a movement around the term beginning in 1924. Breton asserted the centrality of automatism, submission to the subconscious, as the means to Surrealist expression. Found or random objects, textures, and imagery were central to Surrealism, as was the acceptance of dreams as worthy subject matter. Surrealism was as much a literary movement as an artistic one, and it involved an extraordinary number of the leading writers and poets of the day at one time or another. This exhibition brings together the works of some of the finest Surrealist poets and artists, whose collaborations produced both luxurious and outrageous artist’s books.