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Surrealism was little known in America
until the early 1930s. Several events
helped to spur interest and public
awareness of the movement in the U.S. In
late 1931 an exhibition entitled "Newer
Super Realism" opened in Hartford, CT, at
the Wadsworth Athenuem, introduced works
by Giorgio de Chirico, Salvador Dali, Max
Ernst, Picasso, Andre Masson, Leopold
Survage, Joan Miro and Pierre Roy. In 1934
Peter Blume's South of Scranton was
awarded the first prize at the Carnegie
International in Pittsburgh, creating a
big stir in the critical arena. Alfred H.
Barr, Jr., of the Museum of Modern Art,
curated the major exhibition "Fantastic
Art, Dada, Surrealism" in late 1936. Also
important was the publicity generated by
Salvador Dali from 1934 on, after he
became associated with the Julien Levy
Gallery in New York City. In the late
1930s many European Surrealists emigrated
to New York City, fleeing the Nazi
occupation of France.
By the early 1940s the influence of
Surrealism could be seen in the works of
many American artists. A few of these
artists, including Federico Castellon,
James Guy and Walter Quirt, developed a
full-fledged Surrealist outlook. But in
the majority of works fantastic or
surrealist elements were blended within
the framework of the American Realism. These developments were
formally recognized in a large exhibition
"American Realists and Magic Realists" at
the Museum of Modern Art in New York early
in 1943. In the catalog's preface Magic
Realism is defined in the words of Alfred
H. Barr, Jr. as "the work of painters who
by means of an exact realistic technique
try to make plausible and convincing their
improbable, dreamlike or fantastic
visions".
A number of characteristics help to
distinguish the philosophical and
aesthetic differences between Surrealism
and Magic Realism. These pertain to both
style and content:
a) Magic Realism features
extreme sharpness and clarity in order to
enhance the illusion of realism. Many
Magic Realists utilized Egg Tempera or
other similar techniques.
b) Magic Realists carefully composed
their works and typically executed well
planned designs. One of the basic doctrine of
Surrealism encourages spontaneity and
irrationality.
c) The content of a work of Magic Realism
must be within the realm of the possible,
although it may be improbable. Surrealism
exalts in the shocking and the impossible.
d) Magic Realism may be
rooted in everyday reality, but it often
also encompasses the phenomenal or unusual.
e) The Magic Realist often
hides a great deal of content leaving its
viewers to draw from their own experience to
"fill in the blanks". The
subject matter of a
painting may suggest metaphors, ironic
content or uncanniness. Surrealism is
rarely subtle, often overtly nihilistic,
bizarre or libidinal.
All of the paintings below include
elements of surrealism. South of
Scranton by Peter Blume and The
Dark Figure by Federico Castellon
include fantastic features that clearly go
beyond Magic Realism. However
the remaining paintings shown below fall
within the realm of Magic Realism, albeit
in some instances they reach the limits of
the possible.
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