Exploring the imagination in the wake of Surrealism

[摘要] English: This thesis reports an exploration of various interrelated facets of human imaging andimagining using the literary and artistic movement, French Surrealism, as catalyst. The 'wakeof Surrealism' �?a vigil held at the movement's passing, as well as its aftereffects �?indicatesmy primary focus on ideas concerning the imagination held by members of the Surrealistmovement, which I trace further in selected artworks of a cluster of women surrealistsactive in Latin‐America as well as select artists in the South African context.The Surrealists desired a return to the sources of the poetic imagination, believing that theso‐called 'unfettered imagination' of Surrealism has the capacity to create unknown worlds,or the potential to envision often startling and strange realities. Not only did members ofSurrealism have a high regard for the imagination, they also emphasised particularinvoluntary actions and unconscious functions of the imagination, as evidenced in their useof the method of automatic writing, dreams, play, objective chance, alchemy and so‐calledprimitivism.In this investigation I follow digital‐archival procedures rather than being in the physicalpresence of the artworks selected for interpretation. Responding to this limitation and tothe current interest in image theory, I elaborate a method of art historical interrogation,based on the eventful and affective power of images. This exploration of the imaginationinto Surrealism's wake therefore also functions as a 'pilot study', to determine the viabilityof this approach to image hermeneutics. I appropriate and expand W.J.T. Mitchell's notionof 'hypericons' to develop the proposed concept of 'hypericonic dynamics'. The hypericonicdynamic transpires in 'hypericonic events', through the cooperative imaging and imaginingeventfulness of the interaction between artist and spectator, mediated by artworks. Thedynamic is especially prominent in artworks with a metapictorial tenor.With hypericonic dynamics and metapictorial thematics as my heuristic method, Iinvestigate artworks by three women surrealists �?Frida Kahlo, Remedios Varo, and LeonoraCarrington �?living and working in Latin‐America after the Second World War, and after theFrench Surrealist movement had already experienced its decline. Against the backdrop ofindigenous visual culture their distinct individual styles are also related to Magical realism inthe Latin‐American literary context, a style which overlaps and intersects with Surrealism. Iexpand upon insights gained in investigating the women in Mexico, to determine whetherselect South African artists, Alexis Preller, Cyril Coetzee, and Breyten Breytenbach belong inthe wake of Surrealism.The central aim of my exploration of the imagination is to gain a deeper understanding ofthe everyday human imagination and its myriad operations in daily life, for the greater part conducted below the threshold of consciousness. The imagination is a universal humanfunction, shared by all, yet also operational at an individual level. It also performs a uniquefunction of image creation in the specialised domain of the fine arts. I understand theimagination to be irreducible, while often working in a subconscious, involuntary, andsupportive, but nevertheless primary manner in everyday human life.

[发布机构] University of the Free State