The psychic lens surrealism and the camera

London (24 Nov 2016 – 28 Jan 2017) A new exhibition of nearly 50 works at Atlas Gallery will explore how photographers responded to Surrealism over the course of over 50 years.
Rene Magritte at MOMA, New York, 1965 © Steve Schapiro

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A new exhibition of nearly 50 works at Atlas Gallery will explore how photographers responded to Surrealism over the course of over 50 years. 

The Psychic Lens: Surrealism and the camera, will include vintage photographs by well-known figures such as Man Ray, Andre Kertesz, Florence Henri and Bill Brandt alongside rarely seen works by artists such as Vaclav Zykmund, Franz Roh and Raoul Hausmann to tell the story of Surrealism through photography.

Surrealism was an avant-garde movement in art and literature beginning in the 1920s when artists began to experiment with ways of unleashing the subconscious imagination. Poet Andre Breton is credited with launching the movement in Paris in 1924. Over time the influence of the movement spread far and wide, as evidenced in the inclusion of collages by Japanese artist, Toshiko Okanoue from the 1950s, which will be on show in the exhibition.

There are two broad types of surrealism – the oneiric, dream-like imagery, as shown in the work of Florence Henri. Roger Parry, Cesar Domela and later Bill Brandt and automatism, a process of making which unleashed the unconscious by creating without conscious thought, as shown in some of the works by Man Ray. The tropes and motifs of Surrealism – photomontage, solarisation, still life, nudes and the photograms – infiltrated the language of photography in the proceeding years. This is demonstrated in the fashion photographs of Horst P. Horst in the exhibition, most notably the work Hands, Hands from 1941, which is a study of five disembodied hands. The exhibition also includes photographers who documented surrealism and the figures associated with the medium, including Herbert List’s portrait of Jean Cocteau (1944), Steve Schapiro’s portrait of Rene Margritte taken at MOMA, New York in 1965.

Rene Magritte at MOMA, New York, 1965 © Steve Schapiro
Rene Magritte at MOMA, New York, 1965 © Steve Schapiro
Sunglasses Lake Lucerne Switzerland, 1936 © Herbert List / Magnum Photos
Sunglasses Lake Lucerne Switzerland, 1936 © Herbert List / Magnum Photos

The main focus of the exhibition is a selection of works by Man Ray (born Philadelphia, 1890), illustrating the diversity of his output relating to surrealism. From well-known portraits of his one time lover and collaborator, Lee Miller, to Rayographs, his well known photograph Woman smoking a cigarette (1921) demonstrating his use of unconventional perspectives, a fashion portrait incorporating his trademark solarisation and a rare print of Untitled (Ostrich egg with stamp and sandpaper) 1941.

The exhibition also includes works by Florence Henri and Franz Roh whose work has rarely been seen in the UK. Florence Henri (born New York, 1893), studied under László Moholy-Nagy before setting up her studio in Berlin and becoming a central figure in the world of avant-garde photography in the 1920s. The exhibition includes two works Composition Ombres, 1936 and Portrait Composition (E), 1937 – both remarkable for their experimental use of natural light and composition. Three works by Franz Roh (born Germany, 1890) are another highlight of the exhibition. Two original photo collages and a vintage print are examples of ‘magic realism’ – a phrase coined by Roh, a historian, art critic and photographer, in 1925.

Atlas Gallery

49 Dorset Street
W1U 7NF London

24 Nov 2016 – 28 Jan 2017

www.atlasgallery.com

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Submission
Dodho Magazine accepts submissions from emerging and professional photographers from around the world.
Their projects can be published among the best photographers and be viewed by the best professionals in the industry and thousands of photography enthusiasts. Dodho magazine reserves the right to accept or reject any submitted project. Due to the large number of presentations received daily and the need to treat them with the greatest respect and the time necessary for a correct interpretation our average response time is around 5/10 business days in the case of being accepted. This is the information you need to start preparing your project for its presentation.
To send it, you must compress the folder in .ZIP format and use our Wetransfer channel specially dedicated to the reception of works. Links or projects in PDF format will not be accepted. All presentations are carefully reviewed based on their content and final quality of the project or portfolio. If your work is selected for publication in the online version, it will be communicated to you via email and subsequently it will be published.
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