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Max Ernst. Frontispiece from the illustrated book La Dame Ovale, by Leonora Carrington. 1939. Photolithograph, 4 1/2 x 2 7/8" (11.4 x 7.3 cm) © 1998 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris |
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Salvador Dali. Plate 14 from the illustrated book Les Chants de Maldoror, by Comte de Lautréamont. 1934. Photogravure and drypoint, 8 13/16 x 6 3/4" (22.4 x 17.1 cm) © 1998 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris |
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(2 of 3 pages) Surrealists focused on the nightmare as the venue of repressed fears and desires, comparable to hallucination and madness. During the period in which the Black and Red Series was created, Miró turned to nightmarish images as expressions of his personal turmoil. This disturbing visual vocabulary contrasts sharply with the playful repertoire of shapes and signs for which he is best known. Ernst (top) often constructed hybrid monsters by collaging together imagery of disparate human and animal features. Dali (bottom) here illustrates tales written in 1868-69 by an author the Surrealists rediscovered and admired because of his descriptions of fiendish acts of violence and gruesome scenes of death. |
