MAPEH 10

1. Surrealism and
Abstract
Expressionism

2. What is Surrealism?
A movement that grew out of Dada was Surrealism.
Fascinated by the studies of Sigmund Freud on
the inner workings of the mind. Surrealists
appreciated the mysteries of dreams and the
unconscious, and the appeal of the bizarre and the
strange. For them, the world is made of pure
imagination and personal expression.

3. Surrealist Photography
Herbert Bayer, Christmas Card:
Happy, 1943 Herbert Bayer, I love some, 1922

4. Herbert Bayer

5. What are the characteristics of Surrealism?
Who are its main formulators?
Giorgio de Chirico created one of the first of those
invented worlds of the Surrealists and one of the
most enduring.
The world he created is:
• Once desolate and empty
• Filled with suggestions
• Deserted
• Full of mysterious presence

6. Like dreams, the paintingshows the familiar changing
and shifting of the subjects
Giorgio de Chirico. The Nostalgia of
the Infinite, 1911. Oil on canvas.
Salvador Dali. Soft Construction With Boiled
Beans: Premonition of Civil War, 1936. Oil
on Canvas.

7. Giorgio deChurico Salvador Dali

8. Surrealism further developed into a style distinct
from other styles. It worked in a host of new
media and ”mixed media” forms like collage,
frottage (rubbed patterns), photomontage, objects,
and found or manipulated objects. Later, it went
to explore fashion, advertisement, theater,
environmental works, the cinema, photography
and much more.

9. Two of the most infamous Surrealists’
objects
Meret Oppenheim. Object
(Luncheon in Fur), 1936 Man Ray. Gift, 1958

10. Film is an ideal medium for Surrealism. Luis
Buñuel, working closely with Salvador Dali,
created disturbing and deliberately confounding
scenes. Robert Wiene’s film, on the other hand,
was considered to be a reference to Germany
itself, a country in which a power-mad leader had
led unsuspecting masses, leading them into the
horrors of World War II.

11. Still from the 1929 Surrealist Film Un
Chien Andalou by Salvador Dali and Luis
Buñuel
Robert Wiene. Still from The Cabinet of Dr.
Caligari, and his sleepwalking assistant,
Cesare.

12. Whatare the influencesof Surrealism inPhilippine
Art? What are some famous works of Filipinoartists
inspiredby it?
Philippine art, from the time of the pioneers until after
the end of World War II, owed much to the modern
art movements that sprang up in Europe at the turn
of the century. For one, Surrealists have since been
able to attract a number of adherents and gave the
artistic direction to what Filipino modernists were
looking for. Two prominent Filipino artists pioneered
Surrealist style in the Philippines. They were Galo
Ocampo and Hernando Ocampo.

13. Galo Ocampo. Nuclear Ecce
Homo,1931. H.R. Ocampo. Blooming, 1949

14. Whatis Abstract Expressionism? What are its
characteristics?
• Also called “action painting”
• Stressed energy and kineticism
• Produced paintings that are abstract but
expressed the artist’s state of mind.
• Opens channels for unconscious forces to make it
visible
• Convey a rough spontaneity and great energy
• Advise to grasp meaning intituively in a state free
from structured thinking

15. 1. JacksonPollock
No one better exemplified this wildly subconscious
approach than Jackson Pollock. Labeled “Jack the
Dripper”, Pollock made a revolutionary
breakthrough by abandoning the paintbrush
altogether-pouring, flickering, and dripping
commercial paints onto a large canvas on the floor.
The image of Pollock is of a man possessed as he
painted, in which such artistic considerations as
foreground, background, focal point, and perspective
are thrown out like many empty paint cans.

16. Jackson Pollock. Blue Poles, No.1. Pollock in action

17. 2. WillemdeKooning
He is a Dutch-born painter and decorator who
went to New York and became one of the most
consistent longest-lived Abstract
Expressionists. He developed a style where he
employed fierce, slashing brushstrokes.

18. Artist at work Woman 1, 1950-52. Oil on canvas.

19. 3. FranzKline
A leading Abstract Expressionist, Franz Kline paints
in the manner that was typical of his time:
gestural, personal, spontaneous, and full of
emotions. ”The final test of a painting,” he said,
“is: does the painter’s emotion come across?” In
many of his works, such as in Untitled, Kline
started to build up texture, using broad brushes to
apply paint thickly, called impasto.

20. Artist at work Cardinal, 1950. Oil on canvas.

21. Who arethe representativeartists ofAbstract
Expressionism in the Philippines?
JoseJoya
• Embraced the value of spontaneity and quick
gestures in painting
• Exhibited abstract expressionist features where
paint is applied spontaneously, in broad
strokes, using brushes or directly squeezed
from the tubes, and splashed across the canvas.

22. Jose Joya. Granadian Arabesqu 1958. Oil Detail on
canvas.

23. LeeAguinaldo
• Also a pioneer of Modern Art in the
Philippines. His painting, Homage to Pollock,
from his “Flick” series was inspired by the
Abstract Impressionist Jackson Pollock

24. Lee Aguinaldo. Homage to Pollock, 1953. Enamel on
Cardboard