100 years of Surrealism - Reading List - Manchester University Press

As we mark 100 years of Surrealism, we reflect on the enduring impact of this revolutionary art movement. Born in 1924 from the pen of French poet André Breton, Surrealism challenged the prevailing norms of realism and rationality, advocating instead for the exploration of dreams and the subconscious.

Surrealism remains a potent force for social and political commentary. Its commitment to challenging authority and embracing the irrationality of dreams resonates with issues of racial equality, social justice, and labour reform today.

In commemorating 100 years of Surrealism, we honour its transformative power and its enduring relevance in shaping our understanding of the world. Surrealist art, whimsical yet thought-provoking, has fascinated and inspired generations of artists and art enthusiasts. In this reading list, we invite you to explore the intriguing world of Surrealism through the pages of the latest MUP books.

The traumatic surreal

Patricia Allmer

The traumatic surreal is the first major study to examine the leading role Germanophone women artists have played in deploying surrealism to respond to the traumatic events and legacies of the Second World War.

Gee Vaucher

Rebecca Binns

This book situates and critically assesses the substantial body of work created by Gee Vaucher within a lineage of twentieth- and twenty-first-century art history, including radical art production of the 1970s, political protest and street art and punk design, as well as cultural, socio-economic, political and historic contexts.

The medium of Leonora Carrington

Catriona McAra

A critical survey of Leonora Carrington's legacies in contemporary creative practice. The medium of Leonora Carrington explores why creative people, especially women, are preoccupied with making work in her legacy today.

Surrealist sabotage and the war on work

Abigail Susik

Surrealist sabotage and the war on work is an art historical study devoted to international surrealism's critique of wage labour between 1920 and 1980. Topics such as automatism, artworks across media, radical publications and social interventions are examined in relation to the movement's ongoing demand for non-alienated work.

The invisible painting

Gabriel Weisz Carrington, Jonathan P. Eburne

In this memoir, Gabriel Weisz Carrington, son of the renowned Surrealist artist Leonora Carrington, draws on remembered conversations and events to demythologise his mother and declare her not an icon or a goddess but, first and foremost, an artist.

Surrealist women's writing

Anna Watz

Featuring essays by leading scholars of surrealism, this book offers the first sustained critical inquiry into the multifaceted writing of women associated with surrealism, and highlights howthis oeuvre intersects with and contributes to contemporary debates on gender, sexuality, subjectivity, otherness, anthropocentrism, and the environment.

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