Surrealism USA

With over one hundred paintings, sculptures, and works on paper, this publication focuses on the manifestations of Surrealism in America from about 1930 to 1950.

While Surrealism was becoming out of fashion in Europe in the 1930s, it enjoyed a growing popularity across the Atlantic. Surrealism USA traces the history of this movement in the United States from about 1930 to 1950 by examining its manifestations throughout the country, from Social Surrealism and California Post-Surrealism to Magic Realism and the beginning of Abstract Expressionism. It chronicles the wide influence of Dalí on American art, the Surrealists’ response to war and fascism, and the relationship between Surrealism and abstract art. With over one hundred paintings, sculptures, prints, and drawings, this definitive survey brings together the work of American artists-Joseph Cornell, Peter Blume, Kay Sage, Isamu Noguchi, Arshile Gorky, and Jackson Pollock-with that of Europeans in exile during World War II, including Salvador Dalí, Yves Tanguy, André Masson, and Max Ernst.

Exhibition schedule: National Academy Museum, New York, February 17-May 8, 2005 · Phoenix Art Museum, June 5-September 25, 2005