Dada and Surrealism in the Penrose Gallery
Within the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, The Penrose Gallery exhibits a small and unlikely collection. A scattered display, this small room harbours a variety of work under the terms ‘Dada and Surrealism‘. Tightly packed and seemingly randomly placed, these works are only part of Roland Penrose’s impressive collection. Rather than functioning as an exemplar of this period, the sum of paintings and sculptures remind one of the actions of a collector, a member of a scene who was able to acquire many works on the periphery of a nebulous, short-lived and changing movement but few of the major ones. Notable sculptures within this collection are Giacometti’s provocative Woman With Her Throat Cut and Duchamp’s infamous Female Fig Leaf. However, it is among the paintings of the Penrose Gallery that this discussion concerns itself. Specifically, these are Tanguy’s Dehors (Outside), Magritte’s Le Temps Menaçent (Threatening Weather), and Ernst’s La Forêt (The Forest) - all of which were painted in the same period of the Surrealist movement‘s history. This discussion will analyse these works within the context of their history and corresponding paintings. The analysis will conclude that the major differences between artistic working method and content evince a gulf and noticeable clash within the Penrose Gallery.
Dehors (1929)
Dehors is one of Tanguy’s largest canvases. Typically for this artist, it depicts an aqueous/gaseous spectacle that suggests a grander scale of content compared to the bean-like menageries so often rendered in painstaking detail in his other work. Although Surrealist in painted style (particularly with Tanguy’s more than casual references to Miro’s work), it appears a work of two parts. This is common in Tanguy’s visual language. Initially, a background of thinly applied paint appears to have been layered horizontally to create a landscape without discernable horizon reminiscent of the sea. Whether this be indicative of his former sailing experience or simply a preparatory arena for his painted components, this is a common feature of almost all Tanguy’s work and certainly is plainly visible in his other works on display in the Penrose collection - but unlike, say, Le Ruban des Excés (The Ribbon of Excess), the forms he later paints in a more precise and illustrative style are fewer, implying a more open space and a less hectic narrative. Importantly, the elevated display of this canvas allows the viewer to catch the light upon the smooth and unified surface to notice that the bicycle-spoke structure in the upper right portion is not painted but drawn - apparently with a sharp scoring implement into the surface of the paint. Intriguingly, this suggests it was the last feature to be added as one would not presumably work into wet paint. It is indicative of afterthought and experiment; a risky manoeuvre in an otherwise conservative painter’s repertoire.
Le Temps Menaçent (1929)
René Magritte’s Le Temps Menaçent is similarly conservative in application but more confrontational in content. Coincidentally, Tanguy’s method of painting the background first was shared by Dali and it was while staying with Dali in Cadaqués that Magritte painted this iconic scene. With little deviation, the composition of this painting is quintessentially Surrealist. The components are set above Dali’s open sea. The juxtaposition of scale and incongruous objects in an apparently ’real’ environment can be laid directly at de Chirico’s door and yet Magritte brings his own personality to the work first by his utterly pragmatic application of paint and secondly with the single-minded realisation of his idea; the ‘gag’ is everything. Magritte did not subscribe to the potential chaos of automatic painting in order to allow the subconscious mind’s influence. Rather, his schemes were hatched, analysed and planned before the first brushstroke was laid down. One must note that this methodology defies a Freudian analysis and seems incongruous to Dali’s ‘paranoiac critical’ method despite similar results. His deadpan style is relentless in all his work. Feeling no need to smooth the finished surface, one can clearly see the texture of dried paint raised in thicker layers when purer, stronger colours were applied. Paint has been used functionally and dispassionately. Several other important works by Magritte are also included in the Penrose collection and while the oddity of the shape-framed La Représentation (Representation) may suggest inventiveness it is important to recognise the mechanical working method that makes up the majority of Magritte’s painting. By all accounts, his life was one of relatively few conflicts and upheavals when compared to the biographies of many of the major Surrealists and the habitual nature of his technique seemingly corresponds to this functional and practical painter.
La Forêt (1928)
Finally, Ernst’s La Forêt is a relatively minor inclusion in the Penrose Gallery. Penrose himself had a close association with Ernst and collected several of his pieces. When viewing La Forêt one can see it is a simple composition compared to his grander scenes. The innovations of frottage and grattage and experiments with decalcomania pioneered by Ernst show the workings of a painter dedicated to surface as much as image. La Forêt explicitly displays his herringbone patterns created by grattage. The pale blue sky possesses a sheen clearly the result of oil paint mixed with linseed oil and applied with a soft brush. This image may be a minor painting compared to some of the large scale, visually ambitious works that exist in higher profile international spaces such as L’habillement de la mariée (Attirement of the Bride) but it serves as an ideal example in forwarding the assertion that Ernst was an artist first and a Surrealist second. He was hugely prolific and innovative, usually favouring techniques that produced speedy results. This painting feels like a quick study or experiment. It contains only two components yet they both recur frequently in his oeuvre; the celestial object and the forest. More famous paintings such as La Cité Entière (The Entire City) and Max Ernst montrant à une jeune fille la têtte de son père (Max Ernst Showing a Young Girl the Head of his Father) (strangely not currently on display in the Penrose Gallery) are constructed from such common elements realised through the then newly exploited methods of automatism espoused by Surrealist dogma. Despite being a major figure within the origins of Dada as well as the inevitable exposure to the intellectual influences of Breton and others, Ernst developed an individual and original visual vocabulary that evolved through painterly and cognitive experiment rather than the weary repetition and visual interpretation of Freudian archetypes. Granted, other of his earlier works within the Penrose collection such as La Grand Amoreux (The Great Lover) and the tiny Katharina Ondulata are more reminiscent of the flatter and more illustrative forms of Surrealist painting more often emulated by other primary members of the Surrealist movement such as Miro. Regardless, within a short period we notice in Ernst’s progression evidence of working methods that are fundamentally painterly in approach.
The gulf between Ernst’s work and that of Tanguy and Magritte is clear. Indeed, the relative physical positions of these canvases in this small and unlikely collection reflects their uneasy co-existence. For one must ask what defines Surrealism and can only conclude ‘conflict’. To define an artistic movement and dictate manifestos is to put boundaries on the actions of those who would indulge in creative acts. The personalities of Surrealism fought over detail and dogma. Many rebelled and the movement ultimately collapsed as an intellectual force yet the primary artists flourished, few more so than Ernst. We see a common intent in the work of Tanguy and Magritte. Even though their styles differ, we see a repetition of results in both artists. Their subsequent paintings evince former attitudes albeit within the individual painter’s parameters. In Tanguy, we see a gifted amateur slowly taking inroads into an exciting new form of painting. He seems wary of experimenting and certainly not keen to justify his scenes of primordial drama. With Magritte, we see a technician, a calculating and precise anatomist who would display psychological facets of Surrealist tradition rather than dwell upon his own unbidden intuitions. Yet with Ernst, we see a painter in the romantic tradition. We see his experiments, his triumphs and his failures. In his immense output we sense his boundless energy. From Dada crudity to the startling circus of Surrealism, La Forêt is one of many paintings that reach into his future. We understand this to be the work of a painter who would have no difficulty in allowing his work to develop on its own terms. Indeed, his later and larger canvases continue to effortlessly advertise his individuality with intriguing developments to American abstract expressionism as well as more obvious nods to Matisse and Picasso. Charisma, personality, energy and playfulness - these are the qualities that separate Ernst from Tanguy and Magritte.
Not to overly belittle Tanguy and Magritte, one may question why Ernst’s work should be displayed in such unlikely company. As it happens, the National Museums of Scotland have separated items in the Penrose Collection on a number of occasions and the omission of the superior Max Ernst montrant à une jeune fille la têtte de son père to another wing serves to augment other collection’s themes as well as balance the Penrose Gallery’s limiting display. This discussion has argued that Ernst’s work differs greatly in theme, content and execution from that of Tanguy and Magritte using a handful of examples but ultimately the argument is academic. The Penrose Gallery serves as a convenient display of historical context. ‘Dada and Surrealism’ is a confusing title at the best of times and the output of its diverse thinkers, writers, sculptors and painters actively sold confusion to the point of their own movement‘s destruction. Regardless of one artist’s prowess, within the context of western galleries the public display of art is mercilessly defined by the presence of historical context and it is for the viewer alone to interpret artwork and identify merit.
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References:
Elliot. P. (1999) A Companion Guide to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, National Galleries of Scotland
Morris. F (2006) Tate Modern - The Handbook, London, Tate Publishing
Quinn. E. (1997) Max Ernst, Köln, Könemann
Gibson. M, (1994) Symbolism, London, Taschen
