L'Amour Fou: Photography and Surrealism

Andre Breton's surrealist manifestos of the 1920s and '30s, along with his novel concept of ""l'amour fou,'' ascribed to his revolutionary Parisian art movement ``the intensely illogical reality of a dream.'' British and American art educators Krauss, Livingston and Ades in this rich picture book examine the very extensive role of photography (an unlikely medium on the face of it) in the surrealist movement. Shown here are photographs by Man Ray, Brassai, Tabard, Ubac, Boiffard and others whose choice of subject and/or photolab manipulations leave in no doubt their surrealist competence and intent. Illogical juxtapositions, twisted imagery (e.g., Hans Bellemer's ``Doll'' sequence), light-and-shadow cutouts, and coldly unerotic dissections of the female form boldly assert surrealism's quest for an ultimate truthits own ``psycho-atmospheric-anamorphic'' knowledge. A scholarly tour de force, this is the catalogue of a traveling exhibition. December 27