"'The marvellous is always beautiful, ' reads a sign on the wall of the
Scottish National Museum of Modern Art. This stirring slogan, by Andre
Breton, from his Manifesto of Surrealism, sets the tone for this
fascinating, mind expanding exhibition." - BBC Arts "Outstanding...
The finest spread of surrealist art - paintings and objects - to be seen
in Britain since the momentous Surreal Things: Surrealism and Design
show at the V&A in 2007." - Sunday Times This book brings together over
160 of the finest surrealist artworks by legendary artists including
Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst, René Magritte, Joan Miró and Man Ray. The
works hail from the four renowned and extraordinary private collections
of Edward James, Roland Penrose, Gabrielle Keiller and Ulla and Heiner
Pietzsch, and together offer a superb overview of surrealist art. Ten
essays explore the different origins, historical contexts and creative
urges behind these collections. Artworks, perhaps more than anything
else that one can acquire, are objects of desire and surrealist artworks
even more so. The sheer quality of the works acquired (and, in the case
of the Pietzsches, still being acquired) is astonishing and, while
passionate about their private visions, all the collectors have been
mindful of contributing something to the public good. The collections
complement each other to an extraordinary degree and allow us to follow
some of the artists' careers from beginning to end. By uniting them,
exciting new juxtapositions emerge along with a fuller and richer
picture of the surrealist movement as a whole.
