History of a Natural History: Max Ernst's Histoire Naturelle, Frottage, and Surrealist Automatism
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Date
2010-06
Authors
zur Loye, Tobias Percival, 1985-
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
When André Breton released his Manifesto of Surrealism in 1924, he established
the pursuit of psychic automatism as Surrealism's principle objective, and a debate
concerning the legitimacy or possibility of Surrealist visual art ensued. In response to
this skepticism, Max Ernst embraced automatism and developed a new technique, which
he called frottage , in an attempt to satisfy Breton's call for automatic activity, and in
1926, a collection of thirty-four frottages was published under the title Histoire Naturelle.
This thesis provides a comprehensive analysis of Histoire Naturelle by situating it in the
theoretical context of Surrealist automatism and addresses the means by which Ernst
incorporated found objects from the natural world into the semi-automatic production of
his frottages. All previous scholarship on the subject is consolidated and critically
examined, and the development of frottage is traced from its earliest manifestations to its
long-lasting influences.
Description
x, 144 p. :　ill. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number.
Keywords
Ernst, Max, 1891-1976 -- Criticism and interpretation, Surrealism -- Germany