City gorged with dreams : surrealism and documentary photography in interwar Paris / Ian Walker.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Walker, Ian, 1952 May 15-

Series:

Critical image

The critical image

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Documentary photography--France--Paris--History--20th century.

Documentary photography.

Photography, Artistic--France--Paris--History--20th century.

Photography, Artistic.

Surrealism--France--Paris--History--20th century.

Surrealism.

History.

France--Paris.

Physical Description:

xii, 228 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Manchester ; New York : Manchester University Press ; New York : Distributed exclusively in the USA by Palgrave, 2002.

Summary:

This book offers the first detailed analysis of how the Surrealists utilized the tactics of documentary and how Surrealist ideas in turn influenced the development of documentary photography. The last two decades have seen the re-emergence of Surrealist photography, but with an emphasis on work made in the studio or the darkroom. This, however, is a study of what Louis Aragon called 'surrealist realism': the exploration of a real-life surreality encountered on the streets of the city. This book throws new light on Surrealism, emphasizing its connections with the everyday life of the city.

Contents:

1 Between index and construct 8

2 Surrealism on the street 30

3 Nadja: a 'voluntary banality'? 48

4 La Revolution surrealiste and the urban spectacle 68

5 A Surrealist Atget 88

6 Terrain vague 114

7 Brassai: Paris night and day 144

8 Henri Cartier-Bresson: Images a la sauvette 168

9 Phantom Africa: a Surrealist ethnography? 188.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0719062152

0719062144

OCLC:

50302758