Max Ernst, La Femme 100 têtes ouvre sa manche auguste, from La Femme 100 Têtes (1929); © 2006 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris Reproduction, including downloading of Ernst’s works is prohibited by copyright laws and international conventions without the express written permission of Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

October 26-27, 2006
Arizona State University
Tempe, Arizona

 

About the conference

Coinciding with the 60th anniversary of surrealist artists Max Ernst and Dorothea Tanning´s arrival in Sedona, Arizona, this conference is the first extended scholarly consideration and discussion of an almost forgotten episode in the history of modern art: the sustained engagement by surrealists–both American and European–with Arizona, the Southwest, and the greater American West, as they began to look beyond the urban context that had defined and contained the practice of modern art during the first part of the century.

The conference investigates the intersections suggested by recent histories of surrealism published in the 1990s: In the pages of these histories it becomes clear that during the ´40s and ´50s the Surrealists in New York devoted a significant amount of energy to the exploration of Native American art and culture, especially that of the Southwest and Northwest Coast.

Leading surrealists André Breton and Max Ernst joined fellow émigré Claude Lévi-Strauss in the collection and promotion of Native American art. Both Ernst and Salvador Dalí made their way West, albeit for different reasons. Ernst and his wife painter Dorothea Tanning lived and worked for almost a decade in Sedona, Arizona, while Dali was drawn to Los Angeles and Hollywood. Two other artists associated with the surrealists, Kurt Seligmann and Wolfgang Paalen, like Ernst and Breton, developed both their passion for and collections of Native American artifacts during their travels in the U.S. and in Mexico.

By shifting the focus from New York to the American West, this conference suggests that the West, literally and figuratively, formed as much a nexus of European/American/Native cultural exchange as did New York.

The conference will feature leading historians of art and photography from the U.S., France, Germany and the U.K., as well as international anthropologists and filmmakers, including:

• Prof. Ellen Landau, Case Western Reserve University
• Prof. Ian Walker, University of Wales
• Prof. W. Jackson Rushing, University of Texas
• Prof. Marie Mauzé, CNRS, Laboratoire d´anthropologie sociale, Paris;
• Dr. Ludger Derenthal, Museum of Photography, Berlin
• Documentary filmmaker Robert McNab, Cargo Press/Artists on Film Trust

Dr. Evan Maurer, an expert on surrealism´s encounter with Native American art, delivers the keynote lecture on Thursday evening, Oct. 26.

The conference is organized around several panels that will take place on Oct. 26 and 27. Each panel investigates a particular theme or medium central to the surrealists in the West:

• "Surrealists Collect the West: Native American Culture, Display, Ethics" examines surrealism´s obsession with Native American culture
• "Surrealists in the West" focuses on painting and sculpture by David Hare, Dalí, Alfonso Ossorio, Ernst and Tanning
• "The Surrealist Lens" concentrates on photography by Frederick Sommer in Arizona and Clarence John Laughlin in New Orleans, and the relevance of surrealism in the West to American filmmaker David Lynch, among other topics

The conference also announces the launch of an online scholarly journal, New World Surrealism. The inaugural issue is planned for fall 2007. The new journal has been funded by the Terra Foundation for American Art, dedicated to fostering exploration, understanding, and enjoyment of the visual arts of the United States for national and international audiences. To further cross-cultural dialogue on American art, the foundation supports and collaborates on innovative exhibitions, research and educational programs.

This conference has been organized by:

Prof. Claudia Mesch (Arizona State University)
Prof. Samantha Kavky (Penn State University, Berks Campus)

 

This conference is open to the public and conference registration is free of charge. We ask that you complete your registration either via this website or, you may download a form so that you can register in the mail.