Description

Oil on canvas from 1929, painted by Magritte during his stay in Paris.

Painting signed on bottom right: "Magritte"; and titled on the back of the frame: The Hidden Woman with the word "(Breton)" written.

"Magritte moved to Paris in 1927 where, after several encounters, he participated in the surrealist meetings at rue Fontaine, or at the cafés where they often convened. He was accepted into the surrealist group between April 1928 and February 1929. Magritte's Parisian stay, even if it didn't last more than three years, was an intense time of productivity." (According to José Vovelle, Surrealism in Belgium, Brussels, André de Rache, 1972, pp. 69-71)

For the publication of "Inquiry into Love" in the twelfth issue of The Surrealist Revolution, Magritte imagined a montage of his painting, The Hidden Woman, with the portraits of sixteen surrealists with their eyes closed, bordering the painting. The surrealists pictured (from left to right and top to bottom) were: Alexandre, Aragon, Breton, Bunuel, Caupenne, Dalí, Eluard, Ernst, Fourrier, Goemans, Magritte, Nougé, Sadoul, Tanguy, Thirion, Valentin.

This inquiry concerned the "idea of love, capable of reconciling any man, momentarily or not, with the idea of life." "This word: love, which jokers strive to generalize, to corrupt (brotherly love, divine love, patriotic love, etc.) [...] it is useless to say that we use the word here in its strictest sense, giving restitution to its utmost power over a human."

Responses were anticipated from "those who had a true understanding of the drama of love (not in the sense of puerile suffering but in the pathetic sense of the word)."

Among the responses gathered from the inquiry, was that of Breton, concerning the idea of love versus the act of loving, which was closely linked to the signification of Magritte's painting: "It is about discovering an object, the only one which I judge indispensable." This object is hidden: we act as if we are children, we begin by wading "in water," (then) we "burn". There is great mystery in the discovery possible." ("Inquiry into love" in: The Surrealist Revolution, No. 12, Fifth year, December 15th, 1929, pp. 65-76)

Of the "profound sense of Magritte's painting invoked by its strange inscription - which plays, of course, on the well known assertion of the "tree that hides the forest," here intended as the "Eternal Feminine" hidden behind each individual woman." Ferdinand Alquié suggests a seductive explanation in Philosophy of Surrealism (Philosophie du surréalisme, Flammarion, Paris, 1955, p. 207): "Since each object, even evident, appears first to hide its true reality: it reveals itself only to our undivided attention. This is what Magritte's composition translates to the viewer, imposing the image of a naked woman, blatant to our eyes, and encircled with the words: 'I do not see the ... hidden in the forest.'" Presentation and commentary written by José Pierre, preceded by a text written by André Breton, Surrealist Tracts and Declarations (Tracts surréalistes et déclarations collectives 1922-1939, Tome I, 1922-1939, Paris, Eric Losfeld Éditeur, 1980, pp.425-426).

According to David Sylvester, on the state of the painting: "if (the image) has faded its because the painting has badly deteriorated. It has darkened considerably over the years. Breton wanted to clean it and a large part of the layer of paint disintegrated. Much later, a restorer stopped the deterioration and left the painting in the state which we see today. (But) what I call a bad deterioration, should rather be called a miraculous transfiguration. The deterioration that happened to the Hidden Woman is maybe the most fortunate misfortune that has ever taken place to a work of modern art since the breaking of the Large Glass by Duchamp. There, where the body (of the woman) had decomposed into a web of cracks, a golden glow emanated from the interstices. These cracked and luminous areas of the painting create the same effect as the scaling surface of an ancient icon."

"Friction and disagreements marked the relationship between Breton and Magritte without damaging the profound esteem they held for each other." Patrick Waldberg (René Magritte, Bruxelles, André de Rache, 1965, p. 223)

In "The Importance of René Magritte," text written in 1964, Breton reiterated an earlier homage to the creator of The Hidden Woman:

"The sovereign originality of Magritte was to bring his investigations and his skill to the level of these objects, which are on some level, primitive, as also, these sites (pastoral, wooded, cloudy, maritime or mountainous), combining as closely together as possible - where their immense power exists - the naive image that we keep of them, (from) our first "lessons of things"- and these last words are always those that come to mind in memory of him ... But its precisely at this level, also, that "a strike of the magic wand," in the original sense, that this locution for us is no longer profane, (for) Magritte, all by flattering with his hand these things that reveal a relative reality, if it be, finds a way to liberate the latent energies they hold...

"Magritte is the first who, starting from the humblest of objects ever known - as Mrs. Ashton has proposed - on its point of flight, has wanted to embrace all that could be discovered beyond its surface appearance. Its therefore that he placed himself in the optimum conditions to play in tandem l'analogon by Constantin Brunner, alternating between the "relative reality" supplied by the senses and the "absolute reality" that is desired by the mind. These two oscillating realities, created to control and to equalize one another appears to illustrate to me the most complete acceptance of the Human Condition (another title suggested by Magritte and therefore, according to him, the least corrupt that could exist).

"The work and the thought of René Magritte never forgets the doorway open to the antipodes of this zone of facility and of resignation that one understands by the name "clear-obscure." He took the care to separate the "subtle" from the "thick," following that no transmutation is possible. It needed all his audacity to attack this problem: to extricate simultaneously the shadow from what is light, and the light from what is shadow (L'Empire des Lumières, 1952). The violent robbing of popular opinion and conventions, as soon as we speak of the enlightened, is what I praise in the work of René Magritte, as most people have assumed too quickly to have seen the stars in the diurnal sky."

"In all his work, Magritte illustrates what Apollinaire has called "the veritable good sense, meaning, that of great poets." André Breton, Surrealism and Painting (Le surréalisme et la peinture, Nouvelle édition revue et corrigée, 1928-1965, Paris, Gallimard, 1965, pp.401-403).

Reciprocally, Magritte never ceased to recognize in André Breton, this voice, which held the highest hopes, manifest in texts such as the Manifestoes, Nadja, Fata Morgana, Full Margin and others, kindling a poetic fire in so many young hearts and fertile minds." Patrick Waldberg (René Magritte, Brussels, André de Rache, 1965, p. 224). [Auction catalogue, 2003]

 

Bibliography

- « Enquête sur l'amour », in : La révolution surréaliste, n° 12 - cinquième année, 15 décembre 1929, rep.p. 73, pp. 65-76
- Marcel Mariën, Les poids et les mesures, Bruxelles, 1943, p. 61
- Gilbert Ganne, « Qu'as-tu fait de ta jeunesse ? » in : Arts, spectacles, n° 560, du 21 au 27 mars 1956, rep.p. 8
- Lettre de Magritte à Rapin du 14 avril 1958, in : Quatre-vingt-deux lettres de René Magritte à Mirabelle Dors et Maurice Rapin, Paris, Mirabelle Dors, Maurice Rapin, 1976, s.p.
- Lettre de Magritte à Alquié du 11 juin 1953, in : René Magritte, Écrits complets, Paris, André Blavier, 1979, p. 448
- Lettre de Magritte à Breton du 5 juin 1961
- Lettre de Magritte à Breton du 27 juin 1961
- Marcel Lecomte, « l'univers des lettres et des mots dans la peinture de René Magritte », in : La revue graphique, décembre 1965, p. 295
- Patrick Waldberg, Chemins du surréalisme, Bruxelles, Editions de la Connaissance s.a., 1965, rep. n°6
- José Vovelle, Le surréalisme en Belgique, Bruxelles, André de Rache, 1972, pp. 69-71
- Philippe Audoin, Les surréalistes, Paris, Seuil, 1973, rep.p. 175
- « La femme surréaliste », in : Oblique, n° 14-15, rep.p.59
- José Pierre (présentation et commentaires de), précédés d'un texte d'André Breton, Tracts surréalistes et déclarations collectives 1922-1939, Tome I, 1922-1939, Paris, Eric Losfeld Editeur, 1980, rep.p. 131, pp. 425-426
- Gaëtan Picon, Le surréalisme, 1919-1939, Genève, Éditions d'Art Albert Skira, 1983, rep.p. 146
- David Sylvester, « The great surrealist icon », in : Res, spring-autumn 1984, pp. 155-157
- Ragnar von Holten, Toyen, En surrealistisk visionär, Köping, Lindfors Förlag, 1984, rep.p. 30
- Robert J. Belton, « Edgar Alan Poe and the surrealists'image of women », in : Woman's Art Journal, Knoxville, Tn., spring/summer, 1987, p. 10
- Paris, Musée national d'art moderne - Centre Georges Pompidou, André Breton, la beauté convulsive, 1991, rep.p. 193, p. 275
- David Sylvester, Sarah Whitfield, René Magritte, Catalogue raisonné, volume I : Oil Paintings, 1916-1930, Paris, Flammarion, Menil Foundation, 1992, rep. n°121, rep.p. 330, n° 302, p. 110, pp. 330-331
- Gérard Durozoi, Histoire du mouvement surréaliste, Paris, Hazan, 1997, rep.p. 166
- Briony Fer, David Batchelor, Paul Wood, Realismo, racionalismo, surrealismo, El arte de entreguerras, Madrid, Ediciones Akal, 1999, rep. n° 162, p. 183
- Sue Taylor, Hans Bellmer, the anatomy of anxiety, Massachusetts, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2000, rep. n° 8.11, p. 164
- Londres, Tate Modern, Surrealism desire unbound, 2002, rep. n° 166, pp. 174-175

 

Une vidéo de l'exposition La Subversion des images commentée par Clément Chéroux

Creation date	1929
Languages	French
Physical description	73 x 54 cm (28 3/4 x 21 1/4 in.) - Huile sur toile
Size	73,00 x 54,00 cm
Copyright	© ADAGP, Paris, 2005.
Reference	2014000
Breton Auction, 2003	Lot 4045
Keywords	Painting, photo booth, Surrealist revolution, Surrealism
Categories	Modern Paintings
Set	[Exhibitions] 1938, International Exhibition os Surrealism, [Journal] La Révolution surréaliste
Exhibition	1938, Exposition internationale du surréalisme
Permanent link	https://www.andrebreton.fr/en/work/56600100382980

See also

Description

Complete collection of the most famous and important journal, The Surrealist Revolution. 12 numbers of the journal in 11 issues: from December 1st, 1924 to the 15th of December 1929. Directed by Pierre Naville and Benjamin Péret for the first four issues and then by André Breton for the remaining seven.

Texts by Breton, Eluard, Desnos, Aragon, Eluard, Reverdy, Soupault, Crevel, etc. Illustrations by Ernst, Picasso, Man Ray, Masson, Miró, Chirico, Tanguy, etc.
A unique and rare copy owned by André Breton which holds his personal ex-libris drawn by Salvador Dali. This edition was justified and bound by Paul Bonet for André Breton.

Joined to the volume were the following manuscripts:

Max Morise. 3 pages in-4 typescript of the surrealist text by Max Morise published in N.1 of The Surrealist Revolution. " Je venais d'achever ce soir là... " ("I had just finished that night... "). André Breton indicated the name of Max Morise on the first page.

Robert Desnos and Ulysse Préchacq. Le Paradis. Manuscript signed by Robert Desnos. Handwritten in a school notebook with the logo "offered by the black lion to wise and studious children," printed on the cover. 7 handwritten pages in-8 by Robert Desnos inserted within 3 typed pages: "Fin de labeur" ("End of labor") by Préchacq, and one letter written by Préchaq (2 pages in-4) addressed to Desnos, with an indication of his handwriting. See link N.1 below.

Annotations written by André Breton in pencil:
"Not all men are sullied by their original sin. There are some privileged ones that possess innocent souls and virginal senses. In the past, it was Douanier Rousseau and J.P. Brisset as those today, the painter Miró and the poets like Benjamin Péret, Dédé Sumbeam and Ulysse Préchacq" Published in N°5 of The Surrealist Revolution.

Max Morise. Dream II. Dream III. Handwritten manuscript signed and dated, Antibes, 7-mai-1925. 2 pages in-4 folio, titled in green ink by Max Morise with a note on the back page that indicates "Clair de Terre" had just been published. "Dream II" has some redaction markings. 4 pages large in-4 folio handwritten, dated and entitled. "Dream of the 7th of May 1925" with corrections and signed in green ink by Max Morise.

Extract: "I am disguised as a grotesque magician and I prepare myself to join the person who was accompanying me: she is dressed like Cartouche, at least not like the Courrier de Lyon and brandished with a huge revolver made of tin. We are surrounded by innumerable policemen and alguaziles who seize us brutally," Published in The Surrealist Revolution, N° 5, October 15th 1925, pages 11 – 13.

Artaud, Antonin. The Revolution First and Always. 5 pages in-4, typescript which holds a few handwritten corrections probably added by Artaud and the list of those signed and suffered the many corrections with respect to the printed text. Published in N°5 of The Surrealist Revolution.

Breton André. Dreams. 4 pages in-4, handwritten manuscript of two dream narratives told by Marcel Noll.

Extract: "It is the revolution. The morning of this day, Sade was taken to prison by a battalion of light cavalry. The king (of whom I am one of his counselors), his following and the major part of the people who stood loyal to the king, lived in a group of old houses which, surrounded by a high wall, and protected by turrets, made up the royal residence. Without having seen her more than once, I knew that I must love the daughter of the king, Augustina, who admires and highly esteems the Marquis de Sade, who she protected in vain, against the charges of her father..." Breton wrote Marcel Noll's name on the manuscript. Published in n°7 of The Surrealist Revolution.

René Crevel. Le Pont de la mort. Handwritten manuscript, 1 page grand in-4 in mauve colored ink. Published in N° 7 of The Surrealist Revolution, page 27.

Pierre de Massot and Dzeryinski, President of Tcheka. Handwritten manuscript, signed.

"Here, alas, from the farthest sky a star never stops to bestow its light! The earth over there obscures itself a little and already the scurvy gasses creep, who in the shadows would be killed. With Dzeryinski, disappeared the figure the least known but the most pure of the Russia of the soviets," Published in N°8 de The Surrealist Revolution.

Gengenbach. Handwritten manuscripts and two signed letters to André Breton. 11 pages in-4 and in-12.

"Love, Chateaubriand, the horses in the wind, in the hurricane, a gull and then over there, in Switzerland a woman who dreams while watching the glaciers and at the Vatican, the Pope walks alone..." Certain extracts were published in the N°8 of The Surrealist Revolution.

Michel Leiris. Le Fer et la rouille. Handwritten poem, signed. 4 pages in-4.

"If houses weren't but windows, if this moving body that I am observing along this curb that is me, stopped at last - period - to breathe, if the vagabonds of thunder had at last fixed their tent on a few lost islets in the jaw of the clouds..."

Handwritten note by André Breton: "We restore here above in its integrity the poem of Michel Leiris which, following a typographical error, was found to be misprinted in our last issue" Published in N°8 of The Surrealist Revolution.

Pierre Unik. Surrealist text handwritten and signed, 2 pages in-4.

"The wild bays of the atmosphere meet in my heart. Floating the cadavers of glitter on the immense octopus rabid of hands and love. Let the white signal leave the joints of the world and you will see my purity greater than the fervor of your words at birth". Published in N°8 of The Surrealist Revolution.

Pierre Unik. La prière du soldat. 4 pages in-4. Manuscript text of Pierre Unik in response to an inquiry on love published in the last issue of The Surrealist Revolution in 1929, published without a signature.

One can think of a tactic to allow antisocial remarks to be accepted by attributing them to an outside correspondent.

“The inquiry on love, which made the swindlers laugh, the barracks for me that was a funny moment ... Outside of what represents the absurd, the repugnant, the revolting, military duty, linked to the boredom of which I thought could serve as a test to judge a man." This text by Pierre Unik was published in N°12 of The Surrealist Revolution.

Link N.1 Le Paradis de Robert Desnos and Ulysse Préchacq

Bibliography

- Paris, Musée national d'art moderne - Centre Georges Pompidou, André Breton, la beauté convulsive, 1991, rep.p. 171

La Révolution surréaliste à feuilleter

Notice Sudoc

Bibliographical material	Paris. Gallimard and José Corti, Dec. 1, 1924- Dec. 15, 1929. 12 numbers in 11 issues in-4°. Breton Collection Sold 2003, lot 1130.
Book	1
Date of publication	01/12/1924
Publication	first publication
Languages	French
Publisher	José Corti, Paris, La Nouvelle Revue française, Librairie Gallimard, Paris
Reference	7769000
Breton Auction, 2003	Lot 1130
Keywords	Reviews and Journals, Surrealist revolution, Surrealism
Categories	Journals
Set	[Journal] La Révolution surréaliste
Permanent link	https://www.andrebreton.fr/en/work/56600100242831

See also