War and the art of surrealism — Transcript

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1. 0:00now on display art that is nothing short
2. 0:03of surreal Serena Altschul shows us
3. 0:07paintings bursting with fantasy images
4. 0:10inspired by the all too genuine horrors
5. 0:13of war surrealist art is full of
6. 0:21dreamlike images but not all those
7. 0:24dreams are sweet this was not escapist
8. 0:28art definitely was connected to the
9. 0:30history and it was taking place as they
10. 0:32lived it the work is part of a traveling
11. 0:35exhibit called monsters and myths
12. 0:38currently at the frist art museum in
13. 0:41Nashville after stopping at the
14. 0:43Baltimore Museum of Art where Oliver
15. 0:45Chell is a curator this exhibition has
16. 0:4890 works great the show explores how the
17. 0:57real-life monstrosities of war in the
18. 1:001930s and 40s bred metaphorical monsters
19. 1:04in paintings and sculptures monsters
20. 1:08could meet totalitarian leaders they're
21. 1:10also metaphors for those inner aspects
22. 1:13where the propensity again for evil
23. 1:15lurks it was hard to ignore the fact
24. 1:18that Hitler in 1933 becomes Chancellor
25. 1:21and that the Spanish Civil War starts in
26. 1:241936 all these facts just keep building
27. 1:27up and creating a sense of despair and
28. 1:30horror almost these artists artists like
29. 1:33Spaniard Salvador Dali who painted this
30. 1:37just as his home country was on the
31. 1:40brink of Civil War it grabs you when you
32. 1:43walk in and see this it's really I have
33. 1:45to say scary you know in the monsters
34. 1:48it's literally pulls itself apart like
35. 1:51the country is being pulled apart by
36. 1:52Civil War right or german-born Max Ernst
37. 1:57who fought in the trenches during World
38. 1:59War one he painted this piece over a
39. 2:02period of time he began it in France in
40. 2:041940 leaving Europe and arrives in New
41. 2:06York in 1941 so he starts this project
42. 2:09in the middle of the turmoil in case
43. 2:11I'm almost not being able to leave
44. 2:13Europe yes Europe after the rain - is
45. 2:16supposed to be sort of about the
46. 2:17wasteland of Europe and the other side
47. 2:20is to the west is the west is the
48. 2:23American West
49. 2:24like Ernst many Surrealists would become
50. 2:28refugees fleeing to America for safety
51. 2:31andre mess saw was another my saw it was
52. 2:35very direct in that he had a Jewish wife
53. 2:38and two to his children and he was on
54. 2:40every list you'd want to not be on and
55. 2:43so these artists had to get out and they
56. 2:47bring their art with them and sometimes
57. 2:49that delays the finishing of the works
58. 2:51and it's part of the experience of what
59. 2:54they went through so you can feel the
60. 2:55urgency in what they were going through
61. 2:58certainly yes
62. 3:02these works would become masterpieces of
63. 3:05the surrealist art movement a movement
64. 3:08that pushed artists to explore the human
65. 3:12psyche and challenge the viewers
66. 3:15imagination it's interesting to get a
67. 3:18sort of a different perspective on
68. 3:19history we all know the story of world
69. 3:22war ii and america's military
70. 3:23involvement but artists are also living
71. 3:26through these times and processing
72. 3:28things on a different level and so
73. 3:30that's a fascinating way to look at
74. 3:32history too
75. 3:33[Music]
76. 3:35you