Author André BretonPeople cited Charles Baudelaire, Jean-Baptiste Corot, Géricault, Fernand Léger, Gérard de Nerval, Arthur Rimbaud, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Donatien Alphonse François de Sade, Émile Soldi-Colbert de Beaulieu, Paul Gauguin, Valentine Hugo, Georges Seurat
Manuscript signed by André Breton, dated 3 March 1956.
Initially published on the front page of Combat-Art on 5 March 1956, together with other contributions signed by Robert Benyaoun, Charles Estienne, and José Pierre, this quite virulent standpoint condemns the academic realism of the Salon de la jeune peinture which, despite its claims to youthfulness, is, in Breton’s view, devoid of any creativity; he castigates the ‘crime’ of a ‘depreciation’ that usurps the place of exaltation. Breton, never very forgiving of the art market, targets Léger and Buffet, their market value in his eyes being inversely proportional to their real value. He resumed his comments in the definitive edition of Le Surréalisme et la peinture (Surrealism and Painting), in 1965. [Atelier André Breton website, 2005]
Autograph manuscript signed by André Breton and dated 3 March 1956, Paris.
- 1 page in-4°, first draft autograph manuscript titled, dated and signed in ink on paper by Breton, with erasures and corrections, of this text relating to the (recent) history of miserabilism in art: "Miserabilism, today, is the result of the consummate cross-breeding of those two vermin, Fascism-Hitlerism and Stalinism, getting on as thick as thieves to subjugate artists and inject them with their poison. This also has delayed effects, since it appears we are burdened with Existentialism’s nauseating aspect, Léger's so-called air-chambered Eves and Buffet's umbrella-rib Christ-clowns.” [Auction Catalogue, 2003]
José Pierre (dir.), Tracts surréalistes et Déclarations collectives (1922-1969), Paris, Le Terrain vague (Éric Losfeld éditeur), t. II, p. 146
André Breton (Édition publiée sous la direction d'Étienne-Alain Hubert avec la collaboration de Philippe Bernier et Marie-Claire Dumas), « [Sus au misérabilisme !] », Le Surréalisme et la Peinture, IV, Œuvres complètes, tome IV, Écrits sur l'art et autres textes, Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, Paris, Gallimard, 2008, p. 768-769, notice p. 1367.
| Creation date | 03/03/1956 |
| Bibliographical material | MS, black ink - 1 page in-4°, autograph manuscript, first draft titled, signed and dated, Paris, 3 March 1956, with erasures and corrections. |
| Languages | French |
| Museum | |
| Size | 21,00 x 27,00 cm |
| Number of pages | 1 p. |
| Reference | 594000 |
| Breton Auction, 2003 | Lot 2424 |
| Keywords | Criticism, Exhibitions, Work notes, Painting, manuscript |
| Categories | Andre Breton's Manuscripts |
| Set | [Mansucrits d'AB] articles pour Combat, [Breton's Manuscripts and Drawings] dossier Le Surréalisme et la peinture, Tracts surréalistes et déclarations collectives |
| Exhibition | Salon de La Jeune peinture (1956) |
| Permanent link | https://cms.andrebreton.fr/en/work/56600100123440 |
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Manuscript signed by André Breton, dated 3 March 1956.
An image, a descriptive note, a museum, an associated work.
[Mansucrits d'AB] articles pour Combat, [AB's Manuscripts] Manuscripts 1958-1966, Tracts surréalistes et déclarations collectives
