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A decalcomania with no preconceived object

decalcomania of desire

Manuscript

Author

Author André Breton
People cited Siger de Brabant, Gilles de Rais ou Retz, André Breton, Oscar Dominguez, Valentine Hugo, Alfred Jarry

Description

Handwritten text by André Breton dated 7 May 1936, which would be published in the definitive edition of Surrealism and Painting in 1965.‘A decalcomania without a preconceived object (decalcomania of desire)’: in the May 1936 text, which would only be published in the definitive edition of Surrealism and Painting (1965), we find some of the concerns, even formulas that were dear to Breton at this time: from the ‘sublime point’ found in Crazy Love (L'Amour fou) to these objects including Dalí and a few others, following Duchamp and his ready-mades, thereby experiment with visual and imaginary possibilities. Also noted: the names of recently discovered painters who will become constant references for Breton, like Oscar Dominguez. [Atelier André Breton website, 2005]

Signed manuscript, 7 May 1936
- 1 page in-4° handwritten, dated and signed in green ink by Breton, with cross-outs and corrections of this text relating to decalcomania, rediscovered by Oscar Dominguez. ‘Certain ink washes by Victor Hugo seem to testify to systematic research in the direction that interests us: completely involuntary mechanical data which presides over an unrivaled power of suggestion. But most often they are just shadow puppets and phantom clouds. Oscar Dominguez's discovery relates to the method to follow to obtain ideal fields of interpretation in the images that follow... It is, once again, a recipe within everyone's reach which requires to be incorporated into the ‘secrets of surrealist magical art’. (Light stains) [auction catalog, 2003, translation by Christina Heflin, 2023]

Bibliography

- André Breton, Le Surréalisme et la peinture, Gallimard, 1965.

See also