The Traumatic Surreal: Germanophone Women Artists and Surrealism After the Second World War

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Description

The traumatic surreal is the first major study to examine the ground-breaking role played by Germanophone women artists working in surrealist traditions in responding to the traumatic events and legacies of the Second World War.

Analysing works in a variety of media by leading artists and writers, the book redefines the post-war trajectories of surrealism and recalibrates critical understandings of the movements relations to historical trauma. Chapters address artworks, writings and compositions by the Swiss Meret Oppenheim, the German Unica Zrn, the Austrian Birgit Jrgenssen, the Luxembourg-Austrian Bady Minck and the Austrian Olga Neuwirth and her collaboration with fellow Austrian Nobel-prize winning novelist Elfriede Jelinek. Locating each artist in their historical context, the book traces the development of the traumatic surreal through the wartime and post-war period.

Reviews

a welcome addition to recent scholarship on both the women of, and inspired by, Surrealism, and the role of trauma in contemporary art. The Burlington Magazine -- .

Author Bio

Patricia Allmer is Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art History at the University of Edinburgh