San Antonio College Library

The surrealist leader André Breton described desire as the "only master that man must recognize." One of the surrealism's defining themes, desire was expressed variously in Salvador Dalí's charged landscapes, Joan Miró's lyric abstractions, and Hans Bellmer's unsettling nudes. Influenced by Sigmund Freud, the surrealists saw sexual desire as a path to self-knowledge - "a theatre of provocations and prohibitions in which life's profound urges confront...

"Drawing, often considered a minor art, was central to Surrealism from the very beginning. Automatic drawing, exquisite cadavers, and frottage are just a few of the techniques invented by Surrealists as means to tap into the subconscious realm. While previous books have examined the connection between drawings and Surrealist paintings, Drawing Surrealism is the first to recognize the medium as a fundamental form of Surrealist expression, and to explore...