Alter Ego
General Meeting

MORE THAN MUSES: THE IMPORTANCE OF FEMALE ARTISTS IN THE SURREALIST MOVEMENT
Speaker: isabel Vermote
Isabel
isabel Vermote
Location
CHÂTEAU MALOU - Allée Pierre Levie 2, 1200 Woluwe-Saint-Lambert

The Surrealist movement is often associated with male artists such as Salvador Dali, Max Ernst, and Rene Magritte. However, female artists such as Leonora Carrington and Jane Graverol, played a crucial role in shaping the development of Surrealism, both as artists and muses. They visualised the female psyche as it had not been seen before, and opened a new dialogue that gradually transformed the relationship between the genders.

Isabel Vermote is a Historian and Art Historian. She studied at the universities of Namur, Leuven and Brussels. She currently works for the Education Department of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium and is also a lecturer at the Bozar, ING, Belfius and for some private collections.  

© the artist's estate. Image credit: Derby Museums

A Review
MORE THAN MUSES: THE IMPORTANCE OF FEMALE ARTISTS IN THE SURREALIST MOVEMENT
BY ANN ENGLANDER

Our speaker on this occasion was Isabel Vermote, a historian and art historian. She studied at the universities of Namur, Leuven and Brussels. She currently works for the Education Department of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium. She is also a lecturer at the Bozar, ING, Belfius and for some private collections. 

She dealt with the following six aspects of Surrealism: 

* Focus on contemporary art What is Surrealism? 

* The surrealist male gaze 

* The role of women in the surrealist movement 

* The wives and lovers of Max Ernst 

* Recognition of female artists 

André Breton was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader and principal theorist of Surrealism. His writings include the first Surrealist Manifesto of 1924. He felt that Surrealism was not just a movement but an attitude and a desire to create a more equal society. Many of his innovative ideas were a reaction to the First World War. In his manifesto, he stressed the importance of the subconscious. Sadly, the surrealist movement in France gradually faded away after his death. 

This was not the case in Belgium where Magritte and his friend Paul Nougé were the main sources of inspiration behind Surrealism. Promoting these ideas was a collective effort by a group of like-minded artists, rather than the work of just one individual. Many artists, including Giorgio de Chirico, drew inspiration from this group, and his influence extended to Belgian artists such as Delvaux. 

Magritte wanted to shock, so he painted everyday objects out of context and gave his paintings strange names. Ceci n’est pas une pipe emerged from this playful approach. 

Dali, who joined the Surrealists later on, was a different kind of surrealist painter. His work sometimes incorporates wordplay and personal references. He was greatly inspired by Freud who exclaimed when they finally met, “He is a mad genius”. 

Isabel then presented an image to illustrate the concept of “the male gaze,” exemplifying men’s attitudes toward women. She showed photographs of 16 male surrealist artists with their eyes closed around an image of a naked woman in the centre, with the text “je ne vois pas la femme cachée dans la forêt”. All the men had their eyes closed, suggesting that they were imagining the woman and seeing her as a mystery.

Andre Breton the founder of Surrealism wrote - ‘the problem of woman is the most marvellous and disturbing problem in all the world. 

Man Ray portrayed women as objects in his surreal photographs, while Dali depicted them with a mix of fear and adoration. 

Isabel then went on to highlight Magritte. His painting The Lovers, shows a couple embracing but their faces are covered with a white cloth. Some see this as the 14-year-old Magritte witnessing his mother’s body covered in her white nightdress when she was fished out of the river after her suicide. 

Our speaker then went on to talk of Magritte’s “group of friends” which, by the 1920s consisted of five men and, for the first time, three women. This was the first time within the movement that women were not just muses but also creators. She focused on a yet unknown artist, Jane Graverol, who was greatly inspired by Magritte. Graverol’s main theme was the liberation of women. She saw women as locked up in cages with the door open but unable to escape. At one point, she even changed her name to Jean in order to have her work accepted. In 1949, after writing to Magritte, she met members of the Belgian Surrealist group. She was co-founder of two significant surrealist publications. She stayed in close contact with Belgian surrealist artists and exhibited in Belgium every year. 

After mentioning Max Ernst, his many wives and lovers, and his involvement in the movement, Isabel linked him to another talented female artist – Leonora Carrington. During WWII Max was repeatedly arrested but managed to flee. Leonora Carrington consequent to their separation had a mental breakdown. After her recovery, she eventually headed for Mexico, where the attitude towards female artists was much more liberal (see Frieda Kahlo) and Leonora flourished there. She was one of the last surviving participants in the surrealist movement, and a founding member of the women’s liberation movement in Mexico during the 1970s. Other female artists mentioned were Meret Oppenheim, Leonor Fini and Dorothea Tanning, the last wife of Max Ernst. 

The last topic discussed was the recognition of female artists. Nowadays, women artists live in more liberated times, and efforts are being made to hold more exhibitions of their work. While there is still a significant gap between the value given to pieces of art created by well-known male versus female artists, there is some progress, and creations of female artists are starting to fetch higher prices at auctions.

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