While Surrealism was going out of fashion in Europe in the nineteen-thirties, it enjoyed a growing popularity on the other side of the Atlantic. Surrealism USA traces the history of this movement in the United States from about 1930 to 1950 by examining its manifestations throughout the country, from Social Surrealism and California Post-Surrealism to Magic Realism and the beginning of Abstract Expressionism. It chronicles the wide influence of Salvador Dali on American art, the Surrealists' response to war and fascism, and the relationship between Surrealism and abstract art.

With over one hundred paintings, sculptures, prints, and drawings, this definitive survey brings together the work of American artists such as Joseph Cornell,Arshile Gorky, Isamu Noguchi, Jackson Pollock, and Kay Sage with that of Europeans including Max Ernst, Andre Masson, and Yves Tanguy, who were in exile in the United States during World War II. It also presents a selection of works by lesser-known artists such as Federico Castellon, Enrico Donati, Jared French, and O. Louis Guglielmi.

One of the most revolutionary artistic and intellectual movements of the twentieth century, Surrealism still exerts a strong appeal today, more than fifty years after its heyday. "Surrealism USA" traces the history of this movement in the United States from about 1930 to 1950 in New York as well as Dallas, Los Angeles, Chicago, and other cities to show the widespread influence of Surrealist ideas and styles throughout the country.

Foreword

ANNETTE BLAUGRUND

Acknowledgments

Lenders to the Exhibition

Introduction

ISABELLE DERVAUX

Salvador Dali in America: The Rise and Fall of an Arch-Surrealist

ROBERT S. LUBAR

Surrealism as a Weapon

GERRIT L. LANSING

American Surrealism outside of New York: Membership Open

MICHAEL DUNCAN

A Tale of Two Earrings: Surrealism and Abstraction, 1930-1947

ISABELLE DERVAUX

Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism: From Psychic to Plastic Automatism

ROBERT HOBBS

Returns of the Repressed: The Legacy of Surrealism in American Art

SCOTT ROTHKOPF

PLATES

Chronology of Surrealism in the United States, 1931-1950

MARSHALL N. PRICE

Exhibition Checklist

Selected Bibliography

Photograph Credits