COLLECTION NAME:
Graduate Thesis Collection
Record
Title:
Object Versus Image: The Connection Between René Magritte’s Advertising Images and Surrealist Works
Creator:
Butler, Eliot Chaz
Subject:
Thesis (M.A.) -- Art History
Subject:
Savannah College of Art and Design -- Department of Art History
Rights:
Copyright is retained by the authors or artists of items in this collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Abstract:
"René Magritte is best known for the distinctively naturalistic deadpan, non-painterly
appearance of his Surrealist works in the early twentieth century. Employing symmetrical
compositions, interactions of visual and textual signs, and over-sized objects that seem to float
like shop signs. Magritte’s body of work is inextricably linked to his advertising images of the
1920s. Magritte’s canvases are filled with mannequin-like figures, just like the art-nouveau
advertisements he created for the Belgian fashion company Norine between 1924 and 1927, and
for the Samuel Furrier Company in 1926–1928. Alongside his expressionless figures, Magritte
painted realistic simulations of the surfaces of materials while retaining a flat quality and a
slickness of surface, a device he honed while designing wallpaper for the Peter Lacroix
Wallpaper Factory from 1920–1922. Despite this significant impact, Magritte scholarship has
largely overlooked the connection between his commercial work and his Surrealist paintings.
This thesis will explore Magritte’s career in advertising and the visual language that
would inform his signature Surrealist style. Influenced by the psychological theories of Sigmund
Freud and the political ideas of Karl Marx, Magritte produced surprising and unexpected
imagery. Repetition was an important strategy for Magritte, informing and encouraging him to
produce multiple copies of some of his greatest works. Magritte was interested in creating a new
way of looking at ordinary forms while blurring the boundary between reality and representation.
Though not an admirer of the decorative arts and advertising, even while being employed in the
profession, Magritte’s works ironically were filled with the visual syntax of both. Examining
Magritte’s Surrealist works in terms of his commercial work will explain the visual context,
employment of commercial techniques, and the representation of figures in his works from 1924
to 1966."
appearance of his Surrealist works in the early twentieth century. Employing symmetrical
compositions, interactions of visual and textual signs, and over-sized objects that seem to float
like shop signs. Magritte’s body of work is inextricably linked to his advertising images of the
1920s. Magritte’s canvases are filled with mannequin-like figures, just like the art-nouveau
advertisements he created for the Belgian fashion company Norine between 1924 and 1927, and
for the Samuel Furrier Company in 1926–1928. Alongside his expressionless figures, Magritte
painted realistic simulations of the surfaces of materials while retaining a flat quality and a
slickness of surface, a device he honed while designing wallpaper for the Peter Lacroix
Wallpaper Factory from 1920–1922. Despite this significant impact, Magritte scholarship has
largely overlooked the connection between his commercial work and his Surrealist paintings.
This thesis will explore Magritte’s career in advertising and the visual language that
would inform his signature Surrealist style. Influenced by the psychological theories of Sigmund
Freud and the political ideas of Karl Marx, Magritte produced surprising and unexpected
imagery. Repetition was an important strategy for Magritte, informing and encouraging him to
produce multiple copies of some of his greatest works. Magritte was interested in creating a new
way of looking at ordinary forms while blurring the boundary between reality and representation.
Though not an admirer of the decorative arts and advertising, even while being employed in the
profession, Magritte’s works ironically were filled with the visual syntax of both. Examining
Magritte’s Surrealist works in terms of his commercial work will explain the visual context,
employment of commercial techniques, and the representation of figures in his works from 1924
to 1966."
Abstract:
Keywords: deadpan, naturalistic, non-painterly, advertising, Surrealist, René Magritte, Peter
Lacroix Wallpaper Factory, Norine, the Samuel Furrier Company, representation, Sigmund
Freud, Karl Marx
Lacroix Wallpaper Factory, Norine, the Samuel Furrier Company, representation, Sigmund
Freud, Karl Marx
Publisher:
Savannah, Georgia : Savannah College of Art and Design
Date:
2016-06
Format:
PDF : 83 pages, color illustrations