Surrealism in Exile and the Beginning of the New York School Book

"Sawin's book . . . provides a constant stream of evocative details of life among the Surrealists. It's interesting to learn that Sylvia Makles, the sister of Andre Masson's wife Rose, was married to Georges Bataille but left him for psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan. . . . An anonymous woman artist's comment about Breton - `making love to Andre was like taking a bath in molten steel' - is worth any number of Surrealist manifestos. . . Sawin also provides new insight into the relationship between Breton and Duchamp." --Pepe Karmel, Art in America In this fascinating, detailed account of what was happening within Surrealism during the crucial years 1938-1947, Martica Sawin documents the cultural transfer that took place when the greater part of the prewar Surrealist group was transplanted to the Western Hemisphere. Sawin's year-by-year narrative pieces together when and how the refugees arrived and their various points of contact with the future abstract expressionists. It documents conclusively the roots of the New York School - a hybrid of startling vigor that brought world attention to the new American art for the first time - the evolution of the artworks involved, and the last brilliant flowering of Surrealist art. Interwoven with the text are 250 photographs of people, places, and artworks.Read More