Une Semaine De BontE : A Surrealistic...

It's a fascinating book. The collages are made of illustrations from lurid French novels popular at the time. The edges of the different cut and pasted pictures look seamless, and Ernst has a great design sensibility. The introduction is useful, if short.

The surrealist aesthetic toward women--that is, surrealist art (including that by women) constantly shows female figures, generally nudes, as victims or in suffering--is particularly visible here, probably helped by the source matter. It's significant that the major female artists involved in the movement, such as Remedios Varo, Leonora Carrington, and Dorthea Tanning, tended not to produce much until they had been seperated from the heart of the movement for years. It's the major flaw in the movement's thinking, but that doesn't stop this from being an intriguing book for occasional contemplation.

The original title pages are reproduced in facsimile and translated.

- Anonymous Reader