Forbidden Territories : 100 Years of Surreal Landscape

Published to mark the centenary of Surrealism, this publication offers a new perspective on one of the most famous art movements with pioneering new research on its links with ecology and with politics.

The development of Surrealism in the 1920s and 30s coincided with that of important new research and knowledge in the sciences, notably in biology. Forbidden Territories explores the unexamined interplay between Surrealism and life science, including the mutual influence of Sigmund Freud, illuminating how Surrealist strategies draw the eye to the astonishing aspects of scientific data and knowledge of the landscape, in ways that are prescient, even revelatory, in the present.

The book further looks at the role of international conflict within Surreal landscapes and how these terrains became a vehicle for political statements and dissent. Finally, it expands on the Surrealist mythologization of the unconscious as a great ocean 'where the sharks of madness cruise', analysing the 'ecology of the mind', examining links between bodies of water and psycho-surreal worlds in poetry, paintings and photographs from the unique perspective of female Surrealist artists.

Spanning the movement, this survey includes works by Eileen Agar, Leonora Carrington, Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst, Man Ray, Lee Miller and Yves Tanguy as well as interventions by contemporary artists working within the lasting legacy of Surrealism, such as Maria Berrio and Michael Dean.

Contributor Bio(s)

Eleanor Clayton is Senior Curator at The Hepworth Wakefield. Patricia Allmer is a leading scholar of Surrealism and teaches Art History at the University of Edinburgh. Anna Reid is Lecturer in Art History at the University of Leeds. Tor Scott is Curatorial Assistant at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, and is writing her PhD on British Surrealism. Simon Wallis is the Director of The Hepworth Wakefield.