THE only known manuscript of French poet André Breton's founding text for the surrealist movement is to be auctioned in Paris today.
Illustrated by hand and meticulously penned in blue ink, if liberally sprinkled with corrections and crossings-out, the 21-page Manifeste du surréalisme defined one of the great art movements of the last century. It was written by Breton in 1924 and
is valued by Sotheby's at between £240,000 and £400,000.
Best known for works such as Salvador Dalí's famous image of soft melting clocks, or Marcel Duchamp's urinal, the surrealist movement exerted a profound influence on 20th-century art through artists ranging from Pablo Picasso to René Magritte.
Breton, who died in 1966 at the age of 70 and is considered to be surrealism's founding father, described the movement which sprang up after the First World War as "psychic automatism in its pure state".
Thomas Bompard, of Sotheby's, said: "This is the greatest trophy that a fan of surrealism could hope to have. This manuscript belongs to the history of art and of literature."
In his manifesto, Breton defined surrealism as follows: "Surrealism, noun, masculine: a form of psychic automatism, in which you attempt to express, in words, in writing, or in any other manner, the real process of thought. A transcription of thoughts without any form of control by reasoning and without any reference to aesthetic or moral considerations."
To illustrate this new way of immediate thought, which he called "automatic writing", Breton published the manifesto in the same volume as 32 "instant" poems, which he entitled Poisson Soluble (Soluble Fish). This manuscript will also go under the hammer today, estimated between £160,000 and £240,000.
The sale will also include seven of Breton's exercise books containing rough drafts, doodles and examples of "automatic writing", in which he tried to transcribe thoughts and fantasies into words without pausing to reflect upon their meaning, form or sense, or to judge their aesthetic value.
The manifesto and exercise books come from the collection of Simone Collinet, Breton's first wife, who died in 1980.
The couple met on 30 May, 1920, in the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris. They married the following year and moved into an apartment at 42 rue Fontaine on the Right Bank which became the focus of controversy in 2003, when Breton's possessions and memorabilia were auctioned.
Breton scholars and art critics were divided over the sale, with some arguing that the collection should have been kept together for public display, while others pointed to Breton's philosophy, which was opposed to the "museum-ification" of art.
Breton followers are also annoyed by today's auction, as they fear the manifesto will be sold separately from the eight other manuscripts. Sotheby's, which argues that the other notebooks were always considered separate pieces, has nevertheless assured art critics it will do its utmost to keep the collection together by allowing it go to a single bidder. If that happens, the price could be higher than a million euros, or £795,000.
Today's auction also includes prized manuscripts by other prestigious French writers, including a set of unpublished works by feminist writer Simone de Beauvoir, including her first, unfinished novel, as well as works by André Gide, Paul Verlaine and Gustave Flaubert.
The movement from artistic visionaries to political revolutionariesANDRÉ Breton initially doubted that visual arts could even be useful in the surrealist movement, since they appeared to be less malleable and open to chance and automatism.
But as the movement gained popularity, visual artists joined in, including Salvador Dalí, Enrico Donati, Alberto Giacometti and Luis Buñuel. Breton admired Pablo Picasso and Marcel Duchamp and also courted them to join the movement.
The first written surrealist work, according to the movement's leader, Breton, was Magnetic Fields (Les Champs Magnétiques). The movement's magazine, Littérature, contained automatist works.
Surrealists often sought to link their efforts with political ideals and activities. In the Declaration of 27 January, 1925, members of the Paris-based Bureau of Surrealist Research including Breton, declared their affinity for revolutionary politics. While this was initially a somewhat vague formulation, by the 1930s many surrealists had strongly identified themselves with communism.
The foremost document of this tendency within surrealism was co-authored by Breton and Leon Trotsky.
The full article contains 727 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
