Documents was a late 1920s-era Surrealist journal edited and masterminded by Georges Bataille. Published in Paris from 1929 through 1930, Documents ran for 15 issues, each of which contained a wide range of original writing and photographs. The 1920s is a decade that is sometimes referred to as the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties, usually applied to America. ... Yves Tanguy Indefinite Divisibility 1942 Surrealism[1] is a cultural movement that began in the mid-1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... City flag City coat of arms Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: Tossed by the waves, she does not sink) Paris Eiffel tower as seen from the esplanade du Trocadéro. ... 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Year 1930 (MCMXXX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link is to a full 1930 calendar). ...

Documents was financed by Georges Wildenstein, an influential Parisian art dealer and sponsor of the Surrealists. Given its title and focus by Georges Bataille, Documents initially listed an eleven-member editorial board including Wildenstein himself (with Bataille listed as "general secretary"); however, by the fifth issue, Bataille was the only editorial member to remain on the masthead.^[1]

Called "a war machine against received ideas" by Bataille,^[2] Documents brought together a wide range of contributors, ranging from dissident surrealists including Michel Leiris, André Masson, and Joan Miró to Bataille's numismatist colleagues at the National Library's Cabinet of Coins and Medals. The content in Documents was even more wide-ranging; Bataille juxtaposed essays on jazz and archaeology with a photographic series fetishizing the big toe, and dedicated an entire issue to Picasso ^[3] while writing paeans to the "ominous grandeur" of the slaughterhouses photographed by Eli Lotar.^[4] A regular section of the magazine called the "Critical Dictionary" offered short essays by Bataille and his colleagues on such subjects as "Absolute", "Eye", "Factory Chimney", and "Keaton (Buster)". Michel Leiris (1901-1990) was a French surrealist writer and ethnographer. ... Pedestal Table in the Studio, (1922) André-Aimé-René Masson (January 4, 1896 – October 28, 1987) was a French artist. ... Joan Miró photo taken by Carl Van Vechten, June, 1935 Joan Miró i Ferrà (April 20, 1893 – December 25, 1983) was a Catalan (Spanish) painter, sculptor, and ceramist born in Mont-roig del Camp, Spain. ... Numismatics is the scientific study of currency and its history in all its varied forms. ... Jazz is a musical art form that originated in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States around the start of the 20th century. ... Archaeology, archeology, or archæology (from Greek: αρχαίος, archae, ancient; and λόγος, logos, knowledge) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains and environmental data, including architecture, artifacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ... The hallux or big toe is the biological name for digit I. In humans and non-human primates, the hallux is the largest toe on the foot. ... A young Pablo Picasso Pablo Picasso, formally Pablo Ruiz Picasso, (October 25, 1881 - April 8, 1973) was one of the recognized masters of 20th century art. ... Workers and cattle in a slaughterhouse. ... Joseph Frank Keaton, Jr. ...

Documents was a direct challenge to "mainstream" Surrealism as championed by André Breton, who in his Second Surrealist Manifesto of 1929 derided Bataille as "(professing) to wish only to consider in the world that which is vilest, most discouraging, and most corrupted." ^[5]. The violent juxtapositions of pictures and text in Documents were intended to provide a darker and more primal alternative to what Bataille viewed as Breton's disingenuous and weak brand of Surrealist art. By presenting explicit, often profane imagery side by side with "intellectual" writing, Bataille used Documents to propel Surrealism in a direction he felt Breton dared not : toward an overturning of all hierarchies of art and morality, and a complete democracy of form.^[6] André Breton André Breton (February 19, 1896 – September 28, 1966) was a French writer, poet, and surrealist theorist, and is best known as the main founder of surrealism. ...

See also

• Acéphale - a review created by Georges Bataille which from 1936 to 1939
• La Révolution surréaliste - the surrealist publication between 1924 and 1929 in Paris
• Minotaure - was a primarily surrealist-oriented publication founded by Albert Skira in Paris from 1933 to 1939
• View - an American art magazine published in the 1940s
• VVV - a New York journal published by emigré European surrealists from 1942 through 1944

André Masson’s cover for the first issue of Acéphale. ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full year calendar). ... Cover of the first issue of La Révolution surréaliste, December 1924. ... 1924 (MCMXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar). ... 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Minotaure (1933 to 1939) was a primarily Surrealist-oriented publication founded by Albert Skira in Paris. ... 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full year calendar). ... VVV was a journal devoted to the dissemination of Surrealism. ... NY redirects here. ... 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1942 calendar). ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ...

References

1. ^ "A Playful Museum", Dawn Ades and Fiona Bradley, The Guardian, May 6, 2006
2. ^ "Special Reports : Undercover Surrealism", Guardian UK
3. ^ "Undercover Surrealism", Alex Russell, Seen and Heard, January 2006
4. ^ "A Playful Museum", Dawn Ades and Fiona Bradley, The Guardian, May 6, 2006
5. ^ "Second Manifesto of Surrealism", Andre Breton, Manifestoes of Surrealism, translated by Richard Seaver and Helen R. Lane (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1969)
6. ^ "Surrealism's Dark, Disgusting Side Goes on Display in London", Martin Gayford, Bloomberg.com, May 12, 2006

External links

• The 2006 "Undercover Surrealism" exhibit at London's Hayward Gallery, focusing on Documents (gallery site)
• Essay on Bataille's "Apocalypse of Saint-Sever"
• "Keeping It Surreal", Ned Denny, The New Statesman, May 15, 2006
• Online text of Bataille's "Critical Dictionary" entries originally published in Documents