June 06, 2022

Ep 27: The Dream in Art (Part 1)

21 minutes

Come along on a ~~Dream Quest~~ with me to discover works of art that show real dreams...not just images of sleepers or "dream-like" paintings. I set out to discover the bonafides. I began in 1525 with Albrecht Durer, then moved to France with Odilon Rédon in the 1800's, the Surrealists and André Masson in the 1920's, and then shot over and up to the US in the 50's to Jasper Johns, and finally landed back at modern day with the exquisitely-observed representational paintings of Catherine Murphy.

This episode was inspired by 2 main sources: 1) The book "Painting the Dream" by Daniel Bergez and also 2) An online artists' talk between 3 painters: Chie Fueki, Alexi Worth and Catherine Murphy called "Painting Table: Catherine Murphy talks with Chie Fueki and Alexi Worth" 1/21/22 hosted by DC Moore Gallery: Watch here: https://vimeo.com/668978992.

In the talk, Catherine Murphy reveals that 2 of the paintings in her most recent show ("Flight" & "Begin Again") were made from real dreams that she had had (her discussion of this occurs about 1hr into the talk).

Artists and artworks mentioned: "Dream Vision" by Albrecht Durer, "Dream Vision" c 1880 (x 2) by Odilon Rédon, "Gradiva" by André Masson, Jasper Johns "Flag," "Flight" & "Begin Again" by Catherine Murphy

Authors/Poets and pieces mentioned: "Painting the Dream" book by Daniel Bergez, "The Gradiva: The Woman Who Walks" novella by Wilhelm Hermann Jensen, "Delusion and Dream in Jensen's Gradiva" essay by Sigmund Freud, "La Révolution Surréaliste" literary journal pub by Paul Eluard, Antonin Artaud, Andre Breton, Michel Leiris & Louis Aragon, "Une Vague de Rêves" poem by Louis Aragon

Louis Aragon's Poem "Une Vague de Rêves" (A Wave of Dreams) 1924

Translated from French by Susan de Muth (2003)

Excerpt used in the episode:

"Dreams, dreams, dreams, with each step the domain of dreams expands. Dreams, dreams, dreams, at last the blue sun of dreams forces the steel-eyed beasts back to their lairs. Dreams, dreams, dreams on the lips of love, on the numbers of happiness, on the teardrops of carefulness, on the signals of hope, on building sites where a whole nation submits to the authority of pickaxes. Dreams, dreams, dreams, nothing but dreams where the wind wanders and barking dogs are out on the roads. Oh magnificent Dream, in the pale morning of buildings, leaning on your elbows on chalk cornices, merging your pure, mobile features with the miraculous immobility of statues, don’t ever leave again enticed by dawn’s deliberate lies.

Who is there? Ah good: let in the infinite."

Follow Pep Talks on IG: @peptalksforartists & Donate to the Peps: https://anchor.fm/peptalksforartistspod/support.

Amy's website: https://www.amytalluto.com/

Thank you for listening, rating, reviewing & donating!

All music is licensed from Soundstripe.

...more