Surrealist Artists

Rene Magritte was born in Lessines, in the province of Hainaut, on November 21, 1898. His earliest oil painting dates from about 1915, and was done in an impressionistic style. In 1926, however, The Lost Jockey was the first surreal oil painting he produced. He held the first exhibition in Brussels in 1927. He moved to Paris and was soon in touch with André Breton, Max Ernst, Francis Picabia, Marcel Duchamp and others, and took part in a Surrealist group. In his artwork, he combined his realistic depiction of everyday objects and put his own twist to it. He also combined real objects with abstract figurines. His art is shown in numerous exhibitions of surrealist art, all over the world.


Jerry N. Uelsmann was born in Detroit on June 11, 1934. He received his B.F.A. degree at the Rochester Institute of Technology in 1957 and his M.S. and M.F.A at Indiana University in 1960. He first began teaching photography at the University of Florida in Gainesville in 1960. Uelsmann's work has been displayed in more than 100 individual shows all over the world over the past forty years. He's best known for his black and white images which he layered pretty skillfully without photoshop. 

Artist Name: Jerry N. Uelsmann
Title: Tree House

Date: 1982

Description: This is a black and white image of a tree stump which has a house grafted to it. In the background, there is a hill and a few more houses. The sky is a grayish color, indicating rain.
Analysis: This image is reasonably symmetrical. There isn't too much negative space and your focus goes immediately towards the house on the tree stump. Just by looking at it, you can tell it took a great deal of time and precision to achieve that effect.

Interpretation: This picture kind of reminds me of a childhood tree house. However, unlike the playfulness and comfort you would experience in a childhood tree house, this picture displays shattered windows and a dull atmosphere (the sky). It shows a great contrast between the two.

Judgement: Overall, I think this was a very successful image. The fact that it is black and white gives it  that much more feeling. Also, the fact that he didn't use photoshop to produce this image, and it still managed to look realistic, amazes me.

Artist Name: Rene Magritte

Title: Hegel's Holiday

Date: 1958

Description: This is an image of a glass of water simply sitting on top of an umbrella.

Analysis: Unlike many paintings you see today, this one doesn't really follow any rules. It's just a plain old umbrella floating in the air, with a glass of water balancing on top. The background is one solid color. 

Interpretation: My interpretation of the picture is that it portrays an object whose function is to repel water (umbrella), and an object that contains water. This is a significant contradiction/contrast that took me a while to figure out.

Judgement: I think this is a really successful piece of art. Without using much, it portrays a pretty deep meaning. It's an illusion that really catches your eye and makes you think.