We are all familiar with the work of Dali who is undoubtedly the most famous surrealist painter. However, what exactly is surrealism and what is its role in photography?
Surrealists viewed the reason as a force that blocked the passage to their search for the imagination. To find the imagination they looked to the subconscious. In looking at the unconscious mind they explored dreams, intoxication, sexual fantasy and madness. Their quest was to find the inner beauty of a world we do not know.
Photography as an art form played a major role in the surrealist movement - the main protagonists being Man Ray and Maurice Tabard. Techniques like montage, double exposure, combination printing and solarization were used to capture the dream world they sought.
Solarization was a technique that was used in Man Ray's Electricity series. It is essentially where the image in a negative is totally or partially reserved in tone resulting in dark areas appearing white and vice versa. This is due to the halogen ions released within the halide grain during exposure diffusing the grain surface in adequate amounts to destroy the latent image. This method created a particularly surreal effect.
In this image by Tabard we can see many of the techniques at work. This provides a move away from traditional formalist photography and presents us with a world that is unknown to us.
In addition to these techniques, surrealist photographers looked to the meaning of a photograph and the fact that this meaning can change based on people's interpretation. This saw the snapshot, medical pictures and mugshots take on new meanings roles.
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