René Magritte

The art of Rene Magritte is known throughout the world. His paintings have become part of the modern vernacular, familiar not only to art lovers but to the general public as well through their reproduction on posters and in advertisements. This profusely illustrated volume accompanies the centennial exhibition at the Musees Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique in Brussels. The book contains four essays and several smaller contributions by renowned authorities, friends, and contemporaries of the artist. More than 350 paintings, gouaches, papiers colles, posters, drawings, and objects are reproduced in full color, and the essays are augmented by 150 comparative and archival illustrations. Adding to the book's reference value, a special section highlights supplemental subjects such as Magritte and film, the artist's commercial work, and the Magritte archives, and includes a chronology.

The Mystery of the Ordinary, 19261938 focuses on the breakthrough surrealist years of René Magritte, creator of some of the 20th centurys most extraordinary images. Bringing together nearly 80 paintings, periodicals and early commercial work, it offers fresh insight into Magrittes identity as a revolutionary painter and surrealist artist. Beginning in 1926, when Magritte first aimed to create paintings that would, in his words, challenge the real world, and concluding in 1938 a historically and biographically significant moment just before the outbreak of World War II the publication traces central strategies and themes from this seminal period, particularly those of diplacement, transformation, metamorphosis, the misnaming of objects, and the representation of visions seen in half-waking states. The publication also presents new conservation research on Magrittes materials and techniques, and an illustrated chronology outlining significant moments in the artists life during this significant period, including travel, connections with other surrealist artists and writers, contributions to journals, and important exhibitions and reviews. Show More Show Less.

Rene Magritte (1898-1967) did not keep copies of his letters, nor did he generally save those he received. But Harry Torczyner, Magritte's confidant, friend, and attorney, cherished the letters he received from the great Belgian Surrealist artist between 1957 and 1967, and kept them all - along with duplicates of his own responses. Here, selections from this lively correspondence are reproduced and set in context by Torczyner's notes. In his letters, Magritte dealt candidly with the daily concerns of his art. He revealed the workings of his own creative process in words and, frequently, in drawings. Although they belonged to different worlds, Magritte the painter and Torczyner the lawyer shared similar mental inclinations and a vivid curiosity. They were both hostile to obligatory sentiments; boredom was deemed to be the supreme menace, and they remained mutually critical in their correspondence and in their encounters - while remaining friends. The Magritte-Torczyner connection had its special tone, which this book faithfully reflects. Illustrated with reproductions of paintings mentioned in the letters, as well as with personal photographs of both men, this intriguing book offers fresh insights into the last ten years of Magritte's life and work.