Timur Alexander El Rafie - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Timur Alexander El Rafie
In the spring of 1942 the Viennese painter Wolfgang Paalen officially bade farewell to the Surrea... more In the spring of 1942 the Viennese painter Wolfgang Paalen officially bade farewell to the Surrealist movement through an article he had launched in the first edition of his idiosyncratic art magazine DYN. The periodical, published from his exile in Mexico, was mainly distributed through the Gotham Book Mart in Manhattan. Via DYN, which functioned as a „missing link between surrealism and abstract expressionism“ (Dawn Ades), Paalen aimed his critique on Surrealism directly at André Breton who was the puppetmaster behind VVV - the official mouthpiece of the Surrealists diaspora in New York. In a series of nonchalant yet savory, and more or less apparent attacks on essential topoi of the Surrealist multiverse, such as Dialectical Materialism (Inquiry on Dialectic Materialism and The Dialectic Gospel, DYN No.2), the suggestion of new Myths (Les Grands Transparents in Prolegomena to a Third Manifesto of Surrealism or else, VVV No.1) and an overall dogmatism leading to the fundamental inability to advance beyond „picturesque slogans into the realm of mature thought“ (camouflaged as Charles Givors in a review on VVV in the spectacular Amerindian Number of DYN), Paalen challenged Breton in the abstract arena of the transforming New York art world.
The clandestine mode of dialogical criticism found several subtle means of transportation. Lionel Abel, for example, the official author of the initial article of VVV titled „It ́s Time to Pick the Iron Rose“, published in June 1942, and thus only three months after the first issue of DYN, reacted directly to Paalen ́s reformist ideas uttered in his primary essay. While DYN was boldly coming forward with cohesive ideas and visionary impulses for a new direction in art, VVV appeared to be unable to suggest new means of artistic theory and practice reflecting the drastically altered circumstances of Surrealism in exile and the world plummeted into global tragedy.
A textual comparison of VVV and DYN as transformative, historical documents holds golden insights for the scholarly research on global Surrealism. Both magazines were bilingual, transnational, pre-postmodern and focused mainly on a New York audience. Furthermore VVV and DYN shared a good deal of contributors. It is an intriguing topic to unveil the hidden dialogue between the struggling manifestations of Bretonian Surrealism in exile and Paalens reformist ideas and it ́s ambiguous levels of reception - especially in the emerging New York School.
Jahre 1968 heißt es: "Sucht man das Problem der Perspektive als ein ganzes einer reflektierenden ... more Jahre 1968 heißt es: "Sucht man das Problem der Perspektive als ein ganzes einer reflektierenden Analyse zu unterwerfen, so wird man recht bald durch seinen allgemeinen Charakter in Fragen verstrickt, denen mit begrifflichen Mitteln einzelner Fachwissenschaften nicht mehr sinnvoll zu folgen ist. Unser Sprachgebrauch weist das Wort als eine vielverwendete Ordnungskategorie aus, die ihr Recht aus der Voraussetzung zieht, daß jedes Ding viele Seiten hat, daß von Wahrheit zu sprechen die Angabe eines "Standpunktes" erforderlich macht." 1
Article by Timur Alexander El Rafie
Wolfgang Paalen. The Austrian Surrealist in Paris in Mexico., 2019
First published in: Stella Rollig, Andreas Neufert (Ed.): Wolfgang Paalen. The Austrian Surrealis... more First published in: Stella Rollig, Andreas Neufert (Ed.): Wolfgang Paalen. The Austrian Surrealist in Paris and Mexico, Vienna, 2019
THE INTERNATIONAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SURREALISM Volume 1 | Movements, 2019
The far-reaching transformations of early Modernism were shaped by scientific and artistic revol... more The far-reaching transformations of early Modernism were shaped by scientific and artistic revolutions alike. This article aims to outline arguable links between the isochronic development of two distinguished agents in the supposedly antagonistic fields that are both connected to topoi of paradoxicality in the heyday of modernist culture.
Book Reviews by Timur Alexander El Rafie
Journal für Kunstgeschichte, 2020
Rezension der Paalen-Biographie von Andreas Neufert. Erschienen im Journal für Kunstgeschichte, H... more Rezension der Paalen-Biographie von Andreas Neufert.
Erschienen im Journal für Kunstgeschichte, Heft 1, 2020.
In the spring of 1942 the Viennese painter Wolfgang Paalen officially bade farewell to the Surrea... more In the spring of 1942 the Viennese painter Wolfgang Paalen officially bade farewell to the Surrealist movement through an article he had launched in the first edition of his idiosyncratic art magazine DYN. The periodical, published from his exile in Mexico, was mainly distributed through the Gotham Book Mart in Manhattan. Via DYN, which functioned as a „missing link between surrealism and abstract expressionism“ (Dawn Ades), Paalen aimed his critique on Surrealism directly at André Breton who was the puppetmaster behind VVV - the official mouthpiece of the Surrealists diaspora in New York. In a series of nonchalant yet savory, and more or less apparent attacks on essential topoi of the Surrealist multiverse, such as Dialectical Materialism (Inquiry on Dialectic Materialism and The Dialectic Gospel, DYN No.2), the suggestion of new Myths (Les Grands Transparents in Prolegomena to a Third Manifesto of Surrealism or else, VVV No.1) and an overall dogmatism leading to the fundamental inability to advance beyond „picturesque slogans into the realm of mature thought“ (camouflaged as Charles Givors in a review on VVV in the spectacular Amerindian Number of DYN), Paalen challenged Breton in the abstract arena of the transforming New York art world.
The clandestine mode of dialogical criticism found several subtle means of transportation. Lionel Abel, for example, the official author of the initial article of VVV titled „It ́s Time to Pick the Iron Rose“, published in June 1942, and thus only three months after the first issue of DYN, reacted directly to Paalen ́s reformist ideas uttered in his primary essay. While DYN was boldly coming forward with cohesive ideas and visionary impulses for a new direction in art, VVV appeared to be unable to suggest new means of artistic theory and practice reflecting the drastically altered circumstances of Surrealism in exile and the world plummeted into global tragedy.
A textual comparison of VVV and DYN as transformative, historical documents holds golden insights for the scholarly research on global Surrealism. Both magazines were bilingual, transnational, pre-postmodern and focused mainly on a New York audience. Furthermore VVV and DYN shared a good deal of contributors. It is an intriguing topic to unveil the hidden dialogue between the struggling manifestations of Bretonian Surrealism in exile and Paalens reformist ideas and it ́s ambiguous levels of reception - especially in the emerging New York School.
Jahre 1968 heißt es: "Sucht man das Problem der Perspektive als ein ganzes einer reflektierenden ... more Jahre 1968 heißt es: "Sucht man das Problem der Perspektive als ein ganzes einer reflektierenden Analyse zu unterwerfen, so wird man recht bald durch seinen allgemeinen Charakter in Fragen verstrickt, denen mit begrifflichen Mitteln einzelner Fachwissenschaften nicht mehr sinnvoll zu folgen ist. Unser Sprachgebrauch weist das Wort als eine vielverwendete Ordnungskategorie aus, die ihr Recht aus der Voraussetzung zieht, daß jedes Ding viele Seiten hat, daß von Wahrheit zu sprechen die Angabe eines "Standpunktes" erforderlich macht." 1
Wolfgang Paalen. The Austrian Surrealist in Paris in Mexico., 2019
First published in: Stella Rollig, Andreas Neufert (Ed.): Wolfgang Paalen. The Austrian Surrealis... more First published in: Stella Rollig, Andreas Neufert (Ed.): Wolfgang Paalen. The Austrian Surrealist in Paris and Mexico, Vienna, 2019
THE INTERNATIONAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SURREALISM Volume 1 | Movements, 2019
The far-reaching transformations of early Modernism were shaped by scientific and artistic revol... more The far-reaching transformations of early Modernism were shaped by scientific and artistic revolutions alike. This article aims to outline arguable links between the isochronic development of two distinguished agents in the supposedly antagonistic fields that are both connected to topoi of paradoxicality in the heyday of modernist culture.
Journal für Kunstgeschichte, 2020
Rezension der Paalen-Biographie von Andreas Neufert. Erschienen im Journal für Kunstgeschichte, H... more Rezension der Paalen-Biographie von Andreas Neufert.
Erschienen im Journal für Kunstgeschichte, Heft 1, 2020.