Surrealism and the rue Blomet was the first exhibition to explore the rue Blomet, one of the founding centers of the Surrealist movement.
Beginning in 1922, the adjacent studios at 45 rue Blomet, occupied by André Masson and Joan Miró, became a daily congregation spot for the leading figures of Surrealism – the artists Jean (Hans) Arp, Jean Dubuffet, Max Ernst, Juan Gris, Georges Malkine, Pablo Picasso, Man Ray, and Yves Tanguy, and the writers and poets Antonin Artaud, Robert Desnos, Paul Éluard, Ernest Hemingway, Michel Leiris, Georges Limbour, Armand Salacrou, and Gertrude Stein. They gathered together to eat, drink, smoke, play cards, and most importantly, to discuss literature and ideas, to write, and to paint.
The exhibition explored this period through a variety of media including painting, drawing, and sculpture, as well as documentary photographs, and first edition books. A film by Man Ray and Robert Desnos was screened, and original tracks of Biguine music from the Bal Nègre dance hall, a favorite of the Surrealists and located just steps away at 33 rue Blomet, added to this exciting, multimedia presentation.
A fully-illustrated, hardcover catalogue was published to accompany the exhibition and is available to purchase through this website. Mary Ann Caws, a leading scholar of Surrealist literature and art, wrote a new essay on the topic as well as provided translations of essays by Desnos and Leiris about their time on the rue Blomet, both of which appear in English for the very first time.