Surrealist automatism
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Reverted edits by [[Special:Contributions/OrgasGirl|OrgasGirl]] ([[User talk:OrgasGirl|talk]]) to last version by Daniel C. Boyer
[[Image:Masson automatic drawing.jpg|thumb|[[André Masson]]. Automatic Drawing. (1924). Ink on paper, 9 1/4 x 8 1/8" (23.5 x 20.6 cm). [[Museum of Modern Art]], New York.]]
{{otheruses4|surrealist technique without conscious self-censorship|paranormal writing technique|Automatic writing|method of writing and educational technique|Free writing}}
'''Automatism''' . [[Automatism]] has taken on many forms: the [[automatic writing]] and [[automatic drawing|drawing]] initially (and still to this day) practiced by surrealists can be compared to similar, or perhaps parallel phenomena, such as the non-idiomatic improvisation of [[free jazz]]<ref>http://www.autonomedia.org/surrealistsubversions/review.html</ref>.
Surrealist automatism is different from [[mediumistic automatism]], from which the term was inspired. [[ghost|Ghosts]], spirits or the like are not purported to be the source of surrealist automatic messages.
==Origins==
"Pure psychic automatism" was how [[André Breton]] defined surrealism, and while the definition has proved capable of significant expansion, automatism remains of prime importance in the movement.
In 1919 Breton and [[Philippe Soupault]] wrote the first automatic book, ''[[Les Champs Magnétiques]]'', while ''[[The Automatic Message]]'' (1933) was one of Breton's significant theoretical works about automatism.
==Surautomatism==
Some Romanian surrealists invented a number of [[surrealist techniques]] (such as [[cubomania]], [[Surrealist techniques|entoptic graphomania]], and the movement of liquid down a vertical surface) that purported to take automatism to an absurd point, and the name given, "[[surautomatism]]", implies that the methods "go beyond" automatism, but this position is controversial.
==Automatic drawing==
'''Automatic drawing''' (distinguished from [[mediumistic automatism|drawn expression of mediums]]) was developed by the [[surrealist]]s, as a means of expressing the [[subconscious]]. In automatic [[drawing]], the [[hand]] is allowed to move '[[random]]ly' across the paper. In applying [[chance]] and accident to mark-making, drawing is to a large extent freed of [[rationality|rational control]]. Hence the drawing produced may be attributed in part to the subconscious and may reveal something of the [[Psyche (psychology)|psyche]], which would otherwise be repressed. Examples of automatic drawing were produced by mediums and practitioners of the psychic arts. It was thought by some [[Spiritualist Church|Spiritualists]] to be a spirit control that was producing the drawing whilst physically taking control of the medium's body.
Automatic drawing was pioneered by [[André Masson]]. [[Artist]]s who practised automatic drawing include [[Joan Miró]], [[Salvador Dalí]], [[Jean Arp]] and [[André Breton]]. The technique was transferred to [[painting]] (as seen in Miró's paintings which often started out as automatic drawings), and has been adapted to other media; there have even been [[automatism and the computer|automatic "drawings" in computer graphics]]. [[Pablo Picasso]] was also thought to have expressed a type of automatic drawing in his later work, and particularly in his etchings and lithographic suites of the [[1960s]].
Most of the surrealists' automatic drawings were [[illusion]]istic, or more precisely, they developed into such drawings when representational forms seemed to suggest themselves. In the [[1940s]] and [[1950s]] the [[French Canadian|French-Canadian]] group called [[Les Automatistes]] pursued creative work (chiefly [[painting]]) based on surrealist principles. They abandoned any trace of [[Representation (arts)|representation]] in their use of automatic drawing. This is perhaps a more pure form of automatic drawing since it can be almost entirely involuntary - to develop a representational form requires the [[conscious mind]] to take over the process of drawing, unless it is entirely [[accident]]al and thus incidental. These artists, led by [[Paul-Emile Borduas]], sought to proclaim an entity of [[universal value]]s and ethics proclaimed in their manifesto ''[[Refus Global]]''.
As alluded to above, surrealist artits often found that their use of 'automatic drawing' was not entirely automatic, rather it involved some form of conscious intervention to make the image or painting visually acceptable or comprehensible, "...Masson admitted that his 'automatic' imagery involved a two-fold process of unconscious and conscious activity...."<ref>The Surrealists: Revolutionaries in art & writing 1919-1935, Jemma Montagu, page 15</ref>
==Automatic mathematics==
Some surrealists write automatic "equations," though technically speaking they aren't really equations.
==Contemporary techniques==
The [[computer]], like the [[typewriter]], can be used to produce [[automatism|automatic]] writing and [[Surrealist techniques|automatic poetry]]. The practice of [[automatic drawing]], originally performed with pencil or pen and paper, has also been adapted to [[computer mouse|mouse]] and [[computer display|monitor]], and other automatic methods have also been either adapted from non-[[digital media]], or invented specifically for the computer. For instance, filters have been automatically run in some bitmap editor programs such as [[Photoshop]] and [[The GIMP]], [[Image:FourDecadesoftheHistoryoftheDetroitLionsAutomaticRunningofFilters.png|thumb|An example of an image produced by the automatic running of filters in [[Adobe Photoshop]] [[Adobe Photoshop Elements|Elements]]]]and computer-controlled brushes have been used to "simulate" automatism.<ref>[http://www.verostko.com/gallery.html Pathway Studio Gallery<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
==See also==
*[[Cut-up technique]]
*[[Rhythmic art]]
==Footnotes==
{{reflist|2}}
==External links==
*[http://www.usc.edu/schools/annenberg/asc/projects/comm544/library/images/322.html An automatic drawing] by [[Jean Arp]]
*[http://www.biroco.com/automatic.htm ''What is an automatic drawing?'']
*[http://www.cjmorgan.com/automatic-drawing/automatic-drawing.htm Automatic Drawing]
[[Category:Surrealist techniques]]
[[Category:Surrealist techniques]]
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[[uk:Автоматичне письмо]]