ISSS Book Launch: The Traumatic Surreal by Patricia Allmer

'The Traumatic Surreal' is the first major study to examine the ground-breaking role played by Germanophone women artists working in surrealist traditions in responding to the traumatic events and legacies of the Second World War.

Analysing works in a variety of media by leading artists and writers, the book redefines the post-war trajectories of surrealism and recalibrates critical understandings of the movement’s relations to historical trauma. Chapters address artworks, writings and compositions by the Swiss Meret Oppenheim, the German Unica Zürn, the Austrian Birgit Jürgenssen, the Luxembourg-Austrian Bady Minck and the Austrian Olga Neuwirth and her collaboration with fellow Austrian Nobel-prize winning novelist Elfriede Jelinek. Locating each artist in their historical context, the book traces the development of the traumatic surreal through the wartime and post-war period.

Biography

Patricia Allmer is Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art History at the University of Edinburgh. She curated the prize-winning Angels of Anarchy: Women Artists and Surrealism (Manchester Art Gallery/Prestel, 2009), and subsequently co-curated and co-edited the catalogues for a range of major exhibitions including 4 Saints in 3 Acts: A Snapshot of the American Avant-garde in the 1930s (2018, MUP), and Taking Shots: The Photography of William S. Burroughs (2014, Prestel), both at The Photographers’ Gallery, London.

Her many books include René Magritte (Reaktion Press, 2019), Lee Miller: Photography, Surrealism, and Beyond (MUP, 2016), and the collection Intersections: Women Artists/Surrealism/Modernism (MUP, 2016). More information can be found on her webpage.

Purchase the book

Discount code MUP 40 (40% off): https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526149794/