Magic Realism and Surrealism.

The term Magic Realist was first applied to painting by German art critic Franz Roh in his book PostExpressionism: Magic Realism: Problems of the Most Recent German Painting. (Bowers, 2004: 8) Roh used this term to define a form of painting that differs greatly from its predecessor (expressionist art) in its attention to accurate detail, a smooth photographic-like clarity of picture and the representation of the mystical non-material aspects of reality (Bowers, 2004:8). Magic Realist painters were focused on the everyday and the commonplace without the shocking exoticism of Expressionism (Roh, 1925, 16). The context in which magic realist painting developed was the German Wiemar Republic (1919-1923), a period of political fragility that was created following the abdication of the Kaiser (Bowers, 2004:10). Bowers (2004:10) highlights that Germany at this time was Democratically distanced from the rest of Europe and caught between the demolition of their old world and the uncertainty of the future, a desire for Sachlichkeit [matter-offactness] was the growing focus of the nation. Michalski (1994: 13) states that magical realist painting was a reflection of the German society at that time, torn between a desire for and simultaneous fear of unconditional modernity, between, objective rationality and residues of Expressionist and rationalist irrationalities. The basic distinction between Magical Realism and Surrealism rests on their focus. Roh (1995: 113) differentiated Magic Realism from Surrealism in that it focused on an interpretation of the mystery of the concrete object in the material world through paint rather than the more cerebral and psychological reality interpreted by the Surrealists through paint; the thing, the object, must be formed anew (Bowers, 2004: 10). According to Roh (1995: 16) Magic Realist painters were focused on the everyday and the commonplace without the shocking exoticism of Expressionism. Furthermore, whilst Magical Realism is concerned with reality Surrealism is concerned with the unconscious, subconscious and that which is repressed. Bowers (2004: 22) differentiates Surrealism and Magical Realism by stating that magical realism is rarely presented in a dream as to do so would take the magic out of recognizable material reality. The ordinariness of magical realisms magic relies on its accepted and unquestioned position in tangible and material reality. Wechsler (1985: 293) makes a similar distinction between Magic Realism and Surrealism; Magic Realism is an art of the implausible, not the impossible, it is imaginative, not imaginary. To further differentiate Magic Realism from Surrealism Guenther notes that Rohs (1925: 25 use of the word magic relates more to the miracle of the worlds rational organization rather than the spiritual or demonic irrationalism (Guenther, 1995: 35). Bowers (2004:11) notes that Roh considered the mystery of life and the complexities of the inner life of humans to be perceivable through the close observations of objects. Guenther (1995: 40) also notes that these Artists were reaching for the magic, the mystery behind the real. Roh (1925: 16) called this magic rather than mystic as he wish(ed) to indicate that the mystery does not descend to the represented world, but rather hides and palpitates behind it. Guenther (1995: 35) highlights how Roh was not interested in his definition of magic realism in a witch and wizard type but the magical being inherent in the worlds rational organisation. The painter Ernst Thoms (Fig. 1) remarked that artists painted inwards from the outside suggesting an attempt to convey a sense of the mystery that Guenther noted artists of this period were aiming to achieve (Schebera, J., Schrader, B., 1988: 151) (Guenther, 1995: 40). Schmeid (1979: 15) thought this statement by Thoms to be the best definition of the starting point and the goal of Neue Sachlichkeit. For Schmeid (1979: 15) Neue Sachlichkeit begins

with the banal everyday objects which surround us, but it aims at a reinterpretation of the world. (Originally interchangeable with Magic Realism, the term Neue Sachlichkeit leaned more towards the Veritists whilst the Magic Realists towards the more idyllic Neo-Romantics (Schmeid, 1979: 10) Guenther (1995: 40) likens this probing into the mystery behind the real to the unheimich (the uncanny) behind the real (Guenther, 1995: 53). Guenther (1995: 36) highlighted The juxdaposition of magic and realism reflected...the monstrous and marvellous Unheimlichkeit [uncanniness] within human beings and inherent in their modern technological surroundings. Wechsler (1985: 293) points out that magic realism deals with a strange reality, not a surreality. However magic realism was influenced by Surrealism in its attempt to incorporate...ideas about the interior life of humans into painting whilst expressing it through depictions of the material world (Bowers, 2004: 11) Bowers (2004: 22) draws a parallel between Surrealism and magical realism in how both rely on contradiction and the unifying of paradoxes....(bringing) together the aspects of the real and the magical. Magic realism differed from expressionism according to Roh because it was not as spontaneous thick texture but was smooth, carefully constructed and had a cool photographic quality (Bowers, 2004: 10). Bowers (2004: 7) also noted that Magic Realism rejected previous styles to create a clarity and smoothness of the picture that was an amalgamation of the influences of photography and Renaissance art. This cool photographic quality can be seen in Alexander Kanoldts Still Life, 1924 (Fig. 2). This quality partly derives from All objects...(being) given equal importance in the composition according to Bowers (2004: 8-10). Bowers (2004: 9) states that this lack of emphasis of any one object provides the distinctive magical aspect of the painting. This differs from inputting something magical into an ordinary scene which was more closely aligned to Surrealism. Bowers (2004: 111-112) notes the almost Photographic...attention to detail in Georg Schrimpfs Landscape in the Bavarian Forest, 1933 (Fig. 3) combined with the smoothness of the paints surface similarly contributes somewhat to the magical aspect of this painting; This is a landscape painting which allows the viewer access to more realistic detail than their own eye would provide in one glance. The exaggeration of realistic detail is what contributes to the magical atmosphere (Bowers, 2004: 111-112). This aligns closely with Rohs (1925: 27) writing on the miniature in magic realist painting; The intrinsic miniature...is art produced by attempting to locate the infinity in small things. This attempt by artists to locate infinity in small things may be one contributory factor adding up to the magical aspect, atmosphere or feeling artists such as Kandolt, Schrimpf and Carlo Mense (Fig. 4) attempted to convey emanating from objects (Bowers, 2004: 9). (Rathke, 1971: 201). In order to examine what Bowers may mean by the magical aspect (Bowers, 2004: 9) of Kaoldt and Schrimpfs paintings I will turn to Barry Schwabskys (2007) writing about Perceptibility in Ellen Altfests paintings. Perceptibility. according to Schwabsky, is partly the result of an abundance of painted detail that borders on the photographic; ...when I look at this painting (Tumbleweed, 2005, Fig. 5), I have the sensation of being able to perceive much more about what it shows than I would be able to perceive if I had the thing itself in front of me to look at directly. Much more for Schwabsky may relate to Rohs writing on the radiation of magic from realist paintings. Schwabsky connects the aspect of time in Altfests process to the density of information within the paintings construction

In these paintings, the artist shows time in a different way, by making an issue of the fact that the paintings must have taken too long to paint than these objects, in their ongoing process of decay, could have remained in a similar state. In each moment of its making, Altfest may have tried to adhere to the truth of what she saw, but the synthesis of those moments in time can only be a fiction. By painting photographically in this way, Kaoldt, Schrimpf also convey a sense fiction that relates to the paintings construction (Schwabsky: 2007) The magical aspect in their paintings could be a result of how the surface appears to be homogonous on one level (like a photograph) yet simultaneously echoes a long and arduous process of construction when viewed up close (Bowers, 2004: 111-112). This magical aspect may also lie in how one osculates between the photographic and painterly qualities when viewing the paintings (Bowers, 2004: 111-112). Rohs (1925: 24) discussion of the meticulous lucidity of magical realism aligns closely with Schwabskys (2007) discussion of perceptibility ;The rigorous dedication of the object functions...to endow the viewer, who is frequently too cursory and careless in his knowledge of the world and in his idealism, with a penetrating and meticulous lucidity. However, Roh (1925: 20) makes a distinction between copying an object and interpreting it with penetrating execution which could be seen as magical; To depict realistically is not to portray or copy but rather to build rigorously, to construct objects that exist in the world in their particular primordial shape. The old Aristotelain idea of imitation had already gained a spiritual quality. For the new art (magic realism), it is a question of representing before our eyes, in an intuitive way, the fact, the interior figure, of the exterior world (Roh, 1925: 24) Roh also notes the difference between photographic reproduction and what could be called painting photographically; ...if (magic realism) degenerates into a simple external imitation , it will become less significant and painting will find itself trampled to death by those marvellous machines (photography and film)that imitate reality so well (Roh, 1925: 25). Schmeid (1979: 14) warns that Neue Sachlichkeit paintings emphasis on detail can often be at the expense of the pictorial whole. He compares this form of vision to that of a photographic lens, and indeed exceed it in precision, everything is equally sharp, even the background. There does appear, according to Schmeid (1979: 15), to be a mechanical aspect to these paintings production comparable to the way a camera functions; The process of representation, in the paintings of Neue Sachlichkeit, excludes everything that might reflect an artistic intention, or the personal vanity of the artists hand, partly bravura or brilliance of technique, in favour of the primacy of the object itself. The primacy of the object relates, perhaps, to the magical aspect. Schmeids (1979: 15) use of vision that is photographic highlights the penetrating execution which Roh (1925: 20) uses to describe the magical realists method of transcribing objects. This photographic vision is necessary in order to penetrate things conceptually through faithful and unselfseeking observation to grasp them in their essence, their true mystery, their subtle emanation-in order to achieve in this way, empirically and inductively, a new orientation in a world which has become elusive and chaotic,

and so fathom its innermost coherence. In magical realism the realism, arrived at through photographic vision, appears to be a conduit towards the magical, not the other way around. Whilst there is a close relationship between photography and magic realism there is also a close link with collage. Definitions of magic realism contain many references to combining objects from disparate sources in reality within the same pictorial space to convey some form of magical connection between them; In general, the magic realists, deriving directly from de Chirico, create mystery and the marvellous though juxtapositions that are disturbing even when it is difficult to see why. The magic realists, even when they may not indulge in Freudian dream images, are interested in translating everyday experience into strangeness (Arnason, 1977: 376). Wechsler (1985: 293) points out that Magic Realism does not invent a new order of things; it simply reorders reality to make it seem alien. There appear to be parallels between the Magic Realism described by Arnason and Wechsler; using elements of photography, painting and collage technique to arrive at something unfamiliar. This photographic naturalism was a method of infusing the ordinary with a sense of mystery, conveying a feeling of unreality through paradoxical elements or strange juxtapositions (Dhaen, 1995: 191). Rathke (1971: 181) also refers to collage techniques of assembling forms in magical realism paintings; Themes and subjects were drawn from reality, but there were assembled in such a way as to endow the representation with a general, exemplary significance. The composition of Otto Dixs painting Big City 1927-28 (Fig. 6), is based on the accumulation of points of emphasis...often they (his compositions) seem arbitrary, almost like snapshots, but the metallic hardness of the forms, the smoothness of the surfaces, produce sculptural quality of permanence which is one of the essential constituents of magic realism in Germany (Rathke: 1971: 184). Through the accumulation of snapshot like elements Dix reinforces the collage aspect of his Magic Realism paintings (Rathke: 1971: 184). The realism of the individual forms combined with the unreal use of colour is simultaneously visually credible and intensely dreamlike according to Rathke (1971: 184). This combination gives Dixs painting its magical quality (Rathke, 1971: 184). Although there is a significant distortion of forms and perspective Rathke (1971: 184) emphasises the heightened use of saturated colour as giving Dixs paintings, like Radziwills The Strike, 1931 (Fig. 7), its magical quality (Rathke, 1971: 184). Many of the poetic magic realists, such as Franz Radziwill, were, according to Rathke (1971: 201) decisively influenced by the German Romantics such as Casper David Friedrich. The shimmering colour is what gives these paintings a dreamlike quality (Rathke, 1971: 201).Rathke (1971: 202) also examines the unlikely juxtapositions of objects in Anton Raederscheidts paintings such as The Tennis Player, 1926 (Fig. 8). Unlike De Chirico and other Italian Metaphysical painters Raederscheidt did not invent such entirely unexpected combinations but used the tension between figure and setting to give the impression of some hidden essence (Rathke, 1971: 202). These tensions are underline(d) by an airlessness that acts to bring the objects and settings together rather than emphasise their individuality (Rathke, 1971: 202). . Bowers (2004: 2) highlights the confusion surrounding the application; of the terms magic realism, magical realism, and marvellous realism. Rather than being interchangeable in critical usage each term developed in its own particular context (Bowers, 2004:2). Bowers (2004: 2) blames this confusion with the conflation of criticism on magical realist art and literature; both different in

characteristics and influences. Bowers (2004: 4) highlights the multivalent properties of magic within magical realism; ...varying attitudes to the concept of magic produce a wide variety of magical realist and magical realist works; Magic and the magical are constructs created in particular cultural contexts. It follows that magic realism and magical realism have as many forms of magic and the magical in them as the number of cultural contexts in which these works are produced throughout the world. In magic realist works of art magic can be a synonym for mystery, an extraordinary happening, or the supernatural and can be influenced by European Christianity as much as by, for instance, Native American indigenous beliefs (Bowers, 2004: 4).

Fig. 1: Ernst Thoms, Troedelladen, 1926.

Fig. 2. Alexander Kanoldt, Still Life, 1924

Fig. 3. Georg Schrimpf , Bavarian Landscape, 1933.

Fig. 4. Carlo Mense, Wintery Rhine Landscape, 1940.

Fig. 5. Ellen Altfest, Tumbleweed, 2005.

Fig. 6. Otto Dix, Big City, 1927.

Fig. 7. Franz Radziwill, The Strike, 1931.

Fig. 8. Anton Raederscheidt, The Tennis Player, 1926.

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Rathke, E. (1971) Magic Realism and the Metaphysical in M. Carr, E. Rathke, and Waldberg (eds) Metaphysical Art, Thames and Hudson, London. Roh, F. (1995) Magic Realism: Post-Expressionism in L.P. Zamora and W. Faris (eds) Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community, Duke University Press, Durham, NC and London. Schebera, J., Schrader, B. (1988) The Golden Twenties: Art and Literature in the Weimar Rebublic, Yale University Press, New Haven. Schmied, W. (1979) Neue Sachlichkeit and German Realism of the Twenties, Arts Council of Great Britain. Schwabsky, B. (2007) Ellen Altfest: Paintings, Jay Jopling/White Cube, London. Stretcher, M. (1999) Magical Realism and the Search for Identity in the Fiction of Murakami Haruki, Journal of Japanese Studies, Vol 25, No. 2 (Summer) pp. 263-298. Wechsler, J. (1985) Magic Realism: Defining the Indefinite Art Journal, Vol. 45, No. 4 (Winter) pp. 293-298. Zlotchew, C. (2007) Varities of Magical Realism, New Jersey: Academic Press ENE.