RENÉ MAGRITTE - Born in November 21, 1898, in

Lessines, Belgium. - The most prominent Belgian artist

of the 20th century. - Celebrated for his peculiar and

idiosyncratic approach to Surrealism.

- Magritte had an “obsession with the hidden” and he claimed that everything was always hidden by another thing and it is human’s desire to see what is hidden behind. This is evident in the red curtain in his many of his paintings such as The Secret Player and The Lost Jockey.

SALVADOR DALÍ - Born in May 11, 1904, in Figueres, Spain. - An icon of Surrealism in the 20th century. - Joined the movement in 1929 and became

renowned for his most famous painting “The Persistence of Memory” in 1931.

- Dali referred to this painting as a “hand-painted dream photograph”.

- Around the time of 1931, he exploited his “paranoiac- critical method” where he would attempt to enter a state of self-induced psychotic hallucinations in order to provoke the subconscious and depict it “with the most imperialist fury of precision…”

- He was criticized heavily by René Magritte for his hallucinatory methods.

YAMASHITA KIKUJI

• Born in Tokushima prefecture, Kikuji Yamashita came to prominence in Japan as a painter, printmaker, collagist and teacher.

• He was a student of famous Japanese Surrealist painter Ichiro Fukuzawa • His years serving in the army in China and the savagery of war influenced his life and his

artwork immensely. • Yamashita was a Communist. He devoted his gift in art to depicting social injustices and

inequalities. • His body of work, a combination of Social Realism and Surrealism, expresses Socialist

concerns. • Changing Seasons illustrates the artist's commentary on Japan inferior position to the

United States even though the United State- Japan Security Treaty had been revised in 1960.

• The Treaty received strong opposition and protest from the inhabitants in Okinawa where the US located their military bases.

Title: Le Joueur Secret (The Secret Player) Date: 1927 Media: Oil on canvas Artist: Rene Magritte Size: 152 x 195 cm "MAGRITTE'S THE MENACED ASSASSIN, 1927-TREATMENT AND RESEARCH." InsideOut. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 May 2015.

1926 and 1927 were the most prolific periods of time for Magritte as an artist as he was reported to have produced one painting per week. The Secret Player was among those paintings.

His “obsession with the hidden” is evident in the depiction of the dark red curtain in The Secret Player. It separates the imagined scene from reality, at the same time indicating how simple it is for the hidden to be exposed. He used to say “Everything we see hides another thing; we always want to see what is hidden by what we see.”

Symbols for “the hidden” appears throughout Magritte’s body of work, which are usually hybrid objects such as breasts growing from women’s nightgowns in “In Memoriam Mack Sennett”.

Giorgio de Chirico’s The Song of Love had inspired Magritte to quit his job as a wallpaper designer in 1922 and become a painter.

A Song of Love, 1914, Giorgio de Chirico

In Memoriam Mack Sennett, 1936, René

Magritte

Similar to Magritte, Chirico brings together unrelated objects in an uncanny setting to “evoke an enduring level of reality hidden

beyond outward appearances.

Though all surrealists, Magritte's artwork does not require a precise meaning while Kikuji's Changing Seasons was created to express a political viewpoint. As Magritte said himself, “My painting is visible images which conceal nothing; they evoke mystery and, indeed, when one sees one of my pictures, one asks oneself this simple question, 'What does that mean?'. It does not mean anything, because mystery means nothing either, it is unknowable.”

Location of The Secret Player: Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels

Title: The Persistence of Memory Date: 1931 Artist: Salvador Dalí (Spanish, 1904- 1989) Medium: Oil on canvas Size: 24.1 x 33 cm

The Persistence of Memory was painted in 1931 at the Dalí's home one evening when his wife, Gala, decided to go to the Cinema and Dalí chose to stay home. He fell asleep and when he woke up, he looked at the clock and noticed that time was passing very slow as his wife had not returned. What captured his eyes then was the melted cheese on the table. The next thing we know, one of the most symbolic and iconic Surreal painting was born. He took the image of the clock and the melted cheese, combined them and created the iconic symbol of the drooping clocks.

The Persistence of Memory has been a subject of interest not just of art critics, but also physicians and historians. The ants are said to be a metaphor for decay; however, some even claim that the depiction of the ants is related to Albert Einstein's theories of relativity. It is suggested that the drooping clocks are the metaphor for the distortion of time by gravity and as Einstein had stated:”Time is an illusion”

Because Dalí’s body of work mainly connected with the subconscious mind, he regularly attempted to enter a meditative state of self-induced psychotic hallucination in order to reach the depth of his subconscious. This method is called “paranoiac- critical- method” which enabled him to repaint his dream as detailed as as if it was a photograph.

The Persistence of Memory is considered to be one of the most meaningful masterpieces of the 20th century because it reveals the artist’s vision of the world and his position in the society. As a result, it creates sympathy among viewers, helping them look deeper at their place in the world.

The title of the painting is sarcastic because according to one interpretation, the drooping clocks represent the idea of time slowing down, “melting down” and then coming to a stop. Therefore, clocks are gradually losing their power. Melting clocks are anything but “persistent”.

The painting is now exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. For such a renowned piece, the size of the painting is relatively small. Dali wants to depict the power of our memory regardless of timestream. Our memory, even those that we are trying to forget, will turn around and wear us down.

Title: Changing Seasons Date: 1968 Artist: Yamashita Kikuji Size: Unknown

Photographs by Hamaya Hiroshi, May 20-June 22, 1960 "Anp7102_Hamaya_RG02_May20." Anp7102_Hamaya_RG02_May20. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 May 2015.

Changing Season was painted in 1968, depicting Japan's inequitable relationship with the United States since 1951. In 1951, United

States did not retreat its military bases in Japan due to the Korean War, the military threats from China and the Soviet Union. As a result, the Japanese delegation was pressured to accept the US - Japan Security Treaty on the 8th of September, 1951. The Treaty allowed the US to base its military forces in Japan, resulting in their land being taken over by the US. The US- Japan Security Treaty was revised in 1960 and was met with great opposition from students and workers. They were concerned about the likelihood that Japan would be drawn into unwanted wars due to the provision of Japan's bases and ports for US forces. Being a Communist at that time, Yamashita Kikuji also voiced his objection as a member of the Japan Communist Party (JCP) ,alongside with Japan Socialist Party (JSP). He had done this through Changing Seasons. Therefore, the painting serves as a commentary on the historical event in 1960 even though it was created 8 years later. Changing Seasons provides contemporary viewers with insight into the conflict between Japan and the United States in the 1960s when hundreds of Japanese and students marched out to protest the placement of US military forces in Japan. Even though half a century has passed, the crisis that this Treaty caused is always remembered and reminded by Kikuji and his dramatic and haunting Changing Seasons.

CONTEXTUAL SIMILARITIES and DIFFERENCES

Both Salvador Dalí and René Magritte were influenced by Freudian psychoanalysis, while Kikuji was more associated with his imperialist experiences as a soldier in China. Although all three artists’ artwork includes a sense of hallucination, Kikuji’s paintings associate more with nightmares due to the atrocities he had witnessed in the war. On the other hand, both Magritte and Dalí’s paintings relate more to dreamscape coming from their subconscious.

While The Persistence of Memory and The Secret Player was painted during the Surrealism movement and before World War II, Changing Season was painted after the movement ended. Therefore, there are certain differences between Changing Season and the other two paintings such as the depiction of women.

The social context in which three artworks were created are distinct. Both Salvador Dalí and René Magritte were European Surrealist, they shared a mutual background. On the other hand, Yamashita Kikuji was a Japanese artist.

Key artists of Surrealism that had a similar background to Dalí were Max Ernst, a German Surrealist who also used dreamlike imagery but his intention was to mock the social conventions at that time. Max Ernst, Salvador Dalí and René Magritte were influenced by Freudian psychoanalysis, but Ernst was the first one to apply this theory to embrace his creativity.

The main objects of this painting are the melted clocks which are drooping on the table top, the dead tree and the flesh-like figure at the center of the painting. Several interpretations of these melted clocks include:

Some stated they represent the idea of time controlling us. This is associated with the industrial culture that we live in because since forever, time is so regimented that we are wrong to believe we can control it. Therefore, the melted clocks represent the falsity of the belief that time is measured and controlled.

Some suggested that the drooping clocks illustrate the distortion of time by gravity . The interpretation is logical as it matches with the time the painting was produced.

The dead tree on the left of the painting only enhances the moribund atmosphere. It is as if the scenery has sunk into oblivion. The tree is an imitation of Francisco Goya’s Disasters of War No. 39 etching, who was also a Spanish painter.

Dalí’s work was greatly influenced by his home, Catalonia, located in North-eastern Spain. This is evident in the repetition of certain imageries in his body of work. His home in Catalonia was in the shade of Mount Pani and therefore View of Cadaqués with Shadow of Mount Pani was born. In the Persistence of Memory, the foreground has a darker tone than the background because it is under the shadow of Mount Pani. Not only that, Cape Creus illustration is lying in the background of the painting.

The metaphor of degeneration and decay is illustrated through the symbol of a swarm of ants assembling in the center of the back of a brass clock. This clock is not melting like the others but it is “fed” on by probably the only moving creatures in the scenario. Eventually, the brass clock will be eaten away, the swarm of ants will either leave or die of starvation, Dalí’s dreamscape will return to its lonely and lifeless state.

The bizarre creature lying in the middle of the painting is also a subject of interpretation. Some claim it is a desiccated animal, maybe a duck or some bird species. This interpretation makes sense because viewers can make out nose and probably a tongue below it. Some have other opinions. They said that since this is from Dalí’s subconscious mind, that flesh-like creature must have been Dalí’s profile. They claim that the melting shape of the profile “reveals people being amorphous and, at the same time, the image stands for people’s ability to ‘acquire’ any shape”.

View of Cadaques with Shadow of Mount Pani, Salvador Dalí, 1917

Le Jockey Perdu (1926), René Magritte

The Lost Jockey 1926 oil, René Magritte

The icon of balusters: • Balusters have long been the most

recognizable figure in Magritte’s body of work.

• Appeared early in The Lost Jockey (1926) and The Secret Player (1926-1927).

• The branches lead the viewers’ eye from foreground to background along the avenue. This image has also appeared many times, including in The Lost Jockey, 1926

• A dark red curtain covers a small proportion of the painting.

• The image of curtains appears so many times throughout Magritte’s artwork that it has become an iconic image attached to his name.

• The gagged woman on the right of the artwork captures the viewers as she seems to be in disarray.

• The gag on her face is said to be a

metaphor for the suppression of the subconscious‘s sexual desire because Surrealists believe that eroticism is the foundation of human’s subconscious.

The men dressed white seem to be playing baseball while a leatherback turtle hovers above them. Its head was hidden from one of the spindles, again reveals Magritte’s fascination for “the hidden”. They seems unnoticing and indifferent towards the presence of the gagged woman.

Phở appears again. This time, the noodles wrap around the humanoid figure which expresses the Japanese’s concerns about being drawn into a US-led war. I think this figure is also Japanese because its eyes and smile are depicted similarly to the other figure on the ground. I think Kikuji was trying to mock Japanese Government for having signed the US- Japan Security Treaty as they were “hypnotized” by the military benefits from the US.

• Based on skin colour, the pale humanoid figure in this painting represents the Americans and the yellowish humanoid figure is the Japanese

• Widened eyes and menacing smile suggest the figure is being hypnotized and controlled. On the other hand, the pale humanoid figure appears sensible enough to be aware of the situation.

• The United States’ national flag is stuffed inside the Japanese figure, suggesting the power, authority and control that the US had over the Japanese even though the U.S- Japan Security Treaty was revised 8 years ago.

• Although lying on a passive position, the American seems calm as he knows how to manipulate the puppet sitting on his body.

• The Changing Seasons consists of two cultural symbols of America and Japan: Coca Cola and Udon noodles. These symbols inform the viewers of the involved political parties.

• Yamashita expresses his political comment on America’s failure in military adventure in Vietnam during the Tet Offensive , 1968. This notion is evident in the depiction of a Vietnamese girl wearing Ao Dai, a Vietnamese traditional costume, on the right of the painting.

• Long, white strings can be interpreted also as a cultural food in Vietnam: Pho.

Tet Offensive 1968

The Garden of Earthly Delights, Hieronymus Bosch, 1480-1505

Changing Seasons reminds me of The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch as they both consists of demons, evil parties, and humanoid figures standing and lying in chaos.

In the middle of the painting is an illustration of probably a soldier who used to be in war or the artist himself. Images of skulls with helmet and a morose look appear a lot in Kikuji’s artwork, for example in Deification of a Soldier, 1967. The depressed skull may represent a group of people who were still affected by the war and serve as a warning to the Japanese Government about the consequences of war on innocent citizens.

• In the Surrealism world, women are portrayed as pure evil. Their behaviours are compared to insects’ behaviours, specifically the female praying mantis who devours her sexmate.

• Surrealists that portrayed women as villainous include Max Ernst and Salvador Dalí.

Teeth are a symbol of cannibalism and castration because mantises eat their sex-partner. That is probably why Magritte depicted the woman being gagged.

Women in the 1920s were depicted as female devourers (Max Ernst's Berenice (1935)). Magritte’s The Pleasure (1927, the same year as The Secret Player) in which a woman is nonchalantly eating a bird confirms the impacts of other surrealists in the 1920s on him.

• Four decades later, Kikuji's depiction of women shows no connection between him and former surrealists.

• The main woman figure in Vietnamese traditional clothes, Ao Dai, comes off frightened and intimidated by male soldiers. It might be because he was not under the influence of Sigmund Freud like other surrealists. He simply focused on depicting the conflict between his home country and the United States over The US- Japan Security Treaty.

Both The Secret Player and The Persistence of Memory consist of rectangular solids. In The Secret Player, it is the woman’s wardrobe and in The Persistence of Memory they are the table tops, one at the foreground and one at the background.

There is a significant different between the sizes of these three artwork. While the sizes of The Secret Player and Changing Seasons follow the usual norm, Dalí has taken viewers aback by creating a painting having such influence with the size of only 24.1 x 33 cm.

While The Persistence of Memory is more concerned with organic shape or distorted shapes, the other two paintings are more similar in that they both have shapes that depict human bodies. However, Magritte’s human figures follow the norm while Kikuji’s illustrations of the Japanese, the Americans or Vietnamese have somewhat been distorted and exaggerated to achieve a sense of disturbance among the humanoid figures.

- Most of The Secret Player is made up of the hour-glass shape of the balusters.

- Round shapes make up most of Changing Seasons.

- Most of The Persistence of Memory are melting objects with exaggerating details to enhance the level of Surrealism.

• Changing Season suggests a glossy and smooth surface due to Kikuji’s glossy painting technique.

• The Secret Player suggests a rough texture because the ground was painted so meticulously that the area seems to have actual surface of a ground.

• The Persistence of Memory suggests a smooth surface as there is not any brush stroke or intentionally-created texture on the fore ground as well as the sky background.

The sea at the background has a similar surface with the clock in the foreground, which balances the composition. The calm blueness of the sea brings easiness to the viewers’ eyes after being flummoxed by the bizarre objects in the foreground.

Colours involved: Raw Sienna, Burnt Umber, Naples Yellow, Yellow Ocher and Ultramarine.

Looking at the painting on a whole at first, one may have the impression that the source of light is coming of the top right. However, Dalí plays with the viewers’ visual perception by casting some areas in the painting, such as the face of the clock drooping on the barren tree. This creates confusion about the light source.

The combination of blue and yellow in The Persistence of Memory provokes an ominous and menacing atmosphere.

Colours involved: Neutral tones of white and gray (mixed from white, cobalt blue, raw umber, and black, with the occasional touches of red.)

The dark red curtain was probably painted with Venetian red, a rich tone which makes the curtain more emphatic. However, because it only takes up a small part of the painting, it does not distract the viewers’ attention from the main composition.

The baseball bat deviates from Magritte’s cool palette. It is painted in ocher tones. The clean and white uniform of the men contrasts with the gray tone of the background, the ground, and the balusters. It does not set them apart because Magritte applies tone on the men’s outfit, making it slightly grayer but still stand out from the rest.

Kikuji uses a completely different set of colours from Magritte and slightly different from Dalí.

The mood of Changing Seasons deviates from the other two. In The Persistence of Memory, a lonely and quiet atmosphere floats in the air. In The Secret Player, a dull and subtle disturbance permeates around the painting. In Changing Seasons, Kikuji evokes within the viewers a feeling of uneasiness brought by sinister faces and sexual elements. While the other two paintings are also menacing but subtle, Changing Seasons displays its demons and witches.

The tones of the colours are brighter. Instead of dark red, Kikuji uses bright red; instead of using a gray skin colour, or pale and dull flesh colour, he uses typical healthy Asian skin tone.

Emphasis: • The desiccated bird-like figure in the

central of The Persistence of Memory immediately gain the viewers’ attention due to its shape and colour.

• Viewers can make out the clocks but the bizarre figure definitely makes they wonder what it really is.

• Some interpreted it as Dali's face. • His face is distorted and liveless may be

because of his “memory” keeps haunting him.

Movement and pattern: The balusters in The Secret Player create a sense of both movement and pattern. Starting from the foreground, they are located along the middle path of the painting, guiding the viewers’ eyes from foreground to background.

No emphasis: • Every objects contributes to the vulgarity depicting

in Changing Seasons.

Repetition: • The symbol of deformed clocks is

repeated, creating a pattern within the painting.

• The clocks might symbolize the dysfunction of time and how our memory outwits timestream.

Negative space: Compared to The Secret Player and The Persistence of Memory, Changing Seasons is more occupied with humanoid figures.

Completeness: • There is a sense of

completeness as viewers don't feel overwhelmed by the enormous amount of content compared to The Persistence of Memory and The Secret Player.

Repetition: • Not only in this painting, but balusters have been an icon of

Magritte’s body of work. • Besides contributing to the sense of unity in the painting, they are a

distinct characteristic of his artwork.

Both Dalí and Magritte are praised for their meticulous art techniques and skills. If Magritte drew beforehand, Dalí underpainted areas of shadow with raw umber with an occasional mix with black and keeping the canvas white as the foundation for lighter tones. The secret behind why Dalí’s The Persistence of Memory has such a smooth surface is that it was built up with thin layers of oil paint. Thin layers enables the colors to blend.

Dalí and Magritte used the same technique because they both work onto a white background instead of painting their canvas with dark wash like most of the painters at that time did.

Inspired by de Chirico, Magritte also uses a flat brush to model his forms meticulously. The most detailed component of The Secret Player is the blossoming branches which take up most of the upper part of the painting.

Dalí is also said to have been the inventor of “paranoiac- critical-method” where he attempted to enter self-induced hallucinatory state in order to provoke the subconscious. However, in 1929, Magritte voiced his opposition to this technique.

Even though a Surrealist, Yamashita Kikuji’s background was completely different from that of Dali and Magritte. Strongly influenced by the war, Kikuji’s mind was never the same as he frequently experienced nightmare. Therefore, while Dalí entered hallucination to repaint the scenery in his dream, Kikuji repainted nightmarish images instead. Therefore, we can conclude that their approach to Surrealism was different.