The Object of Art
The Surrealists of the mid-1930s explored how art could elevate everyday objects and give them meaning beyond function
The 1936 Surrealist Exhibition of Objects is a good place to start discussing the subject of the object as art — the so-called objet — and its definitions. This hugely important event was held in the Paris gallery of Charles Ratton, already a dealer in African, Oceanic, and Native American arts — all of which provided inspiration for the early Surrealists. The eclectic exhibition featured more than 200 objects grouped in various categories. Although the displays were arranged similarly to those seen in museums and galleries of the day, the exhibits were ordered according to a new set of interpretive categories.
The intention was to question the established taxonomic approach to ordering human knowledge and demonstrate how meanings can be extended when seemingly unrelated things are placed in proximity with others. New connections can be revealed and create new contexts and reveal meanings beyond function. The long-established, rarely questioned, rational divisions of human knowledge were further disrupted by intuitive rather than intellectual strategies of display.
The exhibition also actively challenged the boundaries between what can be considered art and what is…
