The German artist and writer Unica Z眉rn鈥檚 1964 word-image text Ein 惭盲谤肠丑别苍产耻肠丑 f眉r Friedrich Schr枚der-Sonnenstern (A Fairy-Tale Book for Friedrich Schr枚der-Sonnenstern) is a pivotal work in her oeuvre and in the post-war history of Surrealism, and exemplary of what I have defined as 鈥榯he traumatic surreal鈥. Dedicated to the German artist Schr枚der-Sonnenstern (1892-1982), whose partner Martha M枚ller had died earlier that year, the 惭盲谤肠丑别苍产耻肠丑 demonstrates Z眉rn鈥檚 dialogues with German Art Brut and with wider Germanic traditions. Made during her late summer 1964 visit to La Rochelle and 脦le de R茅, during which time she was incarcerated in La Fond, a mental institution repurposed during the Occupation as a military prison holding Resistance fighters, the distinctive palimpsestic aesthetics of the 惭盲谤肠丑别苍产耻肠丑 also embody the productive intersections between Z眉rn鈥檚 political consciousness and her experiences as a psychiatric patient 鈥 that is, between different configurations of feminist 鈥榬esistance鈥 manifest in the characteristic surrealist forms and processes through which the 惭盲谤肠丑别苍产耻肠丑 and related contemporary works were made.
This lecture will explore how these works express a surrealist oppositional politics, evident in the 鈥淎tom-bombe鈥 blots which link Z眉rn to other post-war women surrealists鈥 engagements with the 鈥榥uclear sublime鈥, in references to Vietnam and other contemporary geopolitical events, and in the persistent echoes of Nazi atrocities that inform Z眉rn鈥檚 works of the time. This registering of complex intermeshed histories of personal and cultural trauma suggests some of the strategies through which women artists like Z眉rn developed and expanded Surrealism鈥檚 potentials for a resistant aesthetics.
is Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art History at the University of Edinburgh. Her many books, exhibitions, and essays include the award-winning听Angels of Anarchy: Women Artists and Surrealism听at Manchester Art Gallery, the first major exhibition on this topic; Lee Miller: Photography, Surrealism, and Beyond (2016); and (2022), hailed in its Woman鈥檚 Art Journal review as 鈥済roundbreaking鈥 and offering 鈥渘ew perspectives on female positions and lineages in the history of Surrealism鈥. Her co-curated 2024 Henry Moore Institute exhibition The Traumatic Surreal is inspired by and based on this book. Her contribution to art history and her long-term international scholarly impact on the study of women artists and Surrealism have been recognised by awards including a Philip Leverhulme Prize (2010) and, most recently, an Association for Art History Fellowship (2023). Professor Allmer is also a major international scholar of Ren茅 Magritte, publishing three books on the artist, and delivering the prestigious 2017-18 International 脡mile Bernheim Programme lectures in Brussels on his work.
Organised by Professor Gavin Parkinson (Professor in European Modernism, The 91自拍) as part of the 2024-25 Frank Davis Memorial Lecture Series, 鈥楢 Century of Surrealism: Resistance and the Image Since the Manifesto of Surrealism鈥.
