Surrealism and the Occult: Shamanism, Magic, Alchemy, and the Birth of an Artistic Movement [Paperback]

Nadia Choucha (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1992

An art historian shows how many surrealists and their predecessors were steeped in magical ideas that were expressed in their art: the sorcery of Dali, the alchemy of Picasso, the Theosophy of Kandinsky, and the shamanism of Ernst and Carrington. 

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

A writer and frequent lecturer on art and magic, Nadia Choucha holds a master's degree in art history from Edinburgh University and is currently researching the surrealists for her Ph.D. at Essex University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Destiny Books; 2nd edition (October 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0892813733
• ISBN-13: 978-0892813735
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,088,151 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A missed opportunity, February 13, 2006

By 

J. S. Inman - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Surrealism and the Occult: Shamanism, Magic, Alchemy, and the Birth of an Artistic Movement (Paperback)

Nadia Choucha's book "Surrealism and the Occult" is a failure on every level, partly because she fails to do more than skim the surface of the surrealists interest in the occult and even that inadequately. She fails to even mention Victor Brauner, obviously hasn't the faintest idea of the connections between surrealists such as Jorge Camacho and Martin Stejskal and alchemy, nor the importance of figures such as Malcolm de Chazal, the great philosopher of analogy. She substitutes a clumsy and fictitious tie-in with Kenneth Grant and Austin Spare and although a comparison between Spare's automatism with the surrealist concept might have been interesting, she largely botches this because she simply has not done her research properly.
I am told that Choucha originally wrote this as an undergraduate dissertation. It should have stayed that way. It could have been the starting point for a much better book if only she had bothered to find out enough to write the book that it should have been. A silly book, written out of ignorance. What a shame. And what a shame that there is no other book that covers the whole of this underesearched area that could replace Choucha's. There is a great opening here for any real scholar, or better still, surrealist, who cares to make the effort.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Of Value, for a Specialized Audience, February 17, 2001

By 

Paul "review king" (I travel) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Surrealism and the Occult: Shamanism, Magic, Alchemy, and the Birth of an Artistic Movement (Paperback)

This slender book has an excellent first chapter that does an good job of describing the Romantic era mythos of the visionary artist, who attains wisdom by excess, by disordering the senses, and by breaking through conventional barriers. Chouda shows how this image of the artist continued throught he Surrealist period, and was congenial to an interest in magic and the occult. Subsequent chapters cover a lot of ground quickly, and presuppose a certain familiarity with both major and minor Surrealist artists. The style of these chapters reads like an Ph.D. thesis. More illustrations of actual artwork would have been helpful, but would've driven up the cost of the book.

6 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Most Important Books on Art Available, November 8, 2004

By 

Kirk Packwood (Seattle) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Surrealism and the Occult: Shamanism, Magic, Alchemy, and the Birth of an Artistic Movement (Paperback)

I can't say enough good things about this book. All those New Agers, Witches, Shamans, and Occultists who are buying up the mass-produced mind numbing/information-concealing books for the masses are missing the few real books available which might allow one to come to a deep and real understanding of that which they are seeking. This is most definitely one of those few real books.

There is really no point in me talking about the contents of the work. If you are serious about wanting to understand the extraordinarily important relationship between surrealist art and magick (or witchcraft, or shamanism, or voudun, or mind control, or whatever) this would be the place to start. Written for the intelligent individual, but you're smart, aren't you?