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

Rating:
Summary: One of the Most Important Books on Art Available
Review: 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?

Rating:
Summary: Of Value, for a Specialized Audience
Review: 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.