{"id":3416,"date":"2012-05-10T15:52:27","date_gmt":"2012-05-10T19:52:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.brown.edu\/libnews\/?p=3416"},"modified":"2012-05-10T15:52:27","modified_gmt":"2012-05-10T19:52:27","slug":"library-acquires-broadside-from-surrealist-riot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/libnews\/library-acquires-broadside-from-surrealist-riot\/","title":{"rendered":"Library Acquires Broadside from Surrealist Riot"},"content":{"rendered":"

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] \u2014 <\/strong>Sergei Diaghilev, director of the Ballets Russes, emigrated to France in 1911. Always in search of innovations, he created a surrealist version of Romeo and Juliet<\/em> in 1926, for which he commissioned Max Ernst and Joan Mir\u00f3 to create the sets. \u00a0The poets Louis Aragon and Andr\u00e9 Breton, who regarded themselves as the leaders of the surrealists, felt that deriving financial rewards from a surrealist creation was against the principles of the movement, and accused Ernst and Mir\u00f3 of selling out to the \u201cinternational aristocracy.\u201d \u00a0At the premi\u00e8re of the ballet at the Op\u00e9ra in Paris, Aragon and Breton, seated in the balcony, started a riot by noisily showering the audience with this double-sided leaflet printed in flaming red.<\/p>\n

In fall 2011, Thomas and Antonia Bryson (class of \u201972 and \u201974) donated one of\u00a0these rare and historically significant leaflets to the Brown University Library,\u00a0where it joins over two thousand books, programs, playbills, photos and documents\u00a0in the Bryson Dance Collection. Detailed information about each item in the collection can be found in Josiah<\/a> under the author Bryson Dance Collection (Brown University).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n
Original leaflet<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

English translation by St\u00e9phanie Ravillon’s translation course, FREN1510.1:<\/p>\n

“PROTEST<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is unacceptable that thought be subservient to
\nmoney. And yet, not a year goes by without the
\nsubmission of a man considered to be indomitable to
\nthe forces that he once opposed. Regardless of the
\nindividuals who succumb in this manner to existing
\nsocial conditions, the idea that they claimed to support
\nbefore this abdication endures beyond them.
\nIt is in this sense that the participation of the painters
\nMax Ernst and Joan Mir\u00f3 in the upcoming
\nproduction of the Ballets Russes\u00a0would not implicate
\nthe surrealist idea along with their degradation. It is an
\nessentially subversive idea, incompatible with
\nsuch enterprises, whose aim has always been to
\ndomesticate, for the profit of the international
\naristocracy, the reveries and the revolts born of
\nphysical and intellectual famine.<\/p>\n

It may have seemed to Ernst and Mir\u00f3 that their
\ncollaboration with Diaghilev, legitimized by
\nPicasso’s example, would not have such grave
\nconsequences. Yet we are placed under the
\nobligation\u2013we whose primary concern has always
\nbeen to keep progressive thought out of reach of slave
\ntraders of all sorts\u2013we are placed under the obligation
\nto denounce, without consideration of the individuals
\ninvolved, an attitude that gives arms to the worst
\npartisans of moral ambiguity.<\/p>\n

It is known that we make very little of our artistic
\naffinities with one person or another. Do us the honor
\nof believing that in 1926 we are more incapable than
\never of sacrificing to these affinities our sense of
\nrevolutionary reality.<\/p>\n

Louis ARAGON \u2013 Andr\u00e9 BRETON”<\/p>\n

###<\/strong><\/p>\n

The John Hay Library is open to the public and objects from Brown University’s Special Collections can be viewed by appointment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Brown University Library<\/strong> is home to more than 6.8 million print items, plus a multitude of electronic resources and expanding digital archives serving the teaching, research, and learning needs of Brown students and faculty, as well as scholars from around the country and the world. Gifts to the Brown University Library are welcome. For more information on Giving Opportunities visit http:\/\/library.brown.edu\/alumni\/gifts<\/a>\/.<\/p>\n

Contact:<\/b> Jennifer Braga<\/a> |\u00a0 401-863-6913<\/p>\n

\n


\n<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] \u2014 Sergei Diaghilev, director of the Ballets Russes, emigrated to France in 1911. Always in search of innovations, he created a surrealist version of Romeo and Juliet in 1926, for which he commissioned Max Ernst and Joan Mir\u00f3 to create the sets. \u00a0The poets Louis Aragon and Andr\u00e9 Breton, who regarded … Library Acquires Broadside from Surrealist Riot<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hay"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/libnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/libnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/libnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/libnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/172"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/libnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/libnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3416\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/libnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/libnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.brown.edu\/create\/libnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}