Laurie Spigel's
Art History Class on
Surrealism

See Classes & Lectures: Art History for more information on this and other art history classes.

After examining the work of Yves Tanguy, Marcel Jean, and Salvador Dali, we played the Exquisite Corpse Game. Then students drew surreal images of their hands using colored pencils. See the work of Christopher and Trevor

The Exquisite Corpse Game

André Breton invented the game and played it with his famous surrealist artist friends. A sheet of paper is folded in three or four parts. Each artist draws and then folds the paper over, hiding everything except just a bit of the lines that have gone over the fold. Then the next artist continues using those lines, so that a fluid fantasy is created. See the game as played by Dali, Miró, Tanguy, and their fellow artists; see some modern examples at Pinterest, and see the game as played in Laurie's Class of students ages 9-12, using standard letter-sized paper and colored pencils. This is a fun family game! See also Laurie's aarticle Six Games you Can Play Anywhere for some variations.

"Exquisite Corpses" from Laurie's Class
			"Exquisite Corpses" from Laurie's Class

In our class on surrealism, students traced their hands and then turned the images into something else.
Christopher's Hand	Trevor's Hand < br>