International Journal of Surrealism, vol. 3.1 (Fall 2025): Collage.

Co-Editors:
Alyce Mahon (University of Cambridge).
Kate Conley (William & Mary).

The International Journal of Surrealism is the new journal of the International Society for the Study of Surrealism (founded 2018), launched 2022 (https://surrealismstudies.org/). The journal is published by the University of Minnesota Press (https://www.upress.umn.edu/journal-division).

The editors invite submissions for articles on the topic of Collage.

Embraced as the first surrealist plastic art form, collage was plucked from Dada with the enthusiastic reception of André Breton and Louis Aragon of Max Ernst’s inaugural Paris exhibition “Beyond Painting” at the Sans Pareil gallery in May 1921. Breton graced the exhibition with an admiring essay in which Breton compared Ernst’s collages to the innovations of photography and automatic writing and praised the new art form for its capacity “to disorient us within our own memories.” Collage was still a pre-eminent art form for surrealism in 1930, when Aragon paraphrased Isidore Ducasse’s statement about poetry in his proclamation about collage: “The marvelous must be made by all and not by one.” Collage was transgressive from the start because anyone could do it by appropriating and reconfiguring fragments of works by others into a new whole using only scissors and glue. As an artform expressive of the definition of the surrealist image as founded on a “juxtaposition” of “two more or less distant realities” productive of a “spark,” a ”light” collage has persisted throughout the movement and beyond—not simply “beyond” painting, as Ernst entitled his 1921 exhibition and his autobiographical text, but beyond the timeframe of historical surrealism.

For this issue the editors invite submissions on collage in multiple media on multiple artists and their work across generations and continents. How has collage as an idea persisted throughout the surrealist movement? What is the legacy of historical collage in contemporary art and writing today? Does it still hold the power to “disoriente” the viewer, as Breton declared in 1922? How may we see that disorientation today.

Submissions should be 5000-7000 words in length, including footnotes, and be accompanied by up to 6 images per article (with copyright secured). They must conform to the Chicago Manual of Style. Manuscripts in languages other than English are accepted but must be accompanied by a detailed summary in English (generally of 5000 – 1000 words) and must be translated into English if they are recommended for publication. Manuscripts should be submitted in Microsoft Word format. The International Journal of Surrealism does not accept manuscript that have been previously published in any language. All content is double-blind peer-reviewed.

Essays should be submitted to: IJSeditumn.edu.

Queries and Correspondence should be addressed to Kate Conley (kconleywm.edu) and Alyce Mahon (am414cam.ac.uk).

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION: 1 February 2025.