Magical Realism in art and literature
The American Ivan Albright (1897 ‐ 1983) created his own particular style, with detailed, naturalistic drawings and a specific colour palette, as well as multiple shifts in perspective. His 1943 commissioned piece The Picture of Dorian Gray demonstrates the decay and the effect time has had on the titular character, and Albright filled the background of the painting, as well as the surface of the figure, which stands in the centre, taking up a most of the picture plane, with horrific details of degradation and rot. The items that litter the canvas are almost unrecognisable souvenirs of decadence and wealth, and they meld together into a mixture that highlights the themes of age and lust, while also overwhelming the viewer with an attack on the senses. Both art and literature have the ability to create a confused and bewildered reaction in an audience through the use of a plenitude of details and perspectives not normally seen in any genre, which allows for the alignment of the two sides of Magical Realism.
Visual art and literature are inherently different things. Despite the differences that are unavoidable between the two mediums however, it is possible to see Magical Realism in art and Magical Realism in Literature as very similar genres, yet harder to see them as the same. While they can share more physical elements, such as fantastical examples of the supernatural or the strange, through descriptions and narratives, it is far less possible for a work of art to comment on or show a physical representation of the passage of time due to its intrinsic limitations as something that has only one physical plane. Information cannot be withheld by an artist and postponed, as a painting is something taken in in a single moment, while a book can reveal its information in any order it pleases. It is not possible to consider the two sides the same, but it is possible to acknowledge and celebrate the similarities and the ways in which the two are thematically and tonally linked, through more than just a name.
Bibliography
Arn, J. Rediscovering the Painter Whose Grotesque Subject Matter Kept Him out of the Canon, https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy ‐ editorial ‐ rediscovering ‐ painter ‐ grotesquesubject ‐ matter ‐ canon (13/8/19) Colleen Browning Online http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/browning_colleen.html (13/8/19) Craven, J. Introduction to Magical Realism, https://www.thoughtco.com/magical ‐ realismdefinition ‐ and ‐ examples ‐ 4153362 (10/8/19) Kafka, F. (2007) Metamorphosis & Other Stories. Suffolk Frida Kahlo Biography , https://www.fridakahlo.org/frida ‐ kahlo ‐ biography.jsp (12/8/19) Kraftgenie. Franz Radziwill, http://weimarart.blogspot.com/2010/06/franz ‐ radziwill.html (12/8/19) Magical Realism , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_realism#Painters (10/8/19) García Márquez, G. (1967) Cien Años de Soledad . Colombia (1981) Crónica de Una Muerte Anunciada . Colombia H aruki Murakami; The Official US Website , http://www.harukimurakami.com/resource_category/profiles ‐ link (12/8/19)
21
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs