Denying Significance The Subversion of Conventional Representation as Seen in the Works of Ren� Magritte and Claude Cahun

Amanda Bell

Date of Award

2004

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Hassold, Cris

Keywords

Surrealism, Magritte, Ren�, Cahun, Claude

Area of Concentration

Humanities

Abstract

Representation describes the way that an image can take the place of an object, a person, or idea. In the works of Ren� Magritte and Claude Cahun, the viewer understands that the actual object to be different from the represented object because the mediated steps of representation are revealed. The theories of Roland Barthes, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Jacques Lacan inform the analysis by describing the experience of out-of-reach visual material in the surreal work. Different phases of Magritte's work demonstrate that the relationship between a representation and actual object can be arbitrary. Cahun's self-portraits, on the other hand, illustrate an unstable and dynamic identity. The processes of representation and identity are illustrated in the work of Ren� Magritte and Claude Cahun as involved in the complex mediation that takes place on an everyday level. In both cases, the artists highlight the idea that the world reaches the viewer through mediation.

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