About this artwork
This soft pink cover and florid calligraphy masks a book of unsettling images. In the preface, Jean explains that the illustrations were created as semi-automatic drawings, a Surrealist technique that allows the unconscious mind to control the creative process. The resulting images appropriate Catholic imagery, such as pierced hands resembling stigmata and monstrous figures tempting a weary soldier, that seem to respond to the oppressive dogma of fascism taking hold of Europe at the time. In stark contrast to the hypnotic, visually pleasant cover, the preface’s language is harsh and the interior images are filled with mutilated and distorted figures. Underlying the horror is an urgent call to action from Jean (and arguably Surrealism as whole) to reject the constraints instilled by the French elite. France during this time was not only subject to outside pressures of an impending war, but also internal strikes and protests from factory workers in the throes of a global economic depression, motivating artists to detach from the mystical and instead prioritize the concrete reality of their situation. This book is one of the 39 copies released in 1936 and includes a poetic inscription from Jean to fellow artist Marcel Duchamp.
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Status
- On View, Gallery 289
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Department
- Ryerson and Burnham Libraries Special Collections
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Artist
- Marcel Jean
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Title
- Mourir pour la patrie (Die for the Fatherland)
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Place
- Paris (Object made in:)
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Date
- 1935
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Medium
- Illustrated book with two loose etchings in black ink on cream laid paper
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Inscriptions
- Inscription reads “a marcel duchamp, / dans la lumiere du prisme ou sont enfermees / les illusions et les decouvertes vitales / ou les mots dessinent l'epure d'un cristal de roche / ou l'image de la mariee monte des miroirs tournants / hommage de toute admiration / Marcel Jean”
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Dimensions
- 34 × 25 × 1 cm (13 7/16 × 9 7/8 × 7/16 in.)
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Credit Line
- Mary Reynolds Collection, Ryerson & Burnham Libraries
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Reference Number
- 2020.41
Extended information about this artwork
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.
