City Gorged With Dreams: Surrealism and Documentary Photography in Interwar Paris

This book offers the first detailed analysis of how the Surrealists utilized the tactics of documentary and how Surrealist ideas in turn influenced the development of documentary photography. The last two decades have seen the re-emergence of Surrealist photography, but with an emphasis on work made in the studio or the darkroom. This, however, is a study of what Louis Aragon called ‘surrealist realism’: the exploration of a real-life surreality encountered on the streets of the city. This book throws new light on Surrealism, emphasizing its connections with the everyday life of the city.