Grace Pailthorpe’s Writings on Psychoanalysis and Surrealism

Description

This book gathers the published and unpublished writings of Dr Grace Pailthorpe (1883-1971), English surgeon, specialist in psychological medicine and surrealist artist to provide an in-depth study of her work and legacy. Pailthorpe’s theoretical understanding of the psyche informed her approach to art, setting her work apart from other Surrealist artists by unifying artistic, scientific and therapeutic aims. Pailthorpe considered Surrealism to be a method of investigation into unconscious mental life, and believed that it was essential that the repressed part of our minds should find expression. By bringing her artistic and theoretical work to light, Montanaro and Stefana reassert Pailthorpe’s significance to the histories of both psychoanalysis and Surrealism, rendering the cross-disciplinary relevance of her work accessible to a contemporary audience. This book will prove to be a rich resource for scholars and students interested in psychoanalysis and art history, and provides an invaluable case study for the continuing significance of visual artistic practices to clinical work. Cover Endorsement Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of Figures Foreword Acknowledgements Credits Chapter 1 Introduction References Chapter 2 The Analysis of a Poem Note Chapter 3 The Birth Trauma Lecture (1938): Lecture On Drawings. Being an Extract From a Research Now in Its Final Stages Note Chapter 4 The Scientific Aspect of Surrealism Note Chapter 5 Primary Processes of the Infantile Mind Demonstrated Through the Analysis of a Prose-Poem Note Chapter 6 Deflection of Energy, as a Result of Birth Trauma, and Its Bearing Upon Character Formation Note Chapter 7 Lecture On Surrealism Notes Chapter 8 Surrealism and Psychology Note Chapter 9 Draft Summary of Psychorealism: The Sluicegate of the Emotions The Springboard of Thought Symbol Language The Application of Symbol Language in Early Life Art as Communication, and for Gratification The Destructive Impulse The Destructive Impulse Revealed Through the Language of Symbols Psychorealism Individual and Collective Benefits of Psychorealism The Creative Impulse Creative Fantasy Psychorealism, the Artist and the “Impersonal” in Art The Way Ahead Note References Afterword By Desy Safán-Gerard References Index