Silvano Levy

Silvano Levy

Silvano Levy is an academic and art critic specialising in surrealism. He has published on Belgian surrealism with studies on René Magritte, E.L.T. Mesens and Paul Nougé. His research on The Surrealist Group in England began with a film on Conroy Maddox and the book Conroy Maddox: Surreal Enigmas (1995), while a wider interest in the movement led to the publication of Surrealism: Surrealist Visuality (1997) and Surrealism (2000). Levy has curated national touring exhibitions of the work of Maddox and Desmond Morris, and has published a monograph on the latter entitled Desmond Morris: 50 Years of Surrealism (1997), which was followed by the enlarged re-edition Desmond Morris: Naked Surrealism (1999). Subsequent books on Morris include Lines of Thought: The Drawings of Desmond Morris (2008) and two volumes (2000 & 2012) of an analytical catalogue raisonné spanning eight decades. Silvano Levy’s monograph on Maddox, The Scandalous Eye. The Surrealism of Conroy Maddox, was published by Liverpool University Press in 2003 and further scholarly studies cover Sheila Legge, Toni del Renzio, André Breton, Dina Lenković, Jean-Martin Charcot and Birmingham surrealism. Dr Levy is editor of Surrealist Bulletin and has held academic posts at the University of Liverpool, Newcastle Polytechnic, the University of Bath, the University of Hull and Keele University, where he was promoted to Senior Lecturer in French in 1998 and then to Reader in 2005.

News

Decoding Magritte

In a groundbreaking analysis, Silvano Levy unravels the hidden structures of Magritte's paintings. Decoding Magritte puts forward the theory that aphasia, the injury-induced inability to produce and comprehend language, is the elusive key to an underlying artistic mechanism. Magritte had often hinted that there was a covert rationale behind his production, but never gave explanations. Drawing on his conversations with the artist's widow and key members of the Belgian surrealist group, Silvano Levy deciphers Magritte's oeuvre in a meticulous study that rests on linguistics and structuralist theory. This investigation first probes Magritte's early career within the avant-garde, Cubism and Dada, and then systematically sets out the artist s pictorial deconstruction of the pictorial schema. The inclusion of previously unavailable source material in the form of photographs and substantial interviews with Georgette Magritte, Louis Scutenaire, Irène Hamoir, Marcel Mariën and George Melly provides valuable primary resources, as well as shedding additional light on the 'Magritte code'.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Decoding-Magritte-Silvano-Levy/dp/1906593957

http://www.amazon.com/Decoding-Magritte-Silvano-Levy/dp/1906593957

https://www.waterstones.com/book/decoding-magritte/silvano-levy/9781906593957

http://www.accdistribution.com/us/store/pv/9781906593957/decoding-magritte/silvano-levy

REVIEW: https://artbookreview.wordpress.com/2016/02/15/decoding-magritte-silvano-levy/

Sheila Legge: Phantom of Surrealism

Sheila Legge made the headlines in the hot summer of 1936 when she paraded in Trafalgar Square as the ‘Surrealist Phantom of Sex Appeal’. The public was perplexed by this elegantly dressed young woman whose head was completely shrouded in red roses. Since then, nothing more has been heard of her and she has remained a mystery for some eight decades. Silvano Levy’s painstaking research has now pieced together the main elements of Sheila’s life and involvement in surrealism. His study establishes the Phantom’s biographical chronology and lineage, as well as offering commentaries on texts and other traces she has left behind.

Review (Spanish): http://surrint.blogspot.co.uk/2015_05_01_archive.html

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sheila-Legge-Surrealism-Silvano-Levy/dp/1909769096/

Bibliography

AUTHORED BOOKS

AUTHORED SHORT BOOKS

EDITED COLLECTIONS

CHAPTERS IN BOOKS

PEER REVIEWED JOURNALS

OTHER ARTICLES AND SHORT TEXTS

ARTICLES IN EDITED COLLECTIONS

Papers

Media

Surrealist Bulletin

Surrealist Bulletin is a journal edited by Silvano Levy. Its pages throw the spotlight on the personal voice of individual surrealists or those directly related with surrealism. Free rein is given to statements, declarations, reminiscences, comments, confessions, attacks and defences in an egalitarian format comprising sixteen illustrated pages. The journal's unusual format, regarded as annoying by some, was the brainchild of the author of the first issue, Toni del Renzio, who tenaciously insisted on making what was to be his final statement on narrow, vertical pages (narrow royal octavo). It is in his memory that his design has been retained for subsequent issues. Every edition of the journal is limited and numbered. A small number of copies are signed by the author. Despite being seriously ill at the time of publication, del Renzio was determined to sign his own issue. At his insistence, all copies of the journal were brought to his hospital bed, where he shakily signed as many as he could. He died shortly afterwards. It is for this reason that relatively few copies of Surrealist Bulletin No.1 ended up being signed.

Surrealist Bulletion no.1, Toni del Renzio

Surrealist Bulletion no.2, Desmond Morris

Surrealist Bulletion no.3, Patrick Hughes

Surrealist Bulletion no.4, Arturo Schwarz

References

    External links

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