'Notebook From the Trip to Visit the Hopi Indians'

Authors

  • André Breton

Abstract

In August 1945 André Breton visited the Hopi Reservation in Arizona and kept a notebook in which he took ethnographic scratch notes about what he saw, the objects he purchased, the landscape, the individuals he met, and what he was learning about Hopi culture. He was traveling with his new wife Elisa Bindoff Claro, and his friends the mosaicist Jeanne Reynal and her partner Urban Neininger. His notes include lists of readings, descriptions of the regalia he saw, historical notes, and his impressions and detailed descriptions of the ceremonial dances they were able to observe. First published in 1999, Breton’s “Hopi Notebook” stands as an invaluable record of his personal encounter with Pueblo culture, which had influenced his thinking from the movement’s outset in the 1920s through his collection of their objects, and the inspiration he took from the Hopi for greater recognition of their culture and for the post-war direction of the surrealist movement.

Author Biography

André Breton

André Breton published the first Manifesto of Surrealism in Paris in October 1924 after having coined the word “Surrealism” in an article published in November 1922, “Entry of the Mediums,” in Littérature, thus effectively launching the surrealist movement. Widely recognized as the movement’s leader, despite his insistence on the importance of collective creation, debate, and action in Surrealism, Breton became the movement’s de facto historian and pedagogue by tracking Surrealism’s development over time in multiple writings, essays, books, interviews, and public talks. Until his death in 1966, Breton’s voice remained dominant within the surrealist circle, and his writings remain the movement’s key references.

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Published

2024-03-18

Issue

Vol. 14 No. 2 (2023): Journal of Surrealism and the Americas

Section

Feature Articles