Objet scatologique à fonctionnement symbolique

Author: Marijke Peyser

In 1929 André Breton welcomed the Spanish artist Salvador Dalí into the Surrealist movement and Dalí moved from his birthplace of Figueres to Paris. In the same year he made the film Un chien andalou with Louis Buñuel. In the second Surrealist Manifesto, Breton praised Dalí for his dealings with the subconscious. At the end of the 1920s there was conflict within the movement about whether or not to merge with the Communists. Various suggestions were aired about keeping the group together including a proposal by Dalí to make Surrealist objects. In December 1931 he published ‘Objets surréalistes’ in the magazine Le Surréalisme au service de la révolution.^[1] In it he described Objet scatologique à fonctionnement symbolique of 1931 – the version in Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen’s collection is a later edition dating from 1973. Dalí classified the object in the group he called Objets à fonctionnement symbolique: ‘These objects, which at the very least lend themselves to mechanical operation, are derived from hallucinations and depictions that may arise out of actions of which one is unaware.’^[2] Dalí called his other categories Objets transsubstanciés, Objets à projeter, Objets enveloppés, Objets-machines en Objets-moulages (Transubstantiated Objects, Objects to be thrown, Wrapped Objects, Machine Objects and Mould Objects).

 In his Surrealist objects Dalí endorsed Sigmund Freud’s definition of fetishism: they should satisfy the suppressed – often sexual – desires of the viewer.^[3] The parts of Dalí’s assembly Objet scatologique à fonctionnement symbolique are illustrative objects that arouse feelings of lust in fetishists. The sense of pleasure is shifted from the loved one to a component, a symbol or an item of clothing. Dalí added a pornographic photograph, pubic hair and a fake turd to emphasize the sexual context.

At first, Surrealist artists did not make sculptures and objects. The earliest date from 1930, with Giacometti’s Boule suspendue as one of the first examples. This was because making a sculpture or a work assembled from found objects took time. It seemed hard to reconcile this with the desire to express the irrational, the subconscious and dreams. Nevertheless, it is impossible today to imagine the absurdist repertory of the Surrealists without objects. Boule suspendue consists of a ball with a split hanging on a string above an object with a sharp edge. The ball does not come into contact with the sharp object, but can easily be set in motion. Dalí was not the only one who admired Giacometti’s object; it caused a sensation among the Surrealists.^[4] In the 1930s artists like Meret Oppenheim, Marcel Jean, Oscar Domínguez, Roland Penrose and Eileen Agar also made Surrealist objects. In his autobiography Dalí related how he devoted himself to the promotion of the Surrealist object with an erotic overtone that could also be made and manipulated by everyone.^[5]