Edited with text by Jodi Hauptman, Starr Figura. Text by Barbora Bartunkova, Lee Ann Daffner, Leah Dickerman, Hal Foster, Hannah Freed-Thall, Samantha Friedman, Johanna Gosse, Kolleen Ku, Alyce Mahon, Sean O'Hanlan, Caitlin Richeson, Abigail Susik, Whitney Trettien, Anne Umland, Annie Wilker with Sonya Barron.
Revolution on the page—discover the Surrealists’ transformation of the book into a provocative new art form, from André Breton’s original manifesto for the movement to Claude Cahun's Aveux non avenus
Intimately handheld yet a portal to vast universes, simultaneously available to one and to many, the book is in its very nature a vessel of contradiction. These dualities were especially compelling to the painters and poets of Surrealism, who, beginning in the 1920s, embraced the book as a central medium for artistic experimentation and a crucial vehicle for disseminating the movement’s essential tenets, strategies and aspirations—a bridge between personal revelation and social revolution. The Surrealist Book presents rare artists’ books from The Helen and Sam Zell Collection, featuring an exceptional concentration of works made in the context of Surrealism and reflecting its legacy well into the 1960s. This lavishly illustrated catalog features the most extraordinary volumes in a given edition, with special supplemental materials and contributions by writers such as André Breton and Paul Éluard and artists including Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst and Alberto Giacometti; unique maquettes and singular sketchbooks; rare works by Hans Bellmer, Claude Cahun, Toyen and Unica Zürn; original manuscripts for iconic Surrealist texts, notably the “Surrealist Manifesto”; and extraordinary sculptural bindings that become hybrid and interactive book-objects. Through close studies of individual works and explorations of key themes—including the use of sumptuous and unconventional materials and formats, the intimate tactility of collage and scrapbook techniques, and the treatment of language as a physical form—this volume underscores the role of bookmaking in the most compelling artistic achievements of the 20th century and beyond.
ABOVE: André Breton, author, and Paul Bonet, binder. "Manifeste du surréalisme; Poisson soluble" (Surrealist Manifesto; Soluble Fish). Published 1924; additional documents c. 1920–29; rebound 1931. Publisher: Éditions du Sagittaire, Paris. Edition 1 of 19.
Georges Hugnet’s remarkable cover for the 1934 Surrealist book Onan—a collaboration with Salvador Dalí, Georges Hugnet and Louis Christy—features dye-colored sand flowing between two sheets of lead glass. It is reproduced from new release The Surrealist Book: Tomorrow Lives in Mirrors, published to accompany the exhibition on view at MoMA now through January 2027. “A book bound with panes of shattered glass. A manifesto enshrined in polished metal. Pages of love poems merging seamlessly with luminous dreamscapes. Pamphlets of antiwar poetry designed to be slipped into a pocket. For André Breton, Claude Cahun, Paul Éluard, Max Ernst, Man Ray, Toyen, and many other artists and writers associated with Surrealism, books and bookmaking were central and driving preoccupations,” curators Jodi Hauptman and Starr Figura write. “Artists’ books—books made as works of art, often collaboratively, by painters and poets—were perfect vehicles for subversive experimentation and for the promotion of Surrealism’s revolutionary tenets.” continue to blog
FORMAT: Hbk, 9 x 10.5 in. / 288 pgs / 325 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $75.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $105 ISBN: 9781633451810 PUBLISHER: The Museum of Modern Art, New York AVAILABLE: 11/10/2026 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: NA ONLY
Published by The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Edited with text by Jodi Hauptman, Starr Figura. Text by Barbora Bartunkova, Lee Ann Daffner, Leah Dickerman, Hal Foster, Hannah Freed-Thall, Samantha Friedman, Johanna Gosse, Kolleen Ku, Alyce Mahon, Sean O'Hanlan, Caitlin Richeson, Abigail Susik, Whitney Trettien, Anne Umland, Annie Wilker with Sonya Barron.
Revolution on the page—discover the Surrealists’ transformation of the book into a provocative new art form, from André Breton’s original manifesto for the movement to Claude Cahun's Aveux non avenus
Intimately handheld yet a portal to vast universes, simultaneously available to one and to many, the book is in its very nature a vessel of contradiction. These dualities were especially compelling to the painters and poets of Surrealism, who, beginning in the 1920s, embraced the book as a central medium for artistic experimentation and a crucial vehicle for disseminating the movement’s essential tenets, strategies and aspirations—a bridge between personal revelation and social revolution.
The Surrealist Book presents rare artists’ books from The Helen and Sam Zell Collection, featuring an exceptional concentration of works made in the context of Surrealism and reflecting its legacy well into the 1960s. This lavishly illustrated catalog features the most extraordinary volumes in a given edition, with special supplemental materials and contributions by writers such as André Breton and Paul Éluard and artists including Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst and Alberto Giacometti; unique maquettes and singular sketchbooks; rare works by Hans Bellmer, Claude Cahun, Toyen and Unica Zürn; original manuscripts for iconic Surrealist texts, notably the “Surrealist Manifesto”; and extraordinary sculptural bindings that become hybrid and interactive book-objects.
Through close studies of individual works and explorations of key themes—including the use of sumptuous and unconventional materials and formats, the intimate tactility of collage and scrapbook techniques, and the treatment of language as a physical form—this volume underscores the role of bookmaking in the most compelling artistic achievements of the 20th century and beyond.
