t Sages work was not pure Surrealism. The landscapes, which were to represent the mind, are barren, endless plain, devoid of life-forms, yet littered with the detritus of unrealized human endeavors. (Witzling, 1991. Pg 231) Surrealism reflects expressions of the mind and Surrealists were heavily interested in psychoanalysis (Miller, 1990. Pg 126) and finding release in peeling back the curtains of consciousness. (Witzling, 1991. Pg 231) Poet Andr Breton claimed she was a Surrealist because of the structure of her paintings. There was a definite structure that seemed to resist definition. Even the titles of her work did not quite describe the pieces. Using her paintings to recall past memories and current emotions fits with the Surrealist interest in psychoanalysis and dream interpretation. (Miller, 1990. Pg 126)Her work can be debated on the grounds of whether or not it is Surrealism, but it has all the signs of being Modernism-with-a Capital-M. It was a new art form which expressed abstract concepts as abstract images rather than give the abstract concepts the face of a classical god, or the pose of a traditional nude. Sage did have a formal art education and her paintings express attention to detail as the Academy paintings do. But instead of doing a traditional still-life, Sage makes her paintings play on light and shadows. She takes different forms and experiments on how to arrange them together but without the advantage of a still-life in front of her. She creates variations of themes (the still-life) and develops new, revolutionary ways of making the structure convey meaning that is different for every person who looks at it. (Class Notes. 1999)Kay Sage is a Modern painter who, like other Modernists, challenged the system by which art was perceived. While Traditional paintings are still considered by some to be the culmination of fine arts, Modernism defies the rules of what can be perceived and Kay Sage was a large part of the Mo...
