FEATURE 112 rate vista of something other than what we can fully grasp, has never, in plastic art, known the triumphs which are afforded by such high-quality Oceanic objects.”10 Breton was known for his collection of surrealist artworks and associated objects, among which was a large collection of complementary Oceanic pieces. Of the number of Bismarck objects and sculptures he owned, two large New Ireland uli figures and one rare statue from the Tolai of New Britain are particularly notable. One uli, possibly acquired from the German dealer Alfred Flechtheim and published in the classic folio, Les arts sauvages Océanie in 1930, was later sold to the Belgian collector of dada and surrealist works René Gaffé. Breton later acquired a quite grand uli that he placed on his desk, dominating his study and all things around. This uli was ago—became known to a wider public (fig. 9). The dream-like nature of the islands’ art, most evident in masks and figures from the Gazelle Peninsula, mirrored the group’s stated beliefs regarding free association and dream analysis as a way of liberating the imagination. Several exhibitions were held in Paris and London in the late 1920s and 1930s presenting art and objects together as expressions of surrealist beliefs. Perhaps the most famous was the 1936 Exposition surrealiste d’object held at the gallery of Charles Ratton in Paris. The pieces were grouped into different classifications—mathematical objects, natural objects, primitive objects, found objects, irrational objects, ready-made objects, interpreted objects, incorporated objects, and m obile objects. Breton described the objets sauvages as being the most beautiful American and Oceanic fetishes and masks chosen from the collection of Ratton (figs. 10 and 11). Hewing to their revolutionary manifesto, the surrealists were passionate about “primitive” cultural mores and traditions, in that they strove to break from the false rationality and societal restrictions that had developed after the war. The surrealists were not only interested in the lifestyle of the pre-modern, but were fully struck by the visual spirituality of the arts. Breton wrote in his 1948 article “Oceania” that in the beginning the surrealist path “is inseparable from seduction, the fascination exercised by the indigenous peoples of the Americas, the North Pole, or New Ireland.” He continues, “The marvelous, with all its assumptions of surprise, the fulgufolded, giving the impression of being bound together in servitude. With heavy contrasts of light and dark, accentuating her breast and attenuated arm, it is a study of pure exoticism, drama, and sensuality. At about the same time Yva was exploring relationships between her art and that of New Britain, Paul Éluard and André Breton were leading another like-minded group of people into an understanding of Bismarck Archipelago arts. While there were many artists, writers, and collectors who appreciated Oceanic material in the early twentieth century, it wasn’t until the formation of the Surrealist Movement under Breton in the early 1920s that Oceanic art—and particularly art from the Bismarck Archipel- FIG. 9: The Surrealist Map of the World. From Variétés, Brussels, June 1929, p. 183.
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