Surrealism and the Black Dahlia

 Surrealism was a 20th-century movement that looked to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind, resulting in very weird and bizarre imagery. It developed in the aftermath of World War I in Europe and has been around even in modern times ever since. Surrealism has even been linked to a famous murder dubbed the Black Dahlia, sparking much speculation and conspiracies about this mystery that still is unsolved to this day.

Elizabeth Short

Considering some surrealist artists fascination with the art of crime, surrealism art has been linked to the infamous Black Dahlia murder. The Black Dahlia was the murder of a woman named Elizabeth Short on January 15, 1947, whose corpse was mutilated and severed at the waist to be left in the Leimert Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. The murder was said to have been inspired by some of Man Ray’s pieces of surrealist art including the Minotaur and Observatory Time: The Lovers.

Minotaur, Man Ray, Date: 1934

Observatory Time: The Lovers, 1936 by Man Ray

Many people believe the cutting of the Black Dahlia’s mouth and the positioning of her waist were references to these two pieces of art, though it could just be sheer coincidence. However, there is no doubting the similarities between these works of art and how Elizabeth Short looked when she was discovered. More so, these similarities got a lot of people thinking about the connection when presented with such conspiracies, sparking books and even films inspired by the murder many years later.

The link between surrealism and the Black Dahlia sure is an interesting one. The idea that someone could be inspired by another person's work of art so much to create such a brutal murder is almost unbelievable, but these things happen. Though it can never truly be confirmed if George Hodel was inspired by surrealist artist Man Ray’s works or if he had made Elizabeth Short into a sick work of art; there is enough speculation as well as solid evidence that points all fingers in his direction. It is bizarre to know that an art form can be linked to something so morbid, but somehow fits the concept of surrealism in a strange way, finding fascination in something considered uncanny.

Comments

  1. Janelle PearlApril 11, 2021 at 9:29 PM

    Hi Yasmine, This is an interesting blog to me because I have followed this case through films, documentaries and a television mini-series. Due to the amount of influence that George Hodel had at the time, the case will probably go unsolved. Your photo comparisons, as well as your research make this a compelling post, good job!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bryan Charnley's 17 Self Portraits

Image
Bryan Charnley's 17 Self Portrait Series TW: Suicide  Bryan Charnley was a British artist who suffered from paranoid Schizophrenia who created surrealist artworks up until his eventual suicide. The most notable of his works that are more often spoken about are his 17 final self portraits, meant to accompany diary entries that would explain the imagery. A video about it can be found here in  The Disturbing Final Self Portraits of Bryan Charnley His very first painting was a simple self portrait, nothing too notable. It would be the beginning of an eventual decline in his mental health.  Portrait 1 Self Portrait Series 19th July 1991 "Conventional portrait painted in two sittings. Is it a good likeness? Drug dosage was two 3 mg. tablets of Depixol daily plus two 25 mg. Tryptisol. I was sleeping a lot. 11th to 16th April 1991." For this painting, there isn't too much to note. It was just a simple self portrait and a note of how much medication he had been taking at the t
Read more

Andy Goldsworthy's Rivers and Tides

Image
  Andy Goldsworthy's Rivers and Tides 90 minutes Rivers and Tides is a film about a man who goes through nature, finding materials from either a beach or a forest, manipulating them together to create interesting artworks. His art is often something that will be washed away with time as nature goes on, photographs being the only things to document these structures.  Even if one of his structures fall, he doesn't accept defeat and goes right back to building it up again. We have all at some point made something similar to his works, whether it be stacking up rocks or piling sticks into some kind of tent formation. Making things out of nature is something most of us have done as children, and it's the medium that this man uses for his artworks. 
Read more

Chelsea Thompto

Image
  Chelsea Thompto is a transdisciplinary artist and educator. Her artwork is heavily revolved around her life as a transgender woman, working with a variety of media that includes video, computer code, digital fabrication, writing, photography, printmaking, and even bookbinding.  One project she is currently working on is an artist book series called Transaction , which will contain the works of contemporary trans artists, scholars, and activists. The mission of this book series is is to provide a platform for trans experience. Landmarks, 2021 (Ongoing) One of her artworks that she's done in the past is called Landmarks , which shows the ways artificial intelligence (AI) misgenders trans bodies due to the facial recognition. As technology becomes more prevalent in our daily lives, it is important for something like an AI to be able to recognize transgender bodies and recognize them as they're supposed to, and not misgender them.  Her entire video portfolio of her artworks can b
Read more