Decoding Magritte (Hardback)

In a groundbreaking analysis, Silvano Levy unravels the hidden structures of Magritte's paintings. Magritte had often hinted that there was a covert rationale behind his production, but never gave explanations. Drawing on conversations with the artist's widow and key members of the Belgian surrealist group, Silvano Levy deciphers Magritte's oeuvre in a meticulous study.  The inclusion of previously unavailable source material in the form of photographs and substantial interviews with Georgette Magritte, Louis Scutenaire, Irène Hamoir, Marcel Mariën and George Melly provides valuable primary resources, as well as shedding additional light on the ‘Magritte code’. The first analysis that establishes the deep structure of Magritte’s work. The first application of aphasia as a model to unlock to Magrittian ‘code’. Book contains previously  unpublished interviews and photographs of Georgette, Scutenaire, Hamoir, Marien, Melly. Silvano Levy has published extensively on Belgian surrealism with studies on René Magritte, E.L.T. Mesens and Paul Nougé. Levy has curated national touring exhibitions of the work of Maddox and Desmond Morris, and has published several books on the latter, including Desmond Morris: 50 Years of Surrealism (1997), Desmond Morris: Naked Surrealism (1999), Lines of Thought: The Drawings of Desmond Morris (2008) and two volumes (2000 & 2012) of an analytical catalogue raisonné spanning eight decades, the second volume published by Sansom & Co.  Further scholarly studies cover Toni del Renzio, André Breton, Dina Lenković, Jean-Martin Charcot and Birmingham surrealism. Dr Levy is editor of Surrealist Bulletin and has held academic posts at the University of Liverpool, Newcastle Polytechnic, the University of Bath, the University of Hull and Keele University, where he was promoted to Senior Lecturer in French in 1998 and then to Reader in 2005.