James Meikle Guy
American
In 1931 Austin, with the help of New York gallery owner Julian Levy, organized the first major surrealist exhibition in the United States, "Newer Super-Realism", which included the work of Salvador Dali, Giorgio de Chirico, Max Ernst, and Joan Miró. Guy most likely saw the show, since his own work was on exhibit in the museum's annex gallery at that time. (1)
Well entrenched in leftist politics of his time, Guy produced a labor play called Strike in Providence, Massachusetts, and later took it to New York, where it had a brief run. After the play closed, Guy decided to remain in New York City. (2)
He joined the John Reed Club, where he met a kindred spirit in artist Walter Quirt. Together they became the main proponents of the social surrealism art movement, in which social ills were described in a representational style as though conceived in dreams or delusions. Their aim was to direct attention to the inequities of the Great Depression by means of an unusual juxtaposition of figures and objects. Their work has been compared to that of Dali and Josè-Clemente Orozco, with whom Quirt and Guy spent time when the Mexican muralist was completing a fresco cycle at Dartmouth College.
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