André Breton, Nusch Eluard, Valentine Hugo, Paul EluardExquisite Corpse c.1930

This work is one of numerous drawings known as cadavres exquis (the phrase means ‘exquisite corpse’) which were the result of collaborative game-playing among members of the surrealist movement. Unlike many examples of such works, the participants of Tate’s Cadavre exquis of c.1930 are known from an inscription on the reverse of the sheet, in André Breton’s hand, identifying them as Breton himself, the artist Valentine Hugo, the surrealist poet Paul Eluard and Eluard’s partner Nusch.

The technique of the cadavre exquis was discovered by members of the surrealist movement around 1925. Based on a traditional parlour-game, it initially involved passing a piece of paper between a group of people who would each add a word secretly - typically, a noun, an adjective, a verb, an adverb, and an object – before folding the sheet and passing it to the next player. The name ‘cadavre exquis’ derived from one of the first games which had produced the line ‘Le cadavre exquis boira le vin nouveau’ (‘The exquisite corpse will drink the young wine’)… (read more)