La Révolution surréaliste

Shortly after releasing the first Surrealist Manifesto, André Breton published the inaugural issue of La Révolution surréaliste on December 1, 1924.

Pierre Naville and Benjamin Péret were the initial directors of the publication and modeled the format of the journal on the conservative scientific review La Nature.

The journal focused on writing with most pages densely packed with columns of text, but also included reproductions of art, among them works by Giorgio de Chirico, Max Ernst, André Masson and Man Ray.

In a mock scientific fashion the journal explored issues related to the darker sides of the human psyche with articles focused on violence, death and suicide.

[2] Issues 9 and 10 (October 1927): Introduce Exquisite corpse (Le Cadavre exquis)—a game the Surrealists enjoyed that involves folding a sheet of paper so that several people contribute to the drawing of a figure or writing text without seeing the preceding portions.

Writings by ethnographers, archaeologists, and art historians, and poets Georges Bataille and Michel Leiris emerged as the main contributors.

In 1933, publisher Albert Skira contacted Breton about a new journal, which he planned to be the most luxurious art and literary review the Surrealists had seen, featuring a slick format with many color illustrations.