Surrealism in Britain

405 Pages·1999·84.366 MB·English

by  Michael Remy

Su r r e a l i s m i n Br i t a i n
TO LISA AND NICOLAS
Surrealism in Britain
Michel Remy
ASHGATE
First published 1999 by Ashgate Publishing
Reissued 2018 by Routledge
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Copyright© Michel Remy, 1999
The author has asserted his moral rights.
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Publisher's Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but
points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent.
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The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and welcomes
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A Library of Congress record exists under LC control number:
ISBN 13: 978-0-367-14568-2 (hbk)
ISBN 13: 978-0-429-03237-0 (ebk)
Typeset in Palatino by Wearset, Boldon, Tyne and Wear.
Contents
List of illustrations 7
Foreword 15
1 Exits and entrances 23
2 The entry of the mediums: the establishment of surrealism in
Britain 1932-6 35
Paul Nash and Unit One 36
Hugh Sykes Davies and David Gascoyne 44
Len Lye and Humphrey Jennings 49
British artists in Paris: Penrose, Trevelyan, Agar and Banting 62
Henry Moore 70
Publications and meetings 71
The International Surrealist Exhibition 73
3 Communicating vessels: formation and growth 1936-7 101
Art and politics 102
Surrealist Objects and Poems 112
Axis and Circle s 123
David Gascoyne 123
John Banting 127
Paul Nash 128
Henry Moore 131
Roland Penrose 134
Julian Trevelyan 136
Eileen Agar 140
4 Spirit levels, level spirits: the years of definition 1938-40 147
The Road is Wider than Long 166
6 SURREALISM IN BRITAIN
Samuel Haile 171
Ceri Richards 176
Eileen Agar 179
Henry Moore 180
Roland Penrose 184
Humphrey Jennings 189
F.E. McWilliam 192
Conroy Maddox and John Melville 196
Ithell Colquhoun 204
Grace Pailthorpe and Reuben Mednikoff 205
5 The eye of the hurricane: the war years 1940-45 209
Division in the ranks 224
Gordon Onslow-Ford and Conroy Maddox 228
Toni del Renzio 241
Ithell Colquhoun, Emmy Bridgwater and Edith Rimmington 244
John Tunnard 256
Grace Pailthorpe and Reuben Mednikoff 261
Apocalypticism 265
6 Watchman, What of the Night?: the Free Unions years 1945-51 271
George Melly 275
Activity resumed 276
John Banting and Conroy Maddox 285
Emmy Bridgwater 293
Edith Rimmington 296
Roland Penrose 301
F.E. McWilliam 306
Eileen Agar 306
Samuel Haile 310
Ithell Colquhoun 312
'Scottie' Wilson 316
Desmond Morris 321
Postscript: the search for a fading prospect 327
Notes 345
Select bibliography 358
Index 385
List of illustrations
Every attempt has been made to contact relevant copyright holders and other appropriate
sources of information in order to provide the date, ownership and description of each work
illustrated here. It is regretted that in a number of instances some of this information could not
be established; neither has it been possible to add to the sources already given.
The works illustrated on pp. 133,135 and 183 are reproduced by permission of the Henry
Moore Foundation.
1 John Armstrong, The Open Door, 1930, 7 Humphrey Jennings, Mountain Inn
oil on canvas, private coll., 76 X 62 cm and Swiss Roll, c. 1936, collage, coll. Jeffrey
(30 X 24.3 in.), © The Artist's Estate Sherwin, 13.3 X 22 cm (6.1 X 8.7 in.),
© The Artist's Estate
2 Tristram Hillier, Surrealist Landscape,
c. 1932, oil on canvas, private coll., 8 Humphrey Jennings, Portrait of Lord
87 X 73 cm (34.23 X 30 in.), © The Byron, c. 1936, photograph, coll. Mary-
Artist's Estate Lou Jennings, 23.3 X 38 cm
(10 X 14.8 in.), © The Artist's Estate
3 Edward Wadsworth, Tomorrow
Morning, 1929-44, tempera, private coll., 9 Humphrey Jennings, Portrait of Roger
73 X 62 cm (29.3 X 24.4 in.), © The Roughton, c. 1937, photograph, private
Artist's Estate coll., 24 X 37 cm (9.8 X 14.3 in.), © The
Artist's Estate
4 Paul Nash, Northern Adventure, 1929,
oil on canvas, City of Aberdeen Art 10 Humphrey Jennings, House in the
Gallery and Museums Collections, Woods, 1936, oil on canvas, Tate Gallery,
67.3 X 101.6 cm (26.3 X 40 in.), © Tate 30 X 36 cm (12 X 14.1 in.), © The Artist's
Gallery, London 1999 Estate
3 Humphrey Jennings, Tableau Parisien, 11 Len Lye, frames from Colour Box,
1938-9, oil on canvas, Peter Nahum at 1933, film, Len Lye Foundation, © The
the Leicester Galleries, 31 X 61 cm Artist's Estate
(20 X 24 in.), © The Artist's Estate
12 Len Lye, Pond People, 1930, batik
6 Humphrey Jennings, Armchair with Seal, on silk, Len Lye Foundation,
c. 1933, collage, private coll., 19 X 14 cm 98.3 X 143 cm (38.8 X 36.3 in.), © The
(7.3 X 3.3 in.), © The Artist's Estate Artist's Estate
8 SURREALISM IN BRITAIN
13 Len Lye, Snowbirds Making Snow, 26 Merlyn Evans, Conquest of Time, 1934,
1936, oil on hardboard, Len Lye oil on canvas, Tate Gallery, 101.6 X 81.3 cm
Foundation, 94.3 X 144.8 cm (40 X 32 in.), © The Artist's Estate
(37.1 X 37 in.), © The Artist's Estate
27 Cecil Collins, The Cells of Night, 1934,
14 Eileen Agar, Quadriga, 1935, oil on oil on canvas, Tate Gallery, 76 X 63.3 cm
canvas, coll. Roland Penrose Estate, (30 X 23 in.), © The Artist's Estate
32.1 X 61 cm (20.8 X 24.3 in.), © The
28 Merlyn Evans, Tyrannopolis, 1939,
Artist's Estate
tempera on canvas, coll. Jeffrey Sherwin,
13 John Banting, Ten Guitar Faces, 76 X 91 cm (30 X 36 in.), © The Artist's
c. 1932, gouache, private coll., 47 X 29 cm Estate
(18.3 X 11.3 in.), © The Artist's Estate
29 Grace W. Pailthorpe, Ancestors I,
16 John Banting, Conversation Piece, 1933, ink on paper, Peter Nahum at the
c. 1935, gouache, Tate Gallery, 31 X 43 cm Leicester Galleries, 30.3 X 38 cm
(20 X 18 in.), © The Artist's Estate (12 X 13 in.), © The Artist's Estate
17 John Banting, Two Models, 1935, 30 Grace W. Pailthorpe, Ancestors II,
gouache and watercolour, 107.3 X 66 cm 1933, ink on paper, Peter Nahum at the
(42.3 X 26 in.), © The Artist's Estate Leicester Galleries, 30.3 X 38 cm
(12 X 13 in.), © The Artist's Estate
18 Cover of David Gascoyne's A Short
Survey of Surrealism, 1933 31 Reuben Mednikoff, Stairway to
Paradise, 1936, watercolour on canvas,
19 Invitation to the International private coll., 26 X 34.3 cm
Surrealist Exhibition, 1936 (10.2 X 13.6 in.), © The Artist's Estate
20 Poster for the International 32 Reuben Mednikoff, Little Nigger
Surrealist Exhibition, 1936 Boys Don't Tell Lies, 1936, oil on canvas,
Coll. The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, gift
21 E.L.T. Mesens, Roland Penrose,
of Arturo Schwartz, 38 X 40 cm
André Breton and Humphrey Jennings,
(22.8 X 13.7 in.), © The Artist's Estate
at the International Exhibition of
Surrealism in 1936, The Penrose Archive, 33 Reuben Mednikoff, Headwaiter, 1936,
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, drawing, private coll., 23 X 20 cm
© Estate of Claude Cahun (10 X 8 in.) © The Artist's Estate
22 Sheila Legge as the Surrealist 34 Reuben Mednikoff, drawing, n.d.,
Phantom in Trafalgar Square, for the pen and ink, coll. James Birch, London,
International Surrealist Exhibition, 1936 23 X 20 cm (10 X 8 in.), © The Artist's
Estate
23 Salvador Dali in a diving suit, with
Paul Eluard, Nusch Eluard, E.L.T. Mesens, 33 Reuben Mednikoff, The Flying Pig,
Rupert Lee, Diana Brinton Lee, 1936 1936, oil on board, private coll., 48 X 62 cm
(18.9 X 24.4 in.), © The Artist's Estate
24 Poster for the International
Surrealist Exhibition by Max Ernst, 1936 36 Grace W. Pailthorpe, Composition, 16
Nov. 1937, oil on canvas, Peter Nahum at
23 Cover of a dinner menu for a gather-
the Leicester Galleries, 67.3 X 32 cm
ing of the surrealist group, coll. Professor
(27 X 20.1 in.), © The Artist's Estate
Christopher Buckland-Wright, design by
Graham Sutherland. Photographer: 37 Cover of Herbert Read's Surrealism,
Richard Valencia 1936. Collage by Roland Penrose
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 9
38 'Declaration on Spain', statement 30 Edith Rimmington, Family Tree, 1937
from the surrealist group, Contemporary (but inscribed 1938), photo-collage,
Poetry and Prose, 1936 Private coll., 34.2 X 24.8 cm
(1:3.5 X 9.8 in.), © The Artist's Estate
39 Surrealist group manifesto, We Ask
Your Attention, with a drawing by Henry 51 John Banting, Mutual
Moore Congratulations, c. 1936, oil on canvas,
Peter Nahum at the Leicester Galleries,
40 Cover of catalogue to the Surrealist
101.6 X 76 cm (40 X 30 in.),
Objects and Poems exhibition, 1937
© The Artist's Estate
41 Eileen Agar, The Angel of Anarchy,
52 Paul Nash, Landscape from a Dream,
1:937,194°/ plaster cast covered with
1936-8, oil on canvas, Tate Gallery,
mixed media, Tate Gallery, 50.8 X 48 cm
67.3 X 101.6 cm (26.3 X 40 in.), © Tate
(20 X 18.9 in.), © The Artist's Estate
Gallery, London 1999
42 Roland Penrose, The Dew Machine,
33 Paul Nash, Harbour and Room,
1937. Object destroyed; photograph from
1932-6, oil on canvas, Tate Gallery,
the catalogue of the Surrealist Objects
91.4 X 71.1 cm (36 X 28 in.), © Tate
and Poems exhibition, 1937, © The
Gallery, London 1999
Roland Penrose Estate
34 Henry Moore, Four Piece Composition
43 Julian Trevelyan, Machine for Making
(1934), 1934, Cumberland alabaster, Tate
Clouds, 1937. Object lost; photograph
Gallery, length 31 cm (20 in.), © Henry
from the catalogue of the Surrealist
Moore Foundation
Objects and Poems exhibition, 1937
44 Paul Nash, The Bark is Worse Than 33 Henry Moore, Reclining Figure
the Bite, 1937. Object lost, © Tate Gallery, (1(436), 1936, elm wood, City Art Gallery,
London 1999 Wakefield, length 103 cm (42 in.),
© Henry Moore Foundation
45 Roland Penrose, Guaranteed Fine
Weather Suitcase, 1937. Object lost, © The 36 Henry Moore, Reclining Figure
Roland Penrose Estate (1937), 1937/ Hoptonwood stone, coll.
Miss Lois Orswell, length 83 cm (33 in.),
46 Peter Norman Dawson, British © Henry Moore Foundation
Diplomacy. Object lost; reproduced from
the catalogue of the Surrealist Objects 37 Roland Penrose, L'lle Invisible
and Poems exhibition, 1937, © The (Seeing is Believing), 1937, oil on canvas,
Artist's Estate coll. M. Lods, 100 X 73 cm
(39.3 X 29.8 in.), © The Roland
47 Geoffrey Graham, Virgin
Penrose Estate
Washerwoman. Object lost; reproduced
from the catalogue of the Surrealist 38 Julian Trevelyan, City, 1936, oil and
Objects and Poems exhibition, 1937, crayon on board, private coll.,
© The Artist's Estate 72 X 113 cm (28.3 X 43.2 in.), © The
Artist's Estate
48 Charles Howard, Inscrutable Object.
Object lost; reproduced from the cata- 39 Julian Trevelyan, A Symposium,
logue of the Surrealist Objects and Poems 1936, oil on canvas, Tate Gallery,
exhibition, 1937, © The Artist's Estate 61 X 103 cm (24 X 41.3 in.), © The
Artist's Estate
49 Roland Penrose, Condensation of
Games, 1937, mixed media, object lost, 60 Eileen Agar, David and Jonathan,
© The Roland Penrose Estate 1936, mixed media. Lost; reproduced