Surrealism in Britain

by Remy, Michael

• ISBN13: 9780853318255
• ISBN10: 0853318255
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-08-28
• Publisher: Lund Humphries

Summary

Since the rediscovery of British Surrealism at the Children of Alice exhibition at Marcel Fleiss's Galerie 1900-2000 in Paris in 1982, there has been a major revival of interest in Surrealism outside France. Surrealism in Britain is the first comprehensive study of the British Surrealist movement and its achievements. Lavishly illustrated, the book provides a year-by-year narrative of the development of Surrealism among artists, writers, critics and theorists in Britain, from the 1936 International Surrealist Exhibition in London right through to the present day. Michel Remy has conducted personal interviews with many of the artists involved and the book includes an examination of the work of, among others, Paul Nash, Henry Moore, Eileen Agar, Len Lye, Humphrey Jennings, David Gascoyne, Grace Pailthorpe and Reuben Mednikoff, Roland Penrose, F. E. McWilliam, Conroy Maddox, Emmy Bridgwater, Edith Rimmington, Desmond Morris, Lee Miller, Julian Trevelyan and John Tunnard. Poetry, prose, painting, sculpture, photography and artists' texts all have their place in this fascinating and attractive book.

Author Biography

Michel Remy is Professor of English Literature and Art History at the University of Nice.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	7	(8)
Foreword	15	(8)
Exits and entrances	23	(12)
The entry of the mediums: the establishment of surrealism in Britain 1932-6	35	(66)
Paul Nash and Unit One	36	(8)
Hugh Sykes Davies and David Gascoyne	44	(5)
Len Lye and Humphrey Jennings	49	(13)
British artists in Paris: Penrose, Trevelyan, Agar and Banting	62	(8)
Henry Moore	70	(1)
Publications and meetings	71	(2)
The International Surrealist Exhibition	73	(28)
Communicating vessels: formation and growth 1936-7	101	(46)
Art and politics	102	(10)
Surrealist Objects and Poems	112	(11)
Axis and Circle	123	(2)
David Gascoyne	125	(2)
John Banting	127	(1)
Paul Nash	128	(3)
Henry Moore	131	(3)
Roland Penrose	134	(2)
Julian Trevelyan	136	(4)
Eileen Agar	140	(7)
Spirit levels, level spirits: the years of definition 1938-40	147	(62)
The Road is Wider than Long	166	(5)
Samuel Haile	171	(5)
Ceri Richards	176	(3)
Eileen Agar	179	(1)
Henry Moore	180	(4)
Roland Penrose	184	(5)
Humphrey Jennings	189	(3)
F. E. McWilliam	192	(4)
Conroy Maddox and John Melville	196	(8)
Ithell Colquhoun	204	(1)
Grace Pailthorpe and Reuben Mednikoff	205	(4)
The eye of the hurricane: the war years 1940-45	209	(62)
Division in the ranks	224	(4)
Gordon Onslow-Ford and Conroy Maddox	228	(13)
Toni del Renzio	241	(3)
Ithell Colquhoun, Emmy Bridgwater and Edith Rimmington	244	(12)
John Tunnard	256	(5)
Grace Pailthorpe and Reuben Mednikoff	261	(4)
Apocalypticism	265	(6)
Watchman, What of the Night?: the Free Unions years 1945-51	271	(56)
George Melly	275	(1)
Activity resumed	276	(9)
John Banting and Conroy Maddox	285	(8)
Emmy Bridgwater	293	(3)
Edith Rimmington	296	(5)
Roland Penrose	301	(5)
F. E. McWilliam	306	(1)
Eileen Agar	306	(4)
Samuel Haile	310	(2)
Ithell Colquhoun	312	(4)
'Scottie' Wilson	316	(5)
Desmond Morris	321	(6)
Postscript: the search for a fading prospect	327	(18)
Notes	345	(13)
Select bibliography	358	(27)
Index	385