Surrealism in Britain 1 Book

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. It also makes a major contribution to the understanding of the individual achievements of the writers and artists involved and their allegiance to this key twentieth-century art movement.

Michel Remy draws on 20 years of studying British Surrealism to provide this authoritative and biographically-rich account. He has conducted personal interviews with many of the artists involved and the book includes an extensive examination of the careers of Paul Nash, Henry Moore, Eileen Agar, Len Lye, Humphrey Jennings, Grace Pailthorpe and Reuben Mednikoff, Roland Penrose, F. E. McWilliam, Conroy Maddox, Emmy Bridgwater, Edith Rimmington, Desmond Morris, Lee Miller, Julian Trevelyan, John Tunnard and more. Poetry, prose, painting, sculpture, photography and artists’ texts are analysed and the book is illustrated with 170 pictures many in colour.

Contents: Foreword; Exits and entrances; The entry of the mediums: the establishment of Surrealism in Britain, 1932-6; Paul Nash and Unit One; Hugh Sykes Davies and David Gascoyne; Len Lye and Humphrey Jennings; British artists in Paris: Penrose, Trevelyan, Agar and Banting; Henry Moore; Publications and meetings; The International Surrealist Exhibition; Communicating vessels; Formation and growth, 1936-7; Art and politics; Surrealist objects and poems; Axis and Circle; David Gascoyne; John Banting; Paul Nash; Henry Moore; Roland Penrose; Julian Trevelyan; Eileen Agar; Spirit levels, level spirits: the years of definition, 1938-40; The Road is Wider than Long; Samuel Haile; Ceri Richards; Eileen Agar; Henry Moore; Roland Penrose; Humphrey Jennings; F.E. McWilliam; Conroy Maddox and John Melville; Ithell Colquhoun; Grace Pailthorpe and Reuben Mednikoff; The eye of the hurricane: the war years, 1940-45; Division in the ranks; Gordon Onslow-Ford and Conroy Maddox; Toni del Renzio; Ithell Colquhoun, Emmy Bridgwater and Edith Rimmington; John Tunnard; Grace Pailthorpe and Reuben Mednikoff; Apocalypticism; Watchman, what of the night?: the Free Unions years, 1945-51; George Melly; Activity resumed; John Banting and Conroy Maddox; Emmy Bridgwater; Edith Rimmington; Roland Penrose; F.E. McWilliam; Eileen Agar; Samuel Haile; Ithell Colquhoun; "Scottie" Wilson; Desmond Morris; Postscript; Notes; Select bibliography; Index.

Reviews: 'the first dedicated history of the movement,' The Independent

'a sure-footed guide for the beginner and a treat for the connoisseur,' Times Metro

'Remy probably knows more about the subject than anyone now breathing...Surrealism in Britain is a book without obvious peer...an unusually handsome piece of bookmaking,' Financial Times

'an excellent guide to a previously underrated, but now recognised as revolutionary, period in British art history,' ARLIS News-sheet, No. 139

'Michel Remy is the leading authority on British Surrealism...Surrealism in Britain...is a substantial, well-researched history,' George Melly, Daily Telegraph

'Students of the Surreal will be delighted by Remy’s book and due to the immensely fluid nature of British Surrealism (apparently encompassing Henry Moore and the Goons), connoisseurs of other British art movements will find much to illuminate and cross-fertilise their respective fields,' The Art Newspaper, No. 98.

• Imprint: Lund Humphries
• Illustrations: Includes 70 colour and 100 b&w illustrations
• Published: May 1999
• Format: 234 x 156 mm
• Extent: 404 pages
• Binding: Hardback
• ISBN: 978-1-85928-282-3