Roland Penrose
Roland Penrose | |
---|---|
Chiddingly, East Sussex, England | |
Education | Architecture |
Movement | Surrealism |
Spouses | |
Children | James Doyle Penrose (father) |
Relatives | Roger Penrose (nephew) |
Military career | |
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Service/ | British Army |
Years of service | 1943–1945 |
Rank | Captain |
Unit | Royal Engineers |
Sir Roland Algernon Penrose
Penrose married the poet Valentine Boué and then the photographer Lee Miller.
Biography
Early life
Penrose was the son of
Roland grew up in a strict
During this period he became friends with the artists Pablo Picasso, Wolfgang Paalen and Max Ernst, who would have the strongest influence on his work and most of the leading Surrealists.
Surrealism
Penrose returned to London in 1936 and was one of the organisers of the London International Surrealist Exhibition, which led to the establishment of the English surrealist movement.[6] Penrose settled in Hampstead, north London, where he was the centre of the community of avant-garde British artists and emigres who had settled there.[7] With the Belgian surrealist E. L. T. Mesens, he opened the London Gallery on Cork Street,[8] where he promoted the Surrealists as well as the sculptor Henry Moore, to whom he was first introduced by his close friend Wolfgang Paalen, as well as the painter Ben Nicholson, and the sculptors Barbara Hepworth and Naum Gabo.
Busy with other duties, he made a small number of paintings[6] such as the 1938 Le Grand Jour, which he described as "a collage painting although nothing but paint has been applied to the canvas. The images are unrelated to each other but by coming together like images in dreams they produce new associations which can be interpreted in whatever way the spectator may feel inclined." The image, he wrote "seemed to indicate an atmosphere of excitement and exhilaration centred round the distillation of a dance hall and a sunset in an alembic".[5]
London, Cornwall, and Paris
Penrose commissioned a sculpture from Moore for his Hampstead house; the work became the focus of a press campaign against
In 1938, Penrose organised a tour of Picasso's
World War II camouflage work
As a Quaker, Penrose had been a
He worked as senior lecturer at the Eastern Command Camouflage School in Norwich, and at the Camouflage Development and Training Centre at Farnham Castle, Surrey. During his lectures, he used to startle his audiences by inserting a colour photograph of his partner Lee Miller, lying on a lawn naked but for a camouflage net; when challenged, he argued that "if camouflage can hide Lee's charms, it can hide anything".[15] Forbes suggests this was a surrealist technique being put into service.[15] His lectures were respected by both trainees and colleagues.[16] In 1941 Penrose wrote the Home Guard Manual of Camouflage, which provided accurate guidance on the use of texture, not only colour, especially for protection from aerial photography, which was monochrome at that time.[16]
Penrose applied for a job at the
The ICA
After the war, Penrose co-founded the
Farley Farm
Penrose and Miller bought Farley Farm House near Chiddingly, East Sussex, in 1949, where he displayed his valuable collection of modern art, and in particular the Surrealists and works by Picasso. Penrose designed the landscaping around the house as a setting for works of modern sculpture. Farleys House is now a museum and archive open to the public for guided tours on pre-determined days.[22]
Penrose remained close to his first wife, Valentine; they met again in London during the Second World War, and she came to live with Roland and Lee Miller for eighteen months. Valentine died at Farley Farm in 1978.[4]
Awards and distinctions
His bold and enigmatic paintings, drawings and objects are some of the most enduring images of the surrealist movement. His postcard collages, examples of which are found in major national collections across Britain. He was awarded the
Family
Penrose is the uncle of the physicist and polymath Roger Penrose, and the chess Grandmaster Jonathan Penrose. He and Lee Miller had a son, Antony Penrose, who continues to run Farleys House as a museum and archive.[25]
Recordings
An interview with Roland Penrose (and Lee Miller) recorded in 1946 can be heard on the audio CD Surrealism Reviewed.[26]
A filmed interview between Penrose and Antoni Tàpies was directed by James Scott in Spain in 1974.[27] The film, not previously completed, was in pre-production in 2018. The footage is available for viewing through the Fundació Antoni Tàpies.
Extracts from an interview between Penrose and Max Ernst can be seen in episode 5, "The Threshold of Liberty", of Robert Hughes's art-historical series The Shock of the New (1980).
See also
Notes
- ^ About Roland Penrose.
- ^ "James Doyle Penrose | artnet". www.artnet.com. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/31538. Retrieved 19 January 2009. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ a b Kellaway, Kate (22 August 2010). "Tony Penrose: 'With Picasso, the rule book was torn up'". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
- ^ a b "Sir Roland Penrose Le Grand Jour 1938". Tate Gallery. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
- ^ a b "Roland Penrose (1900-1984)". The Surrealism Website.
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: Missing or empty|url=
(help) - OCLC 28963301.
- ^ "Cork Street through time, a history of innovation and scandal. The street that introduced major artists and avant garde movements to the UK". Cork Street Galleries. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
- ^ Breton, Andrea (2017). "A brief and incomplete history of art and artists in Cornwall". Best of Cornwall 2017. pp. 23–32.
- ISBN 978-0233001388.
- ^ Leslie, Alan. "Gig Crompton (1922–2020)" (PDF). BSBI News Obituaries. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
- ^ Clark, Ross (9 July 2003). "Daily Telegraph report on installation of blue plaque". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013. Retrieved 23 January 2008.
- ^ Newark, 2007.
- ^ "Surrealist who tried to paint a whole nation green". The Scotsman. Archived from the original on 15 September 2022. Retrieved 4 March 2007.
- ^ a b Forbes, 2009, page 151.
- ^ a b Forbes, 2009, pages 151–152.
- ^ Gardham, Duncan (3 March 2009). "MI5 investigated Vogue photographer Lee Miller on suspicion of spying for Russians, files show". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
- ^ "About". Institute of Contemporary Arts. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
- ^ Morris, Desmond. "Playground of the Avant-Garde: Desmond Morris on Post-War Rebellion and the Origins of the ICA". ICA. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
- ^ Bayley, Lucy Rose (24 April 2015). "From the Archive: Shapes and Forms". ICA. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
- OCLC 18470049.
- ^ "Farleys House and Gallery: Home of the Surrealists". Farleys House and Gallery. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
OPEN SUNDAYS & THURSDAYS APR – OCT
- ^ "No. 42231". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 1960. p. 8898.
- ^ "No. 43921". The London Gazette. 11 March 1966. p. 2703.
- ^ Penrose, Anthony (8 April 2010). "Roland Penrose and Lee Miller at Farley Farm". Colchester Decorative and Fine Arts Society. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
- ^ Surrealism Reviewed
- ^ Scott, James. "Filmography". James Scott. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
Antoni Tàpies as Director 1974 Documentary (Work in Progress) A film about the Spanish/Catalan artist Antoni Tàpies, which consists of footage shot in Barcelona and interviews between Sir Roland Penrose and the artist.
References
- Forbes, Peter. Dazzled and Deceived: Mimicry and Camouflage. Yale, 2009.
- Newark, Tim. Now you see it… Now You Don't. History Today, March 2007.
- Penrose, Roland. Home Guard Manual of Camouflage. George Routledge and Sons, 1941.