Eileen Agar

Eileen Forrester Agar,
Born in Buenos-Aires, the 1st of december 1899 - Dead in London, the 17th november 1991.
She was a british painter and photograph associated with the Surrealist movement.

Biography

Her father, a Scott and her mother, an American, moved to London in 1911.After the Heathfield St Mary's School,she studied, in 1919, at the «Byam Shaw school of fine art» then, in 1924, with Leon Underwood (1890–1975), and she attended the Slade School of Fine Art, London, from 1925 to 1926. She also studied art in Paris from 1928 to 1930.
In 1926, she met the hungarian writer Joseph Bard (They will be married in 1940).
In 1928, they lived in Paris where she met the surrealists André Breton and Paul Éluard with whom she have a friendly relationship.
She was a member of the London group from 1933. Her work was selected by Roland Penrose and Herbert Read for the International Surrealist Exhibition at the New Burlington Galleries, London, in 1936, where she exposed three paintings, as « Quadriga » and five objects.
Agar exhibited with the Surrealists both in England and abroad. She started to experiment with automatic techniques and new materials, taking photographs and making collages and objects, for example The Angel of Anarchy (fabric over plaster and mixed media, 1936–40; London, Tate).
In 1937, she spent some days-off in Mougins (Alpes-Maritimes), at Picasso and Dora Maar's home, with Paul Éluard and Nusch, Roland Penrose and Lee Miller who photographed her. [Colvile, p. 25]
In 1940, she was present in many surrealist exhibitions in Amsterdam, New York, Paris and Tokyo.
After the World War II, she had started a new productive area (almosts 16 monographic exhibitons between 1946 to 1985).
By the 1960s she was producing Tachist paintings with Surrealist elements.

ome works

* « "Quadriga" », [Colvile, p. 26] painting, 1935
* « "The Angel of Anarchy" », [Colvile, p. 27] object, 1940
* « "L'Horloge d'une femme" » [Colvile, p. 29] painting, 1989

Bibliography

;in french
Georgiana Colvile « Scandaleusement d'elles : trente-quatre femmes surréalistes », Jean-Michel Place, Paris, 1999

External links

* [http://www.redfern-gallery.co.uk/pages/artistinfo/121.html Redfern Gallery]
* [http://www.leicestergalleries.com/provenart/dealer_stock_details.cgi?d_id=253&a_id=10425 Leicester Galleries]

References