Conroy Maddox (27 December 1912 – 14 January 2005) was an English

surrealist Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

, collagist, writer and lecturer; and a key figure in the Birmingham Surrealist movement.Morris, Desmond (2018), ''The Lives of the Surrealists''. He was born in

Ledbury Ledbury is a market town and civil parish in the county of Herefordshire, England, lying east of Hereford, and west of the Malvern Hills. It has a significant number of Tudor style timber-framed structures, in particular along Church Lane a ...

Herefordshire Herefordshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England, bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh ...

, and discovered

surrealism Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

in 1935, spending the rest of his life exploring its potential through his paintings,

collage Collage (, from the , "to glue" or "to stick together") is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assembly of different forms, thus creating a new whole. (Compare with pasti ...

s, photographs, objects and texts. Inspired by artists such as

Max Ernst Max Ernst (; 2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German-born painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and surrealism in Europe. He had no formal artistic trai ...

Óscar Domínguez Óscar M. Domínguez (aka Oscar Dominguez, Oscar Domínguez Palazón, Oscar Manuel Domínguez Palazón, O. Domínguez, Oscar Manuel Domínguez) (3 January 1906 – 31 December 1957) was a Spanish-born French surrealist painter, commercial artist ...

and

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (11 May 190423 January 1989), known as Salvador Dalí ( ; ; ), was a Spanish Surrealism, surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, ...

, he rejected academic painting in favour of techniques that expressed the surrealistic spirit of rebellion. Maddox officially joined the British Surrealist Group in 1938. His creations soon began not only to challenge the conventional view of reality, but also to push pictorial expression to the limits of consciousness. He was even implicated in both scandal and controversy when, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's London boroughs, 32 boroughs. Its name derives from the location of the original ...

suspected him of fifth columnist sabotage and mounted a surprise raid to seize works thought to contain coded messages to the enemy. Following the war he moved to Balsall Heath and began his most active period. In 1948, he married Nan Burton. They had a daughter and a son together, but had the marriage dissolved in 1955. He died in London, aged 92.

Exhibitions

* 1938 - Wertheim Gallery, London * 1940 - London Gallery, London * 1940 - ''Surrealism Today'', Zwemmer Gallery, London * 1940 - Artists International Association * 1945 -

Leicester Galleries Leicester Galleries was an art gallery located in London from 1902 to 1977 that held exhibitions of modern British, French and international artists' works. Its name was acquired in 1984 by Peter Nahum, who operates "Peter Nahum at the Leiceste ...

, London * 1947 - International Surrealist Exhibition, Paris * 1949 - Royal Birmingham Society of Artists Galleries * 1949 - Bilston Corporation Art Gallery * 1951 - Royal Birmingham Society of Artists Galleries * 1963 - Grabowski Gallery, London * 1967 - Zwemmer Gallery, London * 1967 - Exeter City Gallery, Exeter * 1973 - Hamet Gallery, London * 1976 - ''Gouaches of the 1940s'', Fischer Fine Art, London * 1978 - ''Surrealism Unlimited'',

Camden Arts Centre Camden Art Centre (known as Hampstead Arts Centre until 1967 and Camden Arts Centre until 2020) is a contemporary art gallery in the London Borough of Camden, England. It hosts temporary exhibitions and educational outreach projects, with a prog ...

, London * 1982 - ''Peinture Surrealiste en Angleterre 1930-1960'', Galerie 1900–2000, Paris * 1994 - ''Paintings and Objects'', Gallery M, London * 2000 - ''Surrealism in Birmingham 1935-1955'', Birmingham Museums * 2001 - ''Conroy Maddox. A Surrealist Odyssey'', Belgrave Gallery, London

Bibliography

* ''Free Unions - Unions Libre'' - edited by Simon Watson Taylor and with cover by Conroy Maddox (1946) * ''Dali'' by Conroy Maddox (

Taschen Taschen is a luxury art book publisher founded in 1980 by Benedikt Taschen in Cologne, Germany. As of January 2017, Taschen is co-managed by Benedikt Taschen and his eldest daughter, Marlene Taschen. History The company began as Tasch ...

)

References

* ''The Scandalous Eye: The Surrealism of Conroy Maddox'' by Silvano Levy, Liverpool University Press, 2003, 292 pages, .

External links

Obituary
from ''The Independent'' newspaper (UK) by Peter Davies, 15 January 2005

from ''The Times'' newspaper (UK), 17 January 2005

from the ''Daily Telegraph'' newspaper (UK), 21 January 2005
Conroy Maddox
at the

Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...

Interview
National Life Stories {{DEFAULTSORT:Maddox, Conroy 1912 births 2005 deaths 20th-century English painters English male painters 21st-century English painters British surrealist artists People from Ledbury 20th-century English male artists 21st-century English male artists