Eileen Agar
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Eileen Forrester Agar (1 December 1899 – 17 November 1991) was an Argentine-British painter and photographer associated with the
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 ...
movement.


Biography

Agar was born in
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...
, to a Scottish father and American mother. Her father was the head of a family business selling windmills and agricultural machinery to Argentina. At a young age, Agar became fascinated by pictures by Edmund Dulac and
Arthur Rackham Arthur Rackham (19 September 1867 – 6 September 1939) was an English book illustrator. He is recognised as one of the leading figures during the Golden Age of British book illustration. His work is noted for its robust pen and ink drawings, ...
. Before attending school, she grew up in her family villa, Quinta la Lila, learning from her nanny and a French governess. Agar describes her childhood as being "full of balloons, hoops and St Bernard dogs". The family travelled to Britain approximately every two years during her childhood. Aged six, Agar was sent to England to a private school in
Canford Cliffs Canford Cliffs is a suburb of Poole in Dorset, England. The neighbourhood lies on the English Channel coast midway between Poole and Bournemouth. To the southwest is Sandbanks which has some of the highest property values in the world; with C ...
. At her second school, Heathfield School, Ascot, Agar's teacher, Lucy Kemp-Welch, encouraged her to continue to develop her art. In 1914, at the onset of
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, Agar was sent away to Tudor Hall, then in Kent, to avoid the hardships of war. The music master, Horace Kesteven, introduced Agar to various artists, in particular, Charles Sims, who exposed her to some of Paul Nash's early works. Of her time with Sims, Agar said: "I found myself in a milieu of art where art was a valued part of daily life". Before the war ended, Agar attended the Demoiselles Ozanne
finishing school A finishing school focuses on teaching young women social graces and upper-class cultural rites as a preparation for entry into society. The name reflects the fact that it follows ordinary school and is intended to complete a young woman's ...
to improve her French, and took weekly oil painting lessons at the
Byam Shaw School of Art The Byam Shaw School of Art, often known simply as Byam Shaw, was an independent art school in London, England, which specialised in fine art and offered foundation and degree level courses. It was founded in 1910 by Byam Shaw, John Liston Bya ...
in Kensington. Agar found the Byam Shaw too academic and pleaded with her family to allow her to look elsewhere to continue her schooling. That infuriated her mother and, after an argument with her parents, Agar noted in her diary that she got up early, ate lunch with her sisters, packed her bags, and departed from
Paddington station Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a London station group, London railway station and London Underground station complex, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus of services provided by ...
. She left a note for her parents stating that she was on her way to
Truro Truro (; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England; it is the southernmost city in the United Kingdom, just under west-south-west of Charing Cross in London. It is Cornwall's county town, s ...
and
St Mawes St Mawes () is a village on the end of the Roseland Peninsula, in the eastern side of Falmouth, Cornwall, Falmouth harbour, on the south coast of Cornwall, England. The village, formerly two separate hamlets, lies on the east bank of the Carri ...
, where she would stay with family friends, the De Kays. From 1920 to 1921, Agar studied under Leon Underwood at his school at Brook Green. There, she made friends with
Blair Hughes-Stanton Blair Rowlands Hughes-Stanton (22 February 1902 – 6 June 1981) was a major figure in the English wood-engraving revival in the twentieth century. He was the son of the artist Sir Herbert Hughes-Stanton. He exhibited with the Society of Woo ...
and Gertrude Hermes, amongst others. From 1921 to 1924, she studied part-time under
Henry Tonks Henry Tonks, Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, FRCS (9 April 1862 – 8 January 1937) was a British surgeon and later draughtsman and painter of figure subjects, chiefly interiors, and a Caricature, caricaturist. He became an influentia ...
at the
Slade School of Fine Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...
in London, alongside Rex Whistler,
Cecil Beaton Sir Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton (14 January 1904 – 18 January 1980) was a British fashion, portrait and war photographer, diarist, painter, and interior designer, as well as costume designer and set designer for stage and screen. His accolades ...
, and her first husband, Robin Bartlett. Agar resisted the wealthy lifestyle she was privy to and pointedly refused to make use of the
Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...
her parents sent to pick her up from the Slade each day. With Bartlett and others, Agar travelled around France and Spain. In 1925, she married Bartlett and, in the same year, she destroyed the majority of her early work. The pair lived together in a house in
Dieppe Dieppe (; ; or Old Norse ) is a coastal commune in the Seine-Maritime department, Normandy, northern France. Dieppe is a seaport on the English Channel at the mouth of the river Arques. A regular ferry service runs to Newhaven in England ...
. Agar described Bartlett as "the escape-hatch which freed me from the clutches of my family". In 1926, Agar met a Hungarian, Joseph Bard, with whom she would spend the next 50 years, and whose passion for jewels she would integrate into her artistic practice. Between 1927 and 1928, Agar and Bard lived in London, but went to
Portofino Portofino (; ) is a ''comune'' located in the Metropolitan City of Genoa on the Italian Riviera. The town is clustered around its small harbour, and is known for the colourfully painted buildings that line the shore. Since the late 19th centur ...
in the winter, where Agar met
Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an List of poets from the United States, American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Ita ...
, who was to become a friend. In 1928, Agar and Bard moved to Paris, where she met the Surrealists
André Breton André Robert Breton (; ; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first ''Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') ...
and
Paul Éluard Paul Éluard (), born Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (; 14 December 1895 – 18 November 1952), was a French poet and one of the founders of the Surrealist movement. In 1916, he chose the name Paul Éluard, a matronymic borrowed from his maternal ...
, with whom she had a friendly relationship. In the period 1928 to 1930, Agar studied with the Czech
cubist Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement which began in Paris. It revolutionized painting and the visual arts, and sparked artistic innovations in music, ballet, literature, and architecture. Cubist subjects are analyzed, broke ...
, František Foltýn. With Pound, Agar visited
Constantin Brâncuși Constantin Brâncuși (; February 19, 1876 – March 16, 1957) was a Romanian sculptor, painter, and photographer who made his career in France. Considered one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th century and a pioneer of modernism ...
's studio. In 1930, Agar returned to England, and painted her first surrealist piece, ''The Flying Pillar'', based on André Breton's
Surrealist Manifesto The Surrealist Manifesto refers to several publications by Yvan Goll and André Breton, leaders of rival Surrealism, surrealist groups. Goll and Breton both published manifestos in October 1924 titled ''Manifeste du surréalisme''. Breton wrote ...
. Agar describes her piece in her memoir as her "first attempt at an imaginative approach to painting and although the result was surreal, it was not done with that intention". Agar said that "Surrealism was in the air in France and poets in France, later in England, were kissing that sleeping beauty troubled by nightmares, and it was the kiss of life that they gave". ''The Flying Pillar'' was later renamed the ''Three Symbols'', and was described by Agar as a reference both to Greek art and to
Gustave Eiffel Alexandre Gustave Eiffel ( , ; Bonickhausen dit Eiffel; 15 December 1832 – 27 December 1923) was a French civil engineer. A graduate of École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, he made his name with various bridges for the French railway net ...
and his famous tower, the symbol of modernity. The painting represented the classical world merging with the modern at a crossroads in time. In her 1928 diary entry, she described the various images in her painting as showing Greece as the meeting place of Judaeo-Egyptian and Greco-Christian culture, followed by the words "the Judaeo-Greco pillar", as if it were a note to bear in mind and to later be developed. In 1931, the first of four issues of ''The Island'' was published, edited by Leon Underwood and Joseph Bard. Agar contributed to all four issues. Two years later, she had her first solo show at the
Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London, part of the London Borough of Camden in England. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural institution, cultural, intellectual, and educational ...
Gallery. She was a member of the
London Group The London Group is a society based in London, England, created to offer additional exhibiting opportunities to artists besides the Royal Academy of Arts. Formed in 1913, it is one of the oldest artist-led organisations in the world. It was form ...
from 1934 onwards, and made her first collage in the same year. In 1934, Agar and Bard took a house for the summer at
Swanage Swanage () is a coastal town and civil parish in the south east of Dorset, England. It is at the eastern end of the Isle of Purbeck and one of its two towns, approximately south of Poole and east of Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester. In the Unit ...
, Dorset. There she met Paul Nash and the two began an intense artistic and sexual relationship. In 1935, Nash introduced Agar to the concept of the "
found object A found object (a calque from the French ''objet trouvé''), or found art, is art created from undisguised, but often modified, items or products that are not normally considered materials from which art is made, often because they already hav ...
". Together, they collaborated on a number of works, such as ''Seashore Monster at Swanage''. Nash recommended her work to
Roland Penrose Sir Roland Algernon Penrose (14 October 1900 – 23 April 1984) was an English artist, historian and poet. He was a major promoter and collector of modern art and an associate of the surrealists in the United Kingdom. During the Second World ...
and
Herbert Read Sir Herbert Edward Read, (; 4 December 1893 – 12 June 1968) was an English art historian, poet, literary critic and philosopher, best known for numerous books on art, which included influential volumes on the role of art in education. Read wa ...
, the organisers of the 1936 London International Surrealist Exhibition at the New Burlington Galleries, despite Agar's denial of the label of surrealist throughout her life. She was one of few women included in the exhibition. Agar exhibited with the Surrealists in England and abroad. During the 1930s, Agar's work focused on natural objects, often in a light-hearted manner, such as ''Bum-Thumb Rock'', a set of photographs of an unusual rock formation she noticed in Brittany. She started to experiment with automatic techniques and new materials, taking photographs and making collages and objects. ''The Angel of Anarchy'', a plaster head covered in fabric and other media, is an example from 1936 to 1940, and is now in the
Tate 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 ...
collection. She created two versions of ''The Angel of Anarchy'' after the first version was lost on its way back from a show in Amsterdam. She made her second version in 1940, using the same cast of Joseph Bard's head, and kept the original title. The bust was divided into two parts, one with white fur and one with black fur, with most of the head covered in green osprey and ostrich feathers, and doilies that she received from her mother, who used to wear them as a head dress. In 1937,
Paul Éluard Paul Éluard (), born Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (; 14 December 1895 – 18 November 1952), was a French poet and one of the founders of the Surrealist movement. In 1916, he chose the name Paul Éluard, a matronymic borrowed from his maternal ...
and his wife Nusch Éluard, visited Agar and Bard in London, and they travelled to
Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...
with Roland Penrose and Lee Miller. During that time, Éluard and Agar had an affair. She visited
Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...
and Dora Maar's home in
Mougins Mougins (; ; ) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Southeastern France. It is located on the heights of Cannes, in the arrondissement of Grasse. Mougins is a 15-minute drive from Ca ...
,
Alpes-Maritimes Alpes-Maritimes (; ; ; ) is a Departments of France, department of France located in the country's southeast corner, on the France–Italy border, Italian border and Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast. Part of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'A ...
, along with Lee Miller, who photographed her. By 1940, works by Agar had appeared in surrealist exhibitions in Amsterdam, New York, Paris and Tokyo. However, the war interrupted her artistic activity. After
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 ...
, Agar started a new productive phase of her life, holding almost 16 solo exhibitions between 1946 and 1985. By the 1960s, she was producing Tachist paintings with surrealist elements. In 1988, she published her autobiography ''A Look At My Life''. Reviewing it in ''
The Burlington Magazine ''The Burlington Magazine'' is a monthly publication that covers the fine and decorative arts of all periods. Established in 1903, it is the longest running art journal in the English language. It has been published by a charitable organisation s ...
'', Frances Spalding said the book "with its first-hand experience and vivid vignettes of Picasso, Eluard, Henry Moore and many others, makes an important contribution to surrealist literature" Agar was one of the five artists featured in the television series ''Five Women Painters'' made in 1989 by the
Arts Council An arts council is a government or private non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts; mainly by funding local artists, awarding prizes, and organizing arts events. They often operate at arms-length from the government to prevent pol ...
and
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
, with an accompanying book published by Lennard. In 1990, Agar was elected as a Royal Academy Associate. She died in London. The collections of several British institutions including Tate, Derby Museum and Art Gallery, Bradford, and the UK Government collection, include paintings by Agar. Agar is buried in the
Père Lachaise Cemetery Père Lachaise Cemetery (, , formerly , ) is the largest cemetery in Paris, France, at . With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Buried at Père Lachaise are many famous figures in the ...
, Paris, in grave No. 17606. Goshka Macuga's 2007 exhibition, part of the "Art Now" series at
Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in En ...
, used material drawn from Eileen Agar's archive.


Notable works

* ''The Angel of Mercy'', sculpture, 1934 * ''Quadriga'', painting, 1935 * ''The Angel of Anarchy'', object, 1940 * ''L'horloge d'une femme''Colvile, p. 29 painting, 1989


See also

*
Women Surrealists Women surrealists are women artists, photographers, filmmakers and authors connected with the Surrealism, surrealist movement, which began in the early 1920s. Painters * Gertrude Abercrombie (1909–1977), Chicago artist inspired by the surre ...
*
Leonora Carrington Mary Leonora Carrington (6 April 191725 May 2011) was a British-born, naturalised Mexican Surrealist painter and novelist. She lived most of her adult life in Mexico City and was one of the last surviving participants in the Surrealist movem ...


References

* Georgiana Colvile, ''Scandaleusement d'elles: trente-quatre femmes surréalistes'', Jean-Michel Place, Paris, 1999


External links

*
Eileen Agar on Wikiart.org



Leicester Galleries

Pallant House Gallery
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Agar, Eileen 1899 births 1991 deaths 20th-century British women artists 20th-century English painters 20th-century English women artists 20th-century Argentine women painters Alumni of the Byam Shaw School of Art Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art Argentine emigrants to the United Kingdom Argentine people of Scottish descent Argentine surrealist artists Artists from Buenos Aires British surrealist artists Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery English women painters People educated at Heathfield School, Ascot Royal Academicians Women surrealist artists