Private
Collection
Collection
Edith Rimmington
(1902 - 1986)
Prize Fight, circa 1960
Institutional Collection
Edith Rimmington (1902 - 1986)
Oil on canvas
11 ¾ x 13 ¾ in. (30 x 35 cm)
Size:
Height – 30cm
Width – 35cm
Art reflects society, both in its deeper and its lighter aspects. So in this
painting, as well as the two statues of the Greek goddess Athena (known
to the Romans as Minerva) in a ruined house open to the sky, we note
how the soft muted colours of the damaged painted walls and the
chequered tiles not only serve to establish a classical mise-en-scène, but
also echo those of interior design and of women’s clothing in the 1930s,
a period when ancient Greece was a fashion inspiration.
Edith Rimmington, who moved to London in 1937 and became
part of the British Surrealist Group, typically presents us with a complex,
confusing image and an equally perplexing title. The focus is on the two
figures of Athena, patron of philosophy, the strategy of war, and the
crafts associated with women such as spinning and weaving. The Sisters
of Anarchy are identical in pose and feature (doubling being a popular
conception in Surrealism), with blank, round eyes reminding us that
Homer refers to Athena as “owl-eyed”.
On the right she wears a chiton girdled under the bust and a large
cloak (himation), and on the left this mantle has been transformed
into an owl. This is not the little owl (Athene noctura) associated with
her (the Greeks loved owls for their wisdom and intelligence), but a
large, fierce owl more akin to the Roman view that such birds were bad
omens, prophets of doom; Hegel declares that Minerva’s owl appears
when the shades of night appear, and as Minerva, the statue’s foot has
been replaced by a large claw. We are left wondering if the Sisters see the
anarchic spirit of the times reflected in a decade troubled by political
tyranny and the ravages of war.
Commentary by Aileen Ribeiro. Ribeiro was Head of the History of Dress at the Courtauld Institute from 1975 to 2009, and is now Professor Emeritus in the History of Art, London University. She is the author of many books; Clothing Art: A Visual Culture of Fashion 1600–1914 (2017) won the Apollo Book of the Year Award.
Edith Rimmington attended the Brighton School of Art (1919′
22) where she met fellow artist Leslie Robert Baxter (1893’1986)
whom she married in 1926. She joined the British Surrealist
Group on relocating to London from Manchester in 1937, and
despite being one of its only female members, became a key
figure in the movement ‘ showing works at the Surrealist Objects
exhibition at the London Gallery (1937) and the International
Surrealist Exhibition at the Galerie Maeght in Paris (1947).
Much of her work from this time is recognisable for its focus
on strange figures and dreams, such as The Oneiroscopist (1947).
When the British Surrealist Group disbanded in 1947,
Rimmington moved increasingly away from painting to explore
Surrealist ideas through automatic poetry and experimental
photography.
