SKU: 11831
Marion Adnams
(1898 - 1995)
Design for a Nautical Mural, 1930’s
£1,850
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Marion Adnams (1898 - 1995)
Size:
Height – 35cm
Width – 25cm
This work is a study for Marion Adnams’ La Ronde, 1963 (Private Collection) – a large, enigmatic painting which focuses on anthropomorphised trees; a subject that the artist would return to throughout her career. In her earlier works, such as ‘L’infante égarée’, 1944 (Manchester Art Gallery) and ‘Medusa Grown Old’, 1947 (Rediscovering Art by Women Collection), these would serve as a backdrop to her figures, their winding forms and shadows creating an additional tension to the work. Here, however, these leafless trees or perhaps vines become the subject themselves, twisting like ancient figures in an expansive landscape. Standing in a ring, one coloured deep red, they become evocative of an ancient ritual. Similar works by the artist, ‘For lo, winter is past’, 1963 and ‘A Time to Be Born and a Time to Die’, 1965 can be found in Derby Museums, near where the artist lived.
Marion Adnams initially trained as a modern languages teacher; however, woodcuts she made while travelling in Europe during the 1920s received significant praise when she exhibited them at Derby Art Gallery, prompting her to re-train at Derby School of Art during the 1930s. She qualified as an art teacher in 1938 and in 1946 she became Head of Art at Derby Diocesan Training College.
From the late 1930s onwards, Adnams became known for her distinctive Surrealist paintings, and exhibited in local galleries and in London, including at the British Art Centre and the Modern Art Gallery Although she never formally joined any Surrealist societies, she made a significant contribution to the movement, particularly regarding female/male dichotomies within the group, which she explored extensively in her work. In 2017 she was the subject of a retrospective at Derby Art Gallery.
She wrote extensively, including an unpublished Autobiography.
