EILEEN AGAR AT WHITECHAPEL GALLERY
Adventurous, Prolific, Influential Surrealist
Eileen Agar (1899 – 1991) was a British artist attached to the Surrealist movement and known for her brilliantly unique paintings, collages, photographs, and objects. Whitechapel Gallery, in London, is hosting a major retrospective of the late artist’s work, titled Eileen Agar: Angel of Anarchy. This is the largest exhibition ever dedicated to her (it features over 100 of her works). It also coincides with a broader re-evaluation of women’s contribution to the story of modern art.
Born in Buenos Aires to an American mother and Scottish father, Eileen Agar had a reasonably privileged childhood. She was a rebellious child who took an interest in art early on in her life to her mother’s frustration. At age six, she was sent to boarding school in England to grow and transform into an exceptional artist. She began to develop her artistic skills at the many schools she attended during her youth. She then studied under Leon Underwood at Brook Green from 1920 to 1921 and part-time under Henry Tonks at the Slade School of Fine Art in London from 1921 to 1924. There she met her first husband, Robin Bartlett, and studied alongside Cecil Beaton and Rex Whistler. She also spent these years rebelling against her family and escaping the life they planned to follow her dreams. In 1925 she destroyed all of her old work and married Bartlett, and in 1926 she met Joseph Bard, the person she would spend the next 50 years with. She was introduced to Surrealism and Cubism in Paris and painted her first Surrealist piece upon returning to England in 1930. She then began working with found objects, including shells, bones, plant life, marine detritus, textiles, and feathers. Fifteen of these sculptures are featured in the exhibition, including Angel of Anarchy (1936 – 40) and Angel of Mercy (1934). Some of her collage work is also featured, such as Precious Stones (1936), Erotic Landscape (1942), and Spider Woman (1983). Her rarely seen photographic series Ploumanac’h Rock, from the 1930s, can also be viewed.
Agar’s career spanned over 70 years and consists of different phases in which she was influenced or discouraged by various factors. For example, she felt anxious about the war, but she felt a new wave of inspiration and encouragement after it was over. She never stopped working until her death in 1991. Eileen Agar: Angel of Anarchy shows each stage in her career, ending in the more significant and more tightly composed works created during the later years, such as paintings she completed in 1985 inspired by her Ploumanac’h Rock photographs. The exhibition runs from May 19 through August 29, 2021. Whitechapel Gallery presents Phantoms of Surrealism from May 19, 2021, to January 2, 2022. This archival exhibition examines the pivotal role of women as artists, organizers, editors, and animators of the Surrealist movement in Britain. Artists featured in this second exhibition include Eileen Agar, Claude Cahun (1894– 1954), Ithell Colquhoun (1906–88), Elizabeth Raikes (1907–42), Edith Rimmington (1902–86), and Sheila Legge (1911–49).
