Roland Penrose: The Friendly Surrealist

In this moving, revealing and highly readable memoir, Antony Penrose has composed a fitting tribute to his father, which also faces up to some of the more controversial aspects of Roland Penrose's life.

"Penrose" wrote Andre Breton "est Surrealiste dans l'amitie" and 'The Friendly Surrealist' is an apt description for the man who more than any other nurtured friendships and connections which introduced European Surrealism to the British art world. Roland Penrose embraced the fantasies and rebellions of the Surrealist movement through his friendships with artists such as Picasso, Man Ray, Miro, Ernst and Tàpies. His own works, which often reveal the true emotions behind his relationships with his wives, Valentine Boue and Lee Miller, constitute an important contribution to British Surrealist art.

List of contents

Foreword by George Melly 1900-19 As the Twig is Bent, Thus the Tree shall Grow 1919-23 Cambridge to Paris 1923-31 Cassis and Paris 1932-35 Le Menage Surrealiste 1936-37 Surrealism in England 1937-38 The Road is Wider Than Long 1938-45 Black Music 1946-50 Forks in the Road 1951-59 Surrealism in Muddles Green 1960-70 Sir Realist 1971-84 Illusion and Reality

About the author

Co-Director of Farleys House and Gallery Ltd which manages the Lee Miller Archives and The Penrose Collection. Antony Penrose is the son of the American photographer Lee Miller and Roland Penrose, surrealist artist and biographer of Picasso, Miró, Man Ray and Tàpies. Antony has written numerous books, articles and two plays on the subject of his parents and their associates. The movie LEE released in 2024 starring Kate Winslet as Lee Miller is based on his biography The Lives of Lee Miller. He lectures widely and is a curator of photography, an artist and film maker in his own right.

Product details

• Authors: Antony Penrose
• Publisher: Ingram Publishers Services
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 12.08.2025
• EAN: 9780953238958
• ISBN: 978-0-9532389-5-8
• Dimensions: 146 mm x 209 mm x 22 mm
• Weight: 729 g
• Illustrations: farbige Illustrationen, schwarz-weiss Illustrationen
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Art > Art history; Non-fiction book > Music, film, theatre > Biographies, autobiographies; BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Literary Figures, Biography: literary, Biography: historical, political & military, The arts: general issues, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Entertainment & Performing Arts, Memoirs, ART / History / Modern (late 19th Century to 1945), Biography: arts & entertainment, Surrealism, History of Art, Biography: writers, Biography: arts and entertainment, Biography: historical, political and military, Art & Design Styles: Surrealism & Dada, The arts: general topics, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Memoirs