A Tale of Mother’s Bones: Grace Pailthorpe, Reuben Mednikoff and the Birth of Psychorealism

Grace Pailthorpe, Reuben Mednikoff Camden Arts Centre

A Tale of Mother’s Bones tells the remarkable story of a unique artistic and personal collaboration. After meeting at a party in 1935, Dr. Grace Pailthorpe (1883–1971), a trained surgeon, and Reuben Mednikoff (1906–1972), an artist and designer, began collaborating on a project that would bring together art, writing and psychoanalysis in an attempt to create a better society.

Initially associated with Surrealism and praised by Andre Breton as ‘the best and most truly surrealist’ of all the British artists,  they made wildly experimental paintings and drawings which they then subjected to rigorous psychoanalytic interpretation; developing a creative practice that they called ‘Psychorealism’.

This is the first exhibition to bring together Pailthorpe and Mednikoff’s extraordinary drawings and paintings, alongside their often challenging interpretations. Featuring over 80 works spanning nearly four decades, this show examines their earliest experiments with Surrealist processes, their response to the rise of Fascism in interwar Europe, and the way in which they approached gender, relationships, psychology and spirituality, from progressive and often radical positions.

Duration 12 April 2019 - 23 June 2019
Times Tuesday to Sunday: 10.00am – 6.00pm Wednesdays: 10.00am – 9.00pm Closed Mondays
Cost Free
Venue Camden Art Centre
Address Arkwright Road, London, NW3 6DG
Contact 02074725500 / info@camdenartcentre.org / www.camdenartcentre.org/

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