1936 Surrealism and Three Dimensions: Early: Context for the Art of Ceri Richards

Abstract

The Modernist painter Ceri Richards had his first real exposure to European modernism in the 1920s and 1930s. The visibility of post-impressionist art and the accessibility of turn-of-the-century art theory was accelerated for him during his first years as a student in London and, despite still being at a critical cultural distance from the modern movement in Paris, the assimilation of what he understood of Matisse and his lifelong-obsession with Picasso was rapid. This article isolates the significant exposure that came next for Richards as an emerging modernist, in and around 1936, and specifically to that year's International Surrealist Exhibition held in London.