Anthony Spira Bücher

Die Faszination der Surrealisten für Puppen und menschenähnliche Maschinen zeigt sich besonders deutlich im Werk Hans Bellmers (1902-1975). Der Künstler baute in den Jahren nach 1933 in Abkehr zum Körperkult der Nationalsozialisten verstörende Puppen aus Wachs, Holz, Flachs, Gips und Klebstoff, die er mit Perücken und Glasaugen ausstaffierte. Fotos dieser Figuren mit Fetischcharakter wurden im surrealistischen Magazin Minotaure veröffentlicht und vom Kreis um André Breton begeistert aufgenommen. Die Inszenierungen des weiblichen Körpers, die den berühmten Puppenkonstruktionen zu Grunde liegen, sind Ausgangspunkt für seine weiteren Arbeiten: Zeichnungen, Fotografien und Grafiken. Intensiv an der Diskussion Freud'scher Thesen beteiligt, untersuchte er in ihnen psychoanalytische Theorien zu Hysterie und Übertragung und leistete damit einen wertvollen Beitrag zur Erforschung der Beziehung zwischen Sprache und Körper. (Englische Ausgabe ISBN 978-3-7757-1794-6) Ausstellungen: Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris 1.3.-22.5.2006 · Staatliche Graphische Sammlung München 29.6.-27.8.2006 · Whitechapel Art Gallery, London 20.9.-19.11.2006

A major survey of Dame Laura Knight, first female Royal Academician and popular British artist of the 20th century.Laura Knight (1877–1970) was one of the most famous and popular English artists of the twentieth century. She was the first woman to have a solo exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, in 1965. In the following decades her realist style of painting fell out of fashion and her work become largely overlooked. A new generation has rediscovered her work, finding a contemporary resonance in her depictions of women at work, of people from marginalized communities and her contributions as a war artist.This beautifully illustrated book, which accompanies a major exhibition at MK Gallery, provides an overview of Knight's illustrious from her training at Nottingham Art School at the age of 13 and her time in North Yorkshire and Cornwall, to her visits to traveller communities and a segregated American hospital. It also features her circus, ballet and theatre scenes, paintings of women during the war and her late paintings of nature.The selection of over 160 works combines celebrated paintings with less known graphic and design works, including ceramics, jewellery and costumes that reflect the artist's enduring interest in the everyday activities of people from all walks of life.

The first major survey of the work of Ingrid Pollard, a British artist and photographer nominated for the Turner Prize 2022, who uses portraiture photography and traditional landscape imagery to explore social constructs such as Britishness and racial difference.