Description

“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 the friendships and contacts which introduced European Surrealism to the British art world.

This memoir, written by Roland’s son Antony, was originally published by Prestel in 2001 to accompany a retrospective exhibition in Edinburgh and was illustrated with contemporary photographs, including those of his wife Lee Miller.
This new revised edition published in December 2020 contains over 50 new illustrations. The book maintains an outstanding balance between scholarly expertise and the personal experience of Antony as he discusses how his father embraced the fantasies and rebellions of the Surrealist movement through his friendships with artists such as Picasso, Man Ray, Miró, Ernst and Tàpies.