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A Tale of Mother's Bones

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How many artists: 
2
Date: 
Saturday, 19 October 2019 to Saturday, 4 January 2020
Opening: 
Friday, 18 October 2019 - 7:00pm

Showing across both sites, Newlyn Art Gallery & The Exchange.

GRACE PAILTHORPE, REUBEN MEDNIKOFF AND THE BIRTH OF PSYCHOREALISM

An exhibition of paintings and drawings paired with in-depth psychoanalytic interpretation, A Tale of Mother’s Bones tells the remarkable story of a unique artistic and personal collaboration between Dr Grace Pailthorpe (1883–1971), a trained surgeon, and Reuben Mednikoff (1906–1972), an artist and designer. Pailthorpe and Mednikoff met at a party in London in 1935, and moved to Port Isaac in Cornwall where they made some of their most wildly experimental artworks

Showing across both our venues, this is the first exhibition to bring together Pailthorpe and Mednikoff’s extraordinary drawings and paintings, alongside their often challenging interpretations. Featuring more than 60 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.

A Tale of Mother’s Bone is curated by Hope Wolf (University of Sussex), with the De La Warr Pavilion and Camden Arts Centre.

Despite exhibiting with leading Surrealist artists in the 1930s, the work of Pailthorpe and Mednikoff is still relatively unknown, and A Tale of Mother’s Bones will be the most significant presentation of their work in almost 20 years. Showing for the first time their paintings and drawings alongside their interpretations, A Tale of Mother’s Bonespresents Pailthorpe and Mednikoff’s art and writing as part of the same vast project. Spanning nearly four decades, it tells the story of their lives through their works, and shows how their project and partnership challenged the conventions of their day.

While Mednikoff was a trained artist, Pailthorpe had previously served as a surgeon in the First World War and studied psychoanalysis. Combining their skills and knowledge, they spent decades of their lives researching how art and writing might liberate individuals and societies from violence and oppression.

Drawing on original archival research, the exhibition tells the story of the couple’s lives through their works, showing how they excavated their earliest memories (including memories of birth) in order to understand their adult relationships, critical reception, political context, and spiritual beliefs. The exhibition will reinstate the couple within the artistic and intellectual histories they contributed to, and will reveal a new term developed by the pair: Psychorealism.

Pailthorpe continued making work well into her 80s, producing gloriously colourful watercolours. Mednikoff, who changed his name to Richard Pailthorpe in 1948, wrote fascinating reflections on his past lives. The couple died one year apart from one another in 1971 and 1972.

Curator :

Telephone: 
01736 363715
Venue ( Address ): 

Newlyn Art Gallery
New Road
Newlyn
TR18 5PZ

The Exchange
Princes Street
Penzance
TR18 2NL

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