Roland Penrose: The Friendly Surrealist

In this moving, revealing and highly readable memoir, Antony Penrose has composed a fitting tribute to his father, which also faces up to some of the more controversial aspects of Roland Penrose's life.

"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 friendships and connections which introduced European Surrealism to the British art world. Roland Penrose embraced the fantasies and rebellions of the Surrealist movement through his friendships with artists such as Picasso, Man Ray, Miro, Ernst and Tàpies. His own works, which often reveal the true emotions behind his relationships with his wives, Valentine Boue and Lee Miller, constitute an important contribution to British Surrealist art.