Angels of Anarchy: Women Artists and Surrealism Hardcover – September 30, 2009

Anyone wanting to learn about the fine women artists associated with the Surrealist movement of the 1920s through 1950s should buy both this book and Whitney Chadwick's Women Artists and the Surrealist Movement. The two perfectly complement each other, making up for each other's weaknesses. Chadwick's text is extensive and well written, describing the women's lives and relationships to the primarily male, and often misogynist, movement and its members in detail, but only 20 of its numerous illustrations are in color, and many of the rest are small. The text of Allmer's book, by contrast, consists only of seven critical essays on various aspects of some of the women's art, plus one-paragraph biographies of the artists at the end--but it contains 141 beautiful, full-page color plates of the artists' work, plus 50 smaller illustrations, many of which are also in color. Therefore, the best plan is to read Chadwick to learn who the women are but turn to Allmer to see their art.Allmer's book is based on an exhibit at England's Manchester Art Gallery in 2009 and 2010 that claims to be the first major international group exhibition in the UK and Europe of twentieth-century women Surrealist artists. It covers not only well-known Surrealist artists, such as Frida Kahlo and Leonora Carrington, but less famous ones, including Emmy Bridgwater and Valentine Penrose. It also includes some more recent women artists whose work is similar to that of the earlier women Surrealists, such as Francesca Woodman.The essays examine selected women Surrealists' use of classic artistic themes such as homes and other interiors, still lifes, and animals. With the pleasant exception of the one by Mary Ann Caws, I found them so full of Crit-speak as to border on unreadable. (If one more person used the word oneiric, I thought I would scream.) They do, however, lead the reader to examine the discussed art works carefully, sometimes picking up details that the casual eye had missed, which is a good thing.

A number of essays open this book, then it is a succession of intriguing plates, an image to a page.A great book, not cheap but it contains an unusual set of information not available elsewhere. It's a Manchester Art Gallery publication to accompany an exhibition of this name in 2010. Saw a copy at Farley Farmhouse (the Sussex home of the Surrealists) but they didn't have a copy left, they were selling like hot cakes!

Extremely satisfied with this purchase, the book looks to be untouched.Thanks