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The Hepworth Wakefield

Exhibition 1Lee Miller and Surrealism in BritainExhibition 2Viviane Sassen: Hot Mirror

22 June – 07 October 2018

VCrits with tutor Helen Warburton Weds 10 October - 2000 - 2130 GMT Sat 13 October - 1030 - 1200 GMT Limited capacity. Booking essential

The Hepworth WakefieldGallery Walk, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, WF1 5AW United Kingdom

VIRTUAL STUDY VISIT

The Hepworth Wakefield © Hufton + Crow

How to use this resource pack

VIRTUAL STUDY VISIT

What is a ‘Virtual Study Visit’? The Open College of the Arts has decided to pilot a ‘virtual study visit’, extending reach for our students to visual art, galleries, museums and collections What is the purpose? To help you discover new artists and new ways of looking at and thinking about art. Exhibitions often accompany research, interviews and events related to the subjects or artists involved, making them great resources for you. OCA Study Visits encourage students to routinely use exhibitions, galleries and museums to aid your learning and artistic development and provide opportunities to reflect on materials in an open and supportive peer-led environment

Making the most of the materials You will need to dedicate upwards of two hours to read through this material, plus any additional reading you might wish to do. It is important to make reflective notes before the date of the VCrit you are booking onto. For those who are able to visit n person, either independently or as a self-directed group, this is highly recommended. Both of these exhibitions close on 07 October 2018

What happens next? Book on to a VCrit - a google hangout session with the study visit leader (one of OCA’s existing tutors) and fellow students to share your experience of the artists and works featured in the exhibition/s. These will take place after the closing date of the exhibition/s. Help us shape future Virtual Study Visits by sending your feedback to Joanne Mulvihill: [email protected]

Image (detail): The Hepworth Wakefield © Hufton + Crow

Contents

VIRTUAL STUDY VISIT

Page 5Page 8Page 13

Page 16Page 17Page 24 Page 26 Page 27

Exhibition 1Lee Miller and Surrealism in Britain

IntroductionThe Exhibition Investigate

Exhibition 2Viviane Sassen: Hot Mirror Introduction The Exhibition Investigate

Compare / Contrast VCrits

VIRTUAL STUDY VISIT

Exhibition 1 Lee Miller and Surrealism in Britain

Want to see this exhibition in person? Make sure you go before 07 October 2018

Image: Lee Miller, David E. Scherman, dressed for war, London, England, 1942 © Lee Miller Archives, England

Exhibition 1 Lee Miller and Surrealism in Britain Introduction

VIRTUAL STUDY VISIT

What does The Hepworth Wakefield say? Whilst the exhibition is still open, check out the promotional listing on the Hepworth Wakefield’s website: https://hepworthwakefield.org/whats-on/lee-miller-and-surrealism-in-britain/ [accessed 14 September 2018] Read the listing for the exhibition and indentify three key points which inform your initial impression of the exhibition. Make sure you record all of your notes from this resource pack on your learning log

What does the press say? Take some time to read Florence Hallet’s review of the exhibition on the Independent: www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/lee-miller-surrealism-uk-photo-man-ray-avant-garde-a8409826.html [accessed 14 September 2018]

How does this article influence your initial impression of the exhibition - do you find it encouraging or off-putting? What elements interest you most and/or least?

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Image (detail): Lee Miller, David E. Scherman, dressed for war, London, England, 1942 © Lee Miller Archives, England


VIRTUAL STUDY VISIT

The Founding Definition of SurrealismIn 1924, Andre Breton (1896-1966) published the Manifeste du Surrealisme. He famously became the founder of Surrealism, writing:

“There can be no doubt that this word had no currency before we came along. Therefore, I am defining it once and for all: SURREALISM, n. Psychic automatism in its pure state, by which one proposes to express-verbally, by means of the written word, or in any other manner - the actual functioning of thought. Dictated by thought, in the absence of any control exercised by reason, exempt from any aesthetic or moral concern. ENCYCLOPEDIA. Philosophy. Surrealism is based on the belief in the superior reality of certain forms of previously neglected associations, in the omnipotence of the dream, in the disinterested play of thought. It tends to ruin once and for all all other psychic mechanisms and to substitute itself for them in solving all the principal problems of life.” (Breton 1924, cited in Clayton, 2018:14)

Breton’s manifesto uses complex language and terminology. You might find it useful to look up definitions of particular words and do some further reading on Surrealism. See pg 9

Image: Man Ray, A l’Heure de l’Observatoire - Les Amoureux, 1932–4/1970 © Man Ray Trust/ADAGP, Paris, DACS/Telimage

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VIRTUAL STUDY VISIT

Image: Installation view, Lee Miller and Surrealism in Britain at The Hepworth Wakefield, 2018. Photo: Lewis Ronald

Lee Miller and Surrealism in Britain Timeline Explore this brief overview of key events, which are referred to within the exhibition: https://hepworthwakefield.org/lee-miller-and-surrealism-in-britain-timeline/ [accessed 14 September 2018] “To coincide with the exhibition Lee Miller and Surrealism in Britain, this timeline traces the story of Lee Miller’s involvement with the surrealist circles and how Britain, for a brief but intense time in the late 1930s, became a Surrealist centre. London was the destination for many artists as they left increasingly troubling political situations on the continent and Miller - along with her later-husband Roland Penrose - played a significant role in bringing them together.” (The Hepworth Wakefield, 2018)

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Is it interesting that the Hepworth exhibition re-presents details and artworks from original Surrealist exhibitions in Britain? How does this influence our understanding of Lee Miller?

Exhibition 1 Lee Miller and Surrealism in Britain The Exhibition

VIRTUAL STUDY VISIT

Image: Installation view, Surrealist Objects and Poems in Lee Miller and Surrealism in Britain at The Hepworth Wakefield, 2018. Photo: Lewis Ronald Text Panels & Artworks The Hepworth Wakefield have kindly supplied text panels from the whole exhibition, including thumbnails of featured artworks, this can be found on the OCA discuss forum: https://discuss.oca-student.com/t/virtual-study-event/8034/60

• This is a large exhibition - you might need upto one hour to read this material• Make reflective notes for your learning log about the subject matter, writing style, areas

of personal interest or analysis

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VIRTUAL STUDY VISIT

Image: Lee Miller, Eileen Agar at the Royal Pavilion, Brighton, 1937 © Lee Miller Archives, EnglandSource: Clayton, Eleanor, ed. 2018. Lee Miller and Surrealism in Britain. London: Lund Humphries Publishers Limited

With this context in mind, we now look closer at some of Miller’s photography featured in the exhibition. On this image Eleanor Clayton writes: “One of her most beautifully surrealist photographs from this time is of Agar against the Brighton Pavilion, a palace built for King George IV that combined Regency architecture with Indian and Chinese influences. Agar’s shadowy figure undulates across the tulip details of an ornate column, Miller aligning Agar’s waist to where the column itself is clinched. A protrusion from her lower half was believed to be the shadow of her Rolleiflex camera hanging round her neck, prompting Picasso to remark that she was ‘pregnant with a camera’. “ (Clayton, 2018:45)

What elements of this image do you think add to its ‘surreal’ qualities? Who do you think is the figure captured to the left of the frame? Inspired by Eleanor Clayton’s words, note down your own observations of this image 9


VIRTUAL STUDY VISIT

Image: Lee Miller, Hands for the Job, Vogue Studio, London, 1942 © Lee Miller Archives, England Source: Clayton, Eleanor, ed. 2018. Lee Miller and Surrealism in Britain. London: Lund Humphries Publishers Limited

Heavily edited versions of the images above were published in the February issue of Vogue in 1942. The hands belong, as Dr Hilary Floe states, “to a Lady Dashwood: her capable hands, with neat, buffed nails, are making munitions. She works at a factory near Buckinghamshire house, which is now a convalescent home. ... The hands are visually amputated by black sleeves, which disappear against a black background, but remain busy assembling weapons and are dramatically highlighted by a raking light. Miller’s juxtaposition of feminine dexterity, uncanny disembodiment and the threat of violence captures contemporary British womanhood with a haunting strangeness that feels appropriate to its subject.” (Floe, 2018:101)

What do you think of the observations of Dr Hilary Floe? How do her comments influence your interpretation of the images?

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VIRTUAL STUDY VISIT

Image: Lee Miller, Corsetry, Solarised Photographs, London, England, 1942 © Lee Miller Archives, England 2018 “As Man Ray’s studio assistant, Lee Miller produced with him some of the most memorable Surrealist images, and developed solarisation, a technique that would become a trademark for both of them. Discovered by accident, solarisation exposes partially developed film to light, so creating an otherworldly, halo effect.” (Hallet, 2018)

What effect do you think this process of ‘solarisation’ has on the way the female body is represented in this photograph?

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VIRTUAL STUDY VISIT

Image: Lee Miller, David E. Scherman, dressed for war, London, England, 1942 © Lee Miller Archives, England

This is the lead image for the promotion of the Lee Miller and Surrealism in Britain exhibition - why might it have been chosen by the curators and the museum for this purpose?

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Exhibition 1 Lee Miller and Surrealism in Britain Investigate

VIRTUAL STUDY VISITGetting informed The following references are links to articles and texts which will support your understanding of the subjects and themes of the exhibition. If you have any questions, contact Helen Barrett on [email protected]

For starters [accessed 14 September 2018] Bloch, J. (2012) ‘Judy Bloch. Review of ‘Man Ray | Lee Miller: Partners in Surrealism’ by Phillip Prodger.’ In: Caa.Reviews [online] At: https://doi.org/10.3202/caa.reviews.2012.142

Breton, A. 1969. “Manifestoes of Surrealism [translated by R. Seaver and HR Lane] Ann Arbor.” MI: University of Michigan Press. View book preview online: http://new-territories.com/blog/2013GSAPP-UPENN/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Pages-de-manisfesto2.pdf

Hilditch, L. 2018. Lee Miller, Photography, Surrealism and the Second World War: From Vogue to Dachau. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Do a search on Google Books to view the book preview online.

Matheson, N. 2005. The Phantom of Surrealism: Photography, Cultural Identity and the Reception of Surrealism in England. History of Photography 29 (2): 149–62. View via OCA library (log in first): https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03087298.2005.10441367 Roberts, H. (2015) ‘How Vogue Fought World War Two.’ In: BBC [online] At: http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20151019-vogue-propaganda-and-world-war-two

Vimeo on Lee Miller: https://vimeo.com/128139126Vimeo on Lee Miller- Photographies from 19/03/2016 to 12/06/2016: https://vimeo.com/162734733

Walker, I. 2007. So Exotic, So Homemade: Surrealism, Englishness and Documentary Photography. Manchester University Press. Do a search on Google Books to view the book preview online. For those looking to dig deeper (supplied by OCA only where possible - see URLs in red)Allmer, P. 2009. Angels of Anarchy: Women Artists and Surrealism. Prestel. [online] At: https://bilder.buecher.de/zusatz/26/26434/26434829_lese_1.pdf (Accessed 14 September 2018) -

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Exhibition 1 Lee Miller and Surrealism in Britain Investigate

VIRTUAL STUDY VISIT This content was published in conjunction with the exhibition. Angels of Anarchy. Women Artists and Surrealism. Manchester Art Gallery. 26 September 2009 –10 January 2010. On Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/search?q=Angels+of+Anarchy+Manchester+Art+Gallery In particular Patricia Allmer lecture: https://vimeo.com/10867568 And the interview with Jeanette Winterson: https://vimeo.com/47235430 Clayton, Eleanor, ed. 2018. Lee Miller and Surrealism in Britain. Lund Humphries Publishers Limited. (The Hepworth Exhibition Catalogue)

Conekin, Becky E. 2013. Lee Miller in Fashion. Thames & Hudson

Conley, K., 2013. Surrealist ghostliness, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press

Davis, Caitlin S. 2006. Lee Miller’s Revenge on Culture: Photojournalism, Surrealism, and Autobiography. Woman’s Art Journal 27 (1): 3–9.

Halliday, N. V. 1991. “More Than a Bookshop: Zwemmer’s and Art in the 20th Century.” http://www.openbibart.fr/item/display/10068/1000963 (Accessed 26 August 2018)

Haworth-Booth, Mark. 2007. The Art of Lee Miller. Yale University Press

Penrose, Antony. 1985. The Lives of Lee Miller. Thames and Hudson

Penrose, Roland, Lee Miller, Dean Gallery, and Others. 2001. Roland Penrose, Lee Miller: The Surrealist and the Photographer. National Galleries of Scotland

Read, Herbert (ed.). 1936. Surrealism. London: Faber & Faber

Remy, Michel. 1999. Surrealism in Britain. Ashgate Aldershot

Roberts, Hilary. 2015. Lee Miller: A Woman’s War. Thames & Hudson in partnership with Imperial War Museums.

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When reading an article, review or watching a related video, be ready to copy/paste or transcribe any interesting statements of interest. These quotes can be used to support your own opinion and statements on your learning log later. 14

VIRTUAL STUDY VISIT

Exhibition 2 Viviane Sassen: Hot Mirror

Want to see this exhibition in person? Make sure you go before 07 October 2018

Image: HCG, from the series Mud and Lotus, 2017 © Viviane Sassen, courtesy Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

Exhibition 2 Viviane Sassen: Hot Mirror Introduction

VIRTUAL STUDY VISIT

What does The Hepworth Wakefield say? Whilst the exhibition is still open, check the Hepworth Wakefield’s website: https://hepworthwakefield.org/whats-on/viviane-sassen-hot-mirror/ [accessed 14 Setpember 2018]

Read over the listing for the exhibition, copy and paste it into your learning log. Highlight key words or statements, look up and record the definition of any words you might not be sure about. • Indentify three key points which inform your initial impression of the exhibition. Summarise on your

learning log.

What does the press say? Billie Muraben’s article shares her interpretation of the structure of the exhibition: “In Hot Mirror, Sassen presents work from the last ten years, alongside and mixed up with new photographs, collages and installations in a series of what she describes as “image poems”. Drawing upon Surrealist strategies of cut-ups and montage, the “image poems” offer new and unexpected juxtapositions between locations, ideas and forms; foregrounding the fragments, shadows and magical thinking that defines Sassen’s practice.” (Muraben, 2018) Read Irina Baconsky’s review of the exhibition for Dazed: http://www.dazeddigital.com/art-photography/article/40482/1/viviane-sassen-hot-mirror-hepworth-gallery-show-surrealist-dream [accessed 14 Setpember 2018] Image (detail): Installation view © The Hepworth Wakefield, 2018

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Exhibition 2 Viviane Sassen: Hot Mirror The Exhibition

VIRTUAL STUDY VISIT

Image: HCG, from the series Mud and Lotus, 2017 © Viviane Sassen, courtesy Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

In this section, we look closer at works featured in the exhibition.“In her latest work, Of Mud and Lotus, she explores the human condition from a distinctly female point of view. Experimenting with collage and hand painted layers, she evokes an imaginary realm of colour and texture where abstraction and performance intertwine. Organic materials such as flowers, eggs and milk are used suggestively within her imagery of the female figure, exploring ideas around transition and creation.” (Fletcher, 2018)

What is this image depicting? How do you feel about it? Is it shocking, is it beautiful? Write down your reaction and explain why you feel this way.

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VIRTUAL STUDY VISIT

Image: Yellow Vlei, from the series Umbra, 2014 © Viviane Sassen, courtesy of Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

“Basically, my very first idea was the idea of creating a photographic version of Malevich’s Black Square, because the Black Square had always been a reference for me. Somehow he managed to take this whole problematic idea of death and of the unknown of death and just simply bring it together in one black little square and make it into a kind of human proportion, a way for people to reflect on death as a kind of a counterbalance to the organic, to life itself. It has to be something so abstract so we can project all our longings and all our fears onto this little square.” (Sassen, 2018)

Visit the Tate website and learn more about Malevich’s Black Square: www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/kazimir-malevich-1561/five-ways-look-malevichs-black-square

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VIRTUAL STUDY VISIT

Image: Marte #02, from the series Umbra, 2014 © Viviane Sassen, courtesy Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

What does the inclusion of the mirror do in this portrait? What is visible? What is hidden?

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VIRTUAL STUDY VISIT

Image: Belladonna, from the series Parasomnia, 2010 © Viviane Sassen, courtesy of Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

“Sassen is a master illusionist, often placing her subject in limbo, somewhere between a two-dimensional and three-dimensional form. ‘The development of my visual language has always been an organic process.” She adds, “I feel like I’m always solving little puzzles or making combinations. It’s all just trial and error while you’re creating something, hunting for that little bit of magic.’ Heightened by colour, sculpture and structure, Sassen’s ambiguous world pulls the viewer in close, forcing them to question what is real and true. ‘My pictures function as some kind of mirror, I like to ask questions rather than give answers.’ ” (Sassen 2018, cited in Fletcher, 2018)

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VIRTUAL STUDY VISIT

Image: Inhale, from the series Parasomnia, 2011 © Viviane Sassen, courtesy of Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

Do you notice a trend throughout these images in Sassen’s use of fabric and paint? Why do you think she uses props or paints in this way? How does it affect the way we view the objects and/or people within the images?

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VIRTUAL STUDY VISIT

Image: Totem, 2014 © Viviane Sassen, courtesy of Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town, South Africahttps://vimeo.com/106268519 “The centrepiece of the exhibition is an immersive installation of Sassen’s film Totem, exploring the dichotomy between nature and mankind. Human silhouettes cut from bright backgrounds sit alongside dramatic landscapes, illustrating the traces we leave behind as a species on the surface of the earth. The film’s complex materiality is rich, beautiful and disorientating in equal measure. ‘There is always this kind of friction with our perception of the real world. I’m drawn to these opposite forces, the dark and the light, balancing them as one cannot live without the other.’ “ (Sassen 2018, cited in Fletcher, 2018)

Given what you have read so far and learnt about Lee Miller and the Surrealists, do you think Sassen’s works are ‘surreal’? Why?

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VIRTUAL STUDY VISIT

Image: Ra, from the series Mud and Lotus, 2017 © Viviane Sassen, courtesy of Stevenson Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

“For me, surrealism is the ability to experience or look at things in a way that’s unbiased, free of judgement and convention—almost like looking through the eyes of a child” (Sassen 2018, cited in Fletcher, 2018)

Note the gesture captured in this image and the use of colour and shadow. Like the Lee Miller exhibition, this image was chosen as the lead promotional image for the Viviane Sassen: Hot Mirror exhibition. Why do you think this is?

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Exhibition 2 Viviane Sassen: Hot Mirror Investigate

VIRTUAL STUDY VISITGetting informed The following references are links to articles and texts which will support your understanding of the subjects and themes of the exhibition. If you have any questions, contact Helen Barrett on [email protected]

For starters Baconsky, I. 2018. Viviane Sassen’s Latest Show Is a Surrealist Dream _ Dazed.pdf. Dazed Digital. 25, June 2018. http://www.dazeddigital.com/art-photography/article/40482/1/viviane-sassen-hot-mirror-hepworth-gallery-show-surrealist-dream “Five Ways to Look at Malevich’s Black Square – List _ Tate.pdf.” Tate, London. www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/kazimir-malevich-1561/five-ways-look-malevichs-black-square

Fletcher, G. 2018. “The Surreal Imagination of Viviane Sassen.” ELEPHANT. July 2, 2018. https://elephant.art/surreal-imagination-viviane-sassen/ Muraben, B. 2018. An Eye for the Uncanny: Viviane Sassen on Her Concurrent Exhibition with Lee Miller. It’s Nice That. 25 June, 2018. https://www.itsnicethat.com/features/viviane-sassen-lee-miller-photography-250618

Sassen, V. 2014. TOTEM. Video. View video online: https://vimeo.com/106268519

Schuman, A. 2012. Viviane Sassen: Parasomnia. Aperture 206. Search for this via UCA library (log in first) Vassie, A. 09, 2011. The Double Life of Viviane Sassen. The British Journal of Photography 158 (7792): 31–36. Search for this via UCA library (log in first) Vickers, C. 18, June 2018. Viviane Sassen: Hot Mirror. UK: Hepworth Wakefield. www.youtube.com/watch?v=-A76d2biTDk. Washington, C. P. 2014. Shadow, Skin, and Surface; Examining the Work of Viviane Sassen. http://scholarworks.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1167&context=art_design_theses

When reading an article, review or watching a related video, be ready to copy/paste or transcribe any interesting statements of interest. These quotes can be used to support your own opinion and statements on your learning log later.

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Exhibition 2 Viviane Sassen: Hot Mirror Investigate

VIRTUAL STUDY VISITFor those looking to dig deeper (supplied by OCA only where possible - see URLs in red) Clayton, E. 2018. Viviane Sassen: Hot Mirror. Prestel Verlag GmbH & Company KG

Eicker, E. ed., 2015. Deutsche Borse Photography Prize 2015 : Nikolai Bakharev, Zanele Muholi, Viviane Sassen, Mikhael Subotzky & Patrick Waterhouse. London: The Photographers’ Gallery

Evans, J. 2009. The Artist Formerly Known as Fashion Photography. Aperture, no. 195 (Summer): 48–57

Sassen, V. 2013. In and out of fashion. Munich: Prestel

Sassen, V. 2014. Pikin Slee. Munich: Prestel

Sassen, V. 2015. Umbra. Prestel

Vimeo results on Viviane Sassen: https://vimeo.com/search?q=viviane+sassen YouTube results on Viviane Sassen: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Viviane+Sassen

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Compare / Contrast

VIRTUAL STUDY VISIT

Have you documented your responses and observations of the work and reading materials on your learning log? Do this whilst everything is fresh in your mind.

You might also find it useful to evaluate your experience of the works in this Virtual Study Visit. Here are some questions to get you started... Which images or references were the most insightful or engaging for you as a reader? From what you have read and observed, what is your lasting impression of Lee Miller’s work and contribution to art in Britain? Ask yourself the same about that of Viviane Sassen.

Do you have any unanswered questions about the life or work of these artists? What more would you like to know?

Make sure you have read this article... An eye for the uncanny: Viviane Sassen on her concurrent exhibition with Lee MillerWords by Billie Muraben, Monday 25 June 2018 https://www.itsnicethat.com/features/viviane-sassen-lee-miller-photography-250618

What similarities and differences do you observe between the work or approaches of Lee Miller and Viviane Sassen? Do you think the two exhibitions complement each other?

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VCrits

VCrits with tutor Helen Warburton Wednesday 10th October 2000 - 2130 GMT (This date is fully booked but sign up to register your interest in another date) Saturday 13th October 1030 - 1200 GMT Limited capacity Booking essential

VIRTUAL STUDY VISITVCrits - What are they for? ‘VCrits’ is short for Virtual Critiques. They offer you the opportunity to hear what your peers and tutors have to say about the material featured in the Virtual Study Visit. They are designed as a live and informal discussion session for a small group of students to share their opinions and experiences of the work or the physical exhibition (if able to visit).

VCrits are held online via a Google Meeting during a limited time slot. Available slots are listed to the left. Students may only attend one VCrit each and booking is on a first come, first served basis. A session will only go ahead if there are 4 or more bookings.

During the discussion, students are not required to answer specific questions about the materials or be put on the spot, but it is recommended that you maximise your place and also support the learning of others, in both sharing your opinion and more importantly, listening to what others have to say in an open and encouraging manner. Make sure you have your personal reflective notes and observations in response to the materials to hand. How to take part Once your place has been confirmed, you will be emailed joining instructions. If the tutor deems actions by any student inappropriate during the VCrit, they may use their discretion and eject you from the meeting at any time.

To book your place on a VCrit, please contact Joanne Mulvihill-Allen on [email protected]

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