The artist was born in relatively prosperous Birmingham, which attracted migrants, including Maddoxes. His memories about the sufferings of his father, who was wounded in the First World War, became the catalyst for the deep anti-militarism of the future self-taught artist. He never attended any art schools.
1912 - 2005
Conroy Maddox
description
An English artist, a bright and distinctive representative of Surrealism, who worked extensively in collage techniques. Conroy Maddox was also a talented writer and teacher.
In 1935, together with writer and artist John Melville, he founded the group of Birmingham Surrealist artists separate from the London association. They were unsatisfied with the 1936 London International Surrealist Exhibition and did not take part in it. The Birmingham surrealist movement of C. Maddox continued to work independently from other representatives of this movement, in particular, from the capital’s significant movement “Unit One”, until the mid-1950s, having a significant impact on a whole pleiad of young British avant-garde artists.
Maddox worked more than sixty years, remaining a loyal supporter of Surrealism, while many other artists used the style of this movement only a few years to join other art movements later.
The artist wrote, “Surrealism is a difficult glance at reality, but it offers a way out of the type of society in which we live. Society will change one day, and we will run away from our incessant monotony, from a life where we cannot connect our dreams with reality.” In general, the definition given by Rene Magritte perfectly fits the work of Conroy Maddox: “Surrealism is a reality freed from banal meanings”.
Key ideas:
– Conroy Maddox, recognized as one of the main representatives of British Surrealism, discovered this style for himself in the mid-1930s and remained faithful to it, unlike other artists, until the end of his long (over 60 years) and very productive creative career. He did not attend art schools and did not have formal training; in fact, he was self-taught, spent many days in libraries, leafing through books about contemporary art, visiting galleries and studying works of art at exhibitions.
– Criticizing such London Surrealists as Paul Nash and Roland Penrose, the Birmingham innovator paid more attention to the original surreal collages and interior paintings in the style of G. de Chirico.
– In addition to the paintings and ideas of Italian artist Chirico, Maddox highly appreciated the art of Rene Magritte from Belgium. In the works of the British creator, the frequent key element of the image was hats – a distinctive detail of many of Rene’s paintings.
– Quite early, from the late 1930s, and in parallel with figurative painting, Conroy Maddox started using abstract forms. In such works, he usually used a brighter palette; he left a lot of free space in the paintings – locally colored background not speaking about anything but the mood of the color itself.
– A distinctive feature of the art of Conroy Meddox is puzzling combinations of strange devices (such as steam engines) and utilitarian everyday objects in one painting.
– Another characteristic feature of the paintings and collages of the Birmingen Surrealist is his love for the “extraordinary” open perspective. Many of his interior Surrealist paintings have no enclosed space.
1905
1935
1936
1938
1940
1945
1949
1955
1963
1978
1982
2001
2005
The artist was born
The Birmingham surrealist group was born
A significant for Maddox meeting with avant-garde leaders, the Melville brothers, was held in Birmingham – John had already done experiments with surrealism. Robert as an art expert knew about Picasso more than most Englishmen. This is how the Birmingham surrealist group was born, which included E. Bridgewater, O. Mellor and D. Morris.
He met Andre Breton, Max Ernst and Salvador Dali
Was invited to the famous International Exhibition of Surrealists at the galleries of New Burlington. At the exhibition, he met Andre Breton, Max Ernst and Salvador Dali, whom he kept on getting to know in Paris a year later.
Exhibited his paintings at the Wertheim Gallery in London
Exhibited his paintings at the Wertheim Gallery in London. He became one of the founders of a group of Surrealist artists of Birmingham, who criticized the London influential movement “Unit One” led by Paul Nash.
«The Strange Country»
The presentation “Surrealism Today” was held in London; Maddox joined the International Association of Artists. Created one of his most famous collages “The Strange Country”. During the Second World War, Maddox worked for Arson magazine.
The exhibition was held at the Leicester galleries in London
The exhibition of the master’s works was held at the Leicester galleries in London. Two years later, the artist was invited to the International Exhibition of Surrealists in Paris. Soon the artist married Nan Burton. The couple had a daughter and a son, but in 1955 they divorced.
The group exhibition sessions for artists of an informal association
The Royal Birmingham Society of Galleries and the Art Gallery of the Corporation in Bilston held group exhibition sessions for artists of an informal association.
He moved to the Willesden Green
He moved to the Willesden Green area of London after his house Balsall Heath (Varna Road) and the whole county were reconstructed. The surrealist group that gathered in this bohemian place for many years gradually disintegrated.
The first personal exhibition
The first personal exhibition of the already famous master was held at the Grabowski Gallery, London. Soon the artist with his paintings was invited to other galleries, in particular, Exeter City (1967).
“Surrealism without Limits”
With the help of J. Schuster and the Paris group, he organized the exhibition “Surrealism without Limits”, held at the Camden Art Center. The artist resisted the impressions received by the art community from the main Dada and Surrealism retrospective exhibition, held at the Hayward Gallery. He was also more faithful to the spirit of Surrealism.
«Peinture Surrealiste en Angleterre 1930-1960»
Organized the exhibition “Peinture Surrealiste en Angleterre 1930-1960” at the Paris Galerie 1900-2000. In the future, a number of opening days were held in London.
The retrospective exhibition "Surrealist Odyssey"
After the exhibition “Surrealism in Birmingham 1935-1955” Conroy Maddox showed the retrospective exhibition “Surrealist Odyssey” at the Belgrave Gallery in London. In total, the artist had about 20 solo exhibitions, including retrospective.
The death
The artist died on January 14 in London (the United Kingdom).