John Swarbrooke Fine Art announces A Paradise Regained: Neo-Romanticism in Britain, a comprehensive survey of the Neo-Romantic movement including over forty paintings, works on paper, sculptures, first edition literature and photographs.
11 Fitzroy Square | London | W1T 6BU | 3-15 March (Press Preview 2 March)
Following our recent exhibitions dedicated to illustration and Neo- Romantic artists John Minton and Keith Vaughan and the first exhibition of Denton Welch’s art for over forty years, the gallery now positions these artists in the wider context of Neo-Romanticism.
Neo-Romanticism pervaded the cultural fabric of Britain from the mid-1930s, through the Second World War until the late 1950s. Inspired by Romantic visionaries Samuel Palmer and William Blake, artists including Graham Sutherland, John Piper, John Craxton, Prunella Clough and John Minton sought to capture the poetic spirit of place.
The title of the exhibition is inspired by the 1987 exhibition A Paradise Lost: The Neo-Romantic Imagination in Britain 1935-55 at the Barbican Art Gallery. It was here that Denton Welch was first considered in the context of Neo-Romanticism, but the exhibition also revealed the large number of queer artists associated with the movement.
The work of official war artists associated with Neo- Romanticism, including Henry Moore, Graham Sutherland and John Piper, will be displayed alongside a younger generation such as John Minton, Prunella Clough, John Craxton, Keith Vaughan, Denton Welch and Robert Colquhoun. The exhibition stresses the importance of the queer identity of this younger generation, who often used the Neo-Romantic style to represent their outsider status.