Surrealism Returns
Cheltenham Art Gallery

In the early summer of 1938, the citizens of Gloucester were astounded, horrified and fascinated by an avant-garde exhibition bravely mounted at the Guildhall. People rushed to see the show, and many became so involved that they paid more than one visit. Nothing like it had ever been seen in the West Country: over half the exhibition was devoted to Surrealism, the latest and most scandalous of the revolutionary art movements to shock the British public in the early 20th century.

Even London had not yet recovered from the impact of the International Surrealist Exhibition held there two years before. Quite apart from the inflammatory power of work by artists as mesmeric as Picasso, Man Ray and Miro, the Surrealists staged a notorious series of performances.