Cactus
- Artist:
- Type: Drawing
- Medium: Pastel
- Production Date: 1936 - 1939
- Description: These 'surreal pastels' date from Norman McLaren‘s London period 1936 to 1939 and were probably executed in 1937 and 1938. McLaren discovered surrealism shortly after coming to London to work at the GPO Film Unit. Although surrealism was a post-war French movement and there were British surrealists, it only really entered the British consciousness with the 1936 surrealist exhibition in London. McLaren did not see that show since it had been and gone by the time he arrived in London. But it was a hot topic. McLaren never became a card-carrying surrealist. Like Joan Miro, he believed that he could be a surrealist without declaring any loyalty to a movement.
The surrealist method, though, was, for a long time, the major force in McLaren‘s creative process, and remained an influence even in the latter years when his films became more calculated and even pre-planned. - Dimensions: Unframed: 65cm (H) x 52cm (W) (no frame)
- Digital Copy:A digital copy exists.
- Location: Library Archive
- Related Material: AC/AF/M/6
- Accession Number: 2012.11
- Contact: University of Stirling Art Collection
