Conroy Maddox (British 1912-2005)
Maddox is one of British Surrealism's most intransigent figures. Responsible for fanning its dwindling fame in the post-war years he continued until his death to be the most loyal and diligent representative of the movement in this country.
Initially, his involvement with the group came out of a gesture of protest. In 1936, together with John and Robert Melville, Maddox sent a letter to the organisers of the International Surrealist Exhibition drawing attention to the fact that too many of the British contingent, were not just unsuitable for inclusion, but positively anti-Surrealist.
The following year Maddox went to France where he met many of the French masters of Surrealism. On returning to England he joined the British Surrealist group and was suitably convinced of its authenticity to exhibit under the title of 'Surrealist' in the 'Living Art in England' exhibition, at the London Gallery, in 1939.
The following year, Maddox published 'The Object in Surrealism', in the last issue of London Bulletin, in which he declared, 'Under the sign of the marvellous - and the Surrealist temperament is inclined towards the marvellous...the delirious object image smashes repose'. With similar vehemence, Maddox supported the Belgian Surrealist E.L.T.Mesens' quest to make the British group more rigorous.
A major contribution of Maddox to Surrealism is his relentless experiments in depicting a world of dreams. He has made many explorations into methods of Automation and invented the methods of a semi-automatic technique of transferring paint to surface by a skimming process. Maddox was also capable of producing scenes of frozen trauma, rendered in a deadpan style that increases the sense of disquiet.
On the other hand, Maddox tirelessly surveyed the eccentric quarters of an imaginary city where each street, each house and each park is the site for strange encounters and baroque conflicts. In this respect, one may say that Maddox's works have added more than one enchanting page to the book of the 'great surrealist promenades', which go from Breton's Nadja and L'amour fou to Aragon's Paysage de Paris. In evoking the mystery of passages and arcades with his lucid critical spirit, Maddox joins Giorgio de Chirico and René Magritte in their quest of the marvelous and the eccentric.
Public collections include
British Museum, London
Gallerie Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, Rome
Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Leeds City Art Gallery, Leeds
Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, New York
Tate, London
Ulster Museum, Belfast
Victoria & Albert Museum, London
Bibliography
S. LEVY, Conroy Maddox: Surreal Enigmas, Keele University Press, 1995; S.LEVY, The Scandalous Eye. The Surrealism of Conroy Maddox., Liverpool University Press, 2003.
Solo Exhibitions
2002, Hidden Thoughts: Surrealist Collages of Conroy Maddox, Whitford Fine Art, London.
2001, Conroy Maddox. A Surrealist Odyssey, Belgrave Gallery, London; Conroy Maddox traverse la manche avec 10 tableaux, Galerie les Yeux Fertiles, Paris
2000, Surrealism in Birmingham 1935-1955, Birmingham Museums.
1999, Conroy Maddox: An English Surrealist, Mercer Gallery, Harrogate.
1997, Conroy Maddox, Town Council Offices, Ledbury.
1996, Conroy Maddox: Perpetual Surrealist, Clayton Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne; Conroy Maddox Taking Surrealist Liberties, Trinity Theatre and Arts Centre, Tunbridge Wells.
1995, Conroy Maddox: Surreal Enigmas, Stoke City Museum and Art Gallery, touring exhibition.
1994, Conroy Maddox: Paintings and Objects, Gallery M, London.
1990, Surrealist Paintings, Collages and Objects by Conroy Maddox, Bonham and Feely Gallery, London.
1987, Galerie Rutzmoser, Munich; Conroy Maddox, Gouaches, Galerie d'Endt, Amsterdam; Conroy Maddox, GouachemFr1940 - Talet, Galerie Bel'Art, Stockholm.
1986, Conroy Maddox, Paintings and Gouaches 1935 - 85, Blond Fine Art, London.
1984, Gouaches of the 1940s, Blond Fine Art, London
1984, Conroy Maddox und Gouachen, Galerie Rutzmoser, Munich.
1982, Peinture Surrealiste en Angleterre 1930-1960, Galerie 1900-2000, Paris.
1981, Dunn=s Galleries, Dana Point, California ; Paintings by the Surrealist Conroy Maddox, Rye Art Gallery, Sussex.
1980, The Surrealist Eye, Conroy Maddox, Holsworthy Gallery, London.
1978, Surrealism Unlimited, Camden Arts Centre
1977, Conroy Maddox, Paintings - Collages - Gouaches 1940 - 1976, Galerie Farber, Brussels; Oils, Collages and Gouaches of the 1940's - 1070's by Conroy Maddox, Margaret Fisher, London.
1976, Gouaches of the 1940s, Fischer Fine Art, London; Conroy Maddox, MOch Collages 1938 - 1954, Galerie Bel'Art, Stockholm.
1975, Exe Gallery, Exeter.
1974, Conroy Maddox, British Surrealist, Bede Gallery, Jarrow
1973, Hamet Gallery, London.
1972, Conroy Maddox, Hamet Gallery, London.
1967, Conroy Maddox, Collages - Gouaches, Zwemmer Gallery, London; Conroy Maddox, Recent Paintings, John Whibley Gallery, London.
1963, Conroy Maddox, Paintings and Collage- pantings, Grabowski Gallery, London.
1959, Paintings by Conroy Maddox, New Vision Centre Gallery, London.
1946, Warwick Galleries, Birmingham.