Penrose, Sir Roland

Penrose, Sir Roland (1900–1984). British writer, collector, exhibition organizer, and artist, born in London, the son of a painter. As an artist he holds a distinguished place among British Surrealists (he produced collages and objects as well as paintings), but he is chiefly remembered for the missionary zeal with which he promoted Surrealism and contemporary art in general in England. After taking a degree in architecture at Queens' College, Cambridge, he went to Paris in 1922 to study painting—on the advice of Roger Fry (who like Penrose came from a Quaker family). He stayed until 1935 and during that time came to know many leading artists, including Ernst, Man Ray, Miró, and above all Picasso, who became a lifelong friend. After his return to England he was one of the organizers of the International Surrealist Exhibition in London in 1936. During the Second World War he was a camouflage instructor. In 1947 he was co-founder (with Herbert Read) and first chairman of the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, and he organized several major exhibitions at the Tate Gallery, London: Picasso paintings (1960), Max Ernst (1961), Miró (1964), Picasso sculpture and ceramics (1967). The best known of his writings is Picasso: His Life and Work (1958, 3rd edn., 1981), which John Richardson describes as ‘a book of incalculable value. My only reservation stems from Penrose's fear of causing Picasso offence. For better or worse his portrait of the artist is without shadows.’ Penrose's other books included studies of Miró (1970), Man Ray (1975), and Tàpies (1978), and he also wrote poetry. His second wife, whom he married in 1947, was the photographer Lee Miller, who had formerly been a pupil and favourite model of Man Ray. An Arts Council touring exhibition was devoted to Penrose in 1980. There are examples of his work in the Tate Gallery, London. His library and archive were bought by the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in 1994, and a year later the gallery bought 25 works from the outstanding collection (mainly of Surrealist art) he had assembled.