Scandalous: Women in Surrealism

Richard Saltoun Gallery is pleased to present Scandalous: Women in Surrealism, an exhibition dedicated to avant-garde women Surrealist artists. These pioneering figures not only participated in the movement but redefined its visual and conceptual language, expanding its capacity for transformation, resistance, and radical invention.

 

The exhibition is held in conjunction with our presentation at TEFAF New York, and brings together major works by the Italian surrealist Manina (1918-2010). Celebrated as a muse to Erwin Blumenfeld and admired by André Breton, who described her work as “pure poetry”, Manina occupies a distinctive place within the surrealist tradition. Marking the first presentation of her work since her passing in 2010, this presentation offers a rare and compelling opportunity to rediscover a visionary practice that continues to resonate with clarity and poetic depth.

 

Presented alongside her are works by the British artist Stella Snead (1910–2006), celebrated for her Surrealist paintings, photographs, and photo-collages. Her dreamlike landscapes and fantastical beings evoke a rich dialogue between the natural world and the subconscious. Extending this exploration is Mimi Parent (1924–2005), whose work expands on themes of transformation through assemblage and object-making, dissolving the boundaries between self and artwork.

 

The exhibition continues with works by Valentine Hugo (1887-1968), Toyen (1902-1980) and Unica Zürn (1916-1970), whose practices explore the unstable terrain of the psyche, rejecting fixed ideas of identity, gender, and representation in favour of ambiguity, transformation, and metamorphosis. Alongside them is the only male artist in the exhibition, Pierre Molinier (1900-1976), included for his sustained exploration of gender fluidity. Through fetishistic, often self-directed photography and cross-dressed self-portraits, he blurs boundaries between male and female, art and life, and body and fantasy. 

Additional highlihgts include Eileen Agar (1899-1991), Maria Martins (1894-1973), Suzanne Van Damme (1901-1986), Juliana Seraphim (1934-2005), Bona de Mandiargues (1926-2000) and Cossette Zeno (b. 1930). Across their works, biomorphic forms appear fluid and unstable, charged with mythic energies that dissolve the boundaries between transcendental and physical worlds. 

 

Seen together, these artists reveal Surrealism as a dynamic space of liberation and experimentation, where they not only challenged social conventions but also expanded and redefined the possibilities of the avant-garde.