Conjuring the surrealist sounds of 1936

Category: Playlist — Published: 29 Oct 2021

In time for Halloween weekend, creatives Marcus Williamson and Corella Hughes present a surrealist-inspired playlist to accompany your next visit to Phantoms of Surrealism. The archive exhibition brings together artworks, photographic scrapbooks, press cuttings and original correspondence from the London International Surrealist Exhibition of 1936, including a new scale model made by Corella.

Below the duo share a short poem that lifts lyrics from their recommended tracks, celebrating the dreams, distant realities and strange beauty of surrealist work.

Sheila Legge as Surrealist ‘Phantom’, TrafalgarSquare, London, 11 June 1936. Photograph attributed to Claude Cahun. Courtesy Jersey Heritage Collections.

“The Legend of the Phoenix”

Here I am, here I am
I’m up all night

How can I turn to the dark?
I’ve lost some eyeless friend whose blood runs cold

I try to see through the disguise
Can I set myself on fire?

I remember!
I can feel my instincts here for you

I know you…

Corella Hughes, Scale model of the London International Surrealist Exhibition, 1936 (detail), 2021. Gallery 1: 109.5 x 75 cm; Gallery 2: 166 × 96 cm. © Corella Hughes.

On display until 12 December 2021, Phantoms of Surrealism, brings together artworks, photographic scrapbooks, press cuttings and original correspondence from eleven artists including Ruth Adams (1893–1949), Eileen Agar (1899–1991), Elizabeth Andrews (1882–1977), Diana Brinton Lee (d. 1982), Claude Cahun (1894–1954), Ithell Colquhoun (1906–1988), Sheila Legge, Grace Pailthorpe (1883–1971), Elizabeth Raikes (1907–1942), Edith Rimmington (1902–1986) and Stella Snead (1910–2006).