Surrealism in Yorkshire

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A close up of an open mouth with two front teeth visible and animal fur sticking out, like a tongue.

A ceramic sculpture of a brown dog standing upright and staring to the right. Soft cream gauze bandage spills from its stomach and back.

Exploring themes of Botanical Surrealism, Surrealism and Trauma, and Surrealism in Yorkshire.

2024 marks the centenary of Surrealism. In Yorkshire, The Hepworth Wakefield and the Henry Moore Institute are celebrating this with two exhibitions which look at different aspects of this enduringly compelling movement.

Our current major exhibition, The Traumatic Surreal, explores the appropriation and development of surrealist sculptural traditions by women artists in German-speaking countries after World War II.

At The Hepworth Wakefield, Forbidden Territories: 100 Years of Surreal Landscapes is a journey through the fantastical terrains of Surrealism over 100 years. The exhibition looks at how surreal ideas can turn landscape into a metaphor for the unconscious, fuse the bodily with the botanical, and provide means to express political anxieties, gender constraints and freedoms.

This one-day conference delves deeper into the themes emerging from these exhibitions. We are currently accepting proposals for presentations at this conference.

Programme

Panel 1: Botanical Surreal

Chaired by Eleanor Clayton (Head of Exhibitions and Collections, The Hepworth Wakefield) and Dr Anna Reid (Senior Lecturer in History of Art, University of Leeds)

Panel 2: Surrealism and Trauma

Chaired by Professor Patricia Allmer (Professor of Art History, University of Edinburgh) and Dr Clare O’Dowd (Research Curator, Henry Moore Institute)