Description:
[§]
EILEEN
AGAR
R.A.
(ARGENTINIAN/BRITISH
1899-1991)







APOLLO







Signed,
oil
on
canvas







40cm
x
29cm
(15.75in
x
11.5in)



















































Notes:
Provenance:






Collection
of
the
Co-op
Bank,
Manchester;
Private
collection,
England

Note:
Born
in
Buenos
Aires
in
1899
to
a
Scottish
businessman
father
and
an
American
mother,
Agar
moved
to
London
in
1911.
After
a
time
with
Leon
Underwood
she
enrolled
part
time
at
the
Slade
under
Henry
Tonks.


From
1925
she
travelled
in
Europe
extensively;
to
Paris,
Spain
and
Italy.
Renting
a
villa
in
Portofino,
Agar
visited
Rapallo
where
she
met
W.B.
Yeats,
Osbert
Sitwell,
Max
Beerbohm
and
most
significantly,
Ezra
Pound.
Keen
to
free
herself
from
traditional
English
art,
Agar
moved
to
Paris
in
1928.
Here,
Pound
introduced
her
to
Brancusi
and,
at
an
art
gallery
reception,
she
met
André
Breton
and
Paul
Eluard.


She
had
by
now
begun
to
paint
in
a
different,
two-dimensional,
strongly
Cubist
style
and,
returning
to
London
in
1930,
was
persuaded
by
Henry
Moore
to
show
with
the
London
Group.
She
had
also
begun
to
experiment
with
collage
and,
under
the
influence
of
Paul
Nash
and
Julian
Trevelyan,
began
to
focus
on
natural
forms
and
to
create
objects.


In
1936,
on
Nash''s
suggestion,
Roland
Penrose
and
Herbert
Read
chose
to
include
her
in
the
International
Surrealist
Exhibition
and
although
she
had
not
considered
herself
part
of
the
movement
she
was
happy
to
be
counted
within
its
ranks
-
the
only
British
woman
to
feature
in
the
show.
She
shared
the
Surrealists''
interest
in
automatic
techniques
and
the
use
of
unexpected
materials
and
photographs.


Agar
now
suddenly
began
to
enjoy
a
higher
profile
within
the
international
art
world.
A
holiday
in
1937
was
spent
in
both
Cornwall
and
France
with
Penrose,
Lee
Miller,
Eluard
and
her
idol
Picasso,
(with
Agar
and
Penrose
having
a
prolonged
affair).


It
seems
probable
that
this
work
dates
from
the
late
1950s
or
early
1960s.
It
bears
strong
similarities
to
the
part-automatist
painting
Head
of
Dylan
Thomas






of
1960-2
and
might
have
been
produced
in
the
same
period
as
the
1956
oil
on
canvas
Maenad,
which
shares
the
same
dimensions
and
which
was
shown
in
the
National
Galleries
of
Scotland
retrospective
in
1999.
Her
technique
at
this
time,
to
drip
and
pour
paint
from
a
height
on
to
the
canvas,
was
as
close
as
Agar
came
to
Abstract
Expressionism.


Throughout
the
1960s
and
into
the
following
decades,
she
continued
to
move
forward,
experimenting
with
acrylics
and
constantly
challenging
herself.


Agar
was
given
a
retrospective
exhibition
in
London
in
1971
and
ten
years
later
a
show
of
her
recent
work
at
the
New
Art
Centre.
She
died
in
London
in
1991,
at
the
age
of
91.