Eileen Agar

Rocks at Ploumanach, Brittany

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About this artwork

Eileen Agar first visited Brittany in 1936 after participating in the International Surrealist Exhibition in London. She later recalled seeing these rock-formations from the train and was intrigued by their unusual shape, describing them as 'enormous prehistoric monsters sleeping on the turf above the sea'. Agar's photograph brings out the metamorphic imagery in the rocks, showing the poetic and comic qualities of the natural forms. She may also have been influenced by photographs of ancient sites such as Stonehenge and Avebury taken by her friend Paul Nash (1889 –1946).

Updated September 2022

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  • artist:
    Eileen Agar (1899 - 1991) English
  • title:
    Rocks at Ploumanach, Brittany
  • date created:
    1936; printed later
  • materials:
    Gelatin silver print
  • measurements:
    15.50 x 15.50 cm (paper 15.90 x 15.60 cm)
  • object type:
  • credit line:
    Presented by Mrs Virginia Zabriskie of Zabriskie Gallery, New York 2000
  • accession number:
    GMA 4350
  • gallery:
  • subject:
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Eileen Agar

Eileen Agar