About this artwork
This sculpture was conceived by Maddox in 1940 after he spotted a mannequin which was about to be thrown out of a shop. He took it home and added various found objects - a plastic lobster, a painted bottle, netting and other elements - to transform it into the 'Cloak of Secrecy'. Maddox feels that his surrealist objects, such as this piece, discredit the world of reality as we perceive it. He has remarked that this piece 'took on the absurd quality of a dream with its lack of apparent reasonableness.'
Updated before 2020
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artist:Conroy MaddoxEnglish (1912 - 2005)
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title:The Cloak of Secrecy
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date created:1940
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materials:Mixed media, including mannequin parts, plastic lobster, painted bottle, netting, sequins, doll's head and wire.
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measurements:173.00 x 38.00 x 38.00 cm
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object type:
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credit line:Purchased with a contribution from The Elephant Trust 1999
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accession number:GMA 4283
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gallery:
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subject:
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artwork photographed by:Antonia Reeve
Conroy Maddox
Conroy Maddox
Maddox was born in Herefordshire. He produces paintings, objects and collages in a surrealist style. He refused to enter any of his work in the International Surrealist Exhibition in London in 1936, arguing that most of the artists chosen were 'anti-surrealist'. The following year he was...
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