Marion Adnams, 
British 1898-1995 - 
La Ronde, 1963; 
oil on board, signed lower left 'Marion Adnams'...

Marion Adnams, 
British 1898-1995 - 

La Ronde, 1963; 

oil on board, signed lower left 'Marion Adnams' and inscribed with title, date and artist's address on the reverse of the frame, 76 x 101.8 cm (ARR) 

Note: 
this enigmatic, large work focuses on anthropomorphised trees, a subject that the artist would return to throughout her career. In her earlier works, such as 'L'infante égarée', 1944 (Manchester Art Gallery) and 'Medusa Grown Old', 1947 (Rediscovering Art by Women Collection), these would serve as a backdrop to her figures, their winding forms and shadows creating an additional tension to the work. Here, however, these leafless trees or perhaps vines become the subject themselves, twisting like ancient figures in an expansive landscape. Standing in a ring, one coloured deep red, they become evocative of an ancient ritual. Similar works by the artist, 'For lo, winter is past', 1963 and 'A Time to Be Born and a Time to Die', 1965 can be found in Derby Museums, near where the artist lived. The artist stopped painting in the late 1960s due to her deteriorating eyesight, sadly shortening her career as she was making some of her most important works and making her intricate works quite rare. 

Marion Adnams was a highly significant British artist associated with Surrealism and had her first solo show at Jack Bilbo's celebrated Modern Art Gallery, London, in 1944. Artists including Emmy Bridgewater and Max Ernst were also exhibited at the gallery during this period. Recently her work was included in the Dulwich Picture Gallery show 'British Surrealism' in 2020 alongside Ithell Colquhoun and Leonora Carrington, and a solo show at Derby Museum in 2017-18.