{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1068461"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1068461/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2017KD1600/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2017KD1600/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2017KD1600","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1068461","accessionNumber":"P.40-1983","objectType":"Watercolour","titles":[{"title":"Abstract with Eye and Breast","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"Grace Pailthorpe (1883–1971) was a surgeon, psychoanalyst and Surrealist artist. In 1935 she met Reuben Mednikoff, an advertising artist 23 years her junior. They began a life-long collaboration in which they used Surrealist ‘automatic’ processes as methods of psychoanalytic experimentation. In this painting, Pailthorpe uses watercolour bleeding to create chance patterns which she has developed into figurative elements based on the unconscious associations they triggered. It was made in 1938, during Pailthorpe and Mednikoff’s formal association with the British Surrealist group. Eyes were a recurring motif for the Surrealist movement. In this work, the artist combines the spherical forms of eyes with those of breasts, reflecting her interest in the theories of Melanie Klein, a child psychoanalyst. ","physicalDescription":"Watercolour had been applied to bleed into other colours, creating tendrils, rays and abstract forms. These shapes have been developed with harsher lines to create the spherical forms of eyes and breasts.  Dated and inscribed with note.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Dr. Grace Pailthorpe","id":"AUTH320101"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"Watercolour (paint)","id":"AAT15045"},{"text":"paper (fiber product)","id":"AAT14109"}],"techniques":[{"text":"Watercolour painting","id":"THES250889"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Watercolour on paper","categories":[{"text":"Woman Artist","id":"THES387590"},{"text":"Watercolours","id":"THES277714"},{"text":"Surrealism","id":"THES285500"}],"styles":[{"text":"Surrealist","id":"AAT21512"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2017KD1600"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLH","id":"THES49654"},"free":"","case":"PD","shelf":"331","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"watercolour (painting)","id":"AAT78925"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"No","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Britain","id":"x32019"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1938","earliest":"1938-01-01","latest":"1938-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"287","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"2019","earliest":"2019-01-01","latest":"2019-12-31"},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"387","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"2019","earliest":"2019-01-01","latest":"2019-12-31"},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"28.7 x 38.7 cm: Dimensions taken from departmental notes. Checked 2019.","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Oct. 5   1938   No. 2","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Dated"},{"content":"(oil painting is next)","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Inscribed"}],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Watercolour, Abstract with Eye and Breast, by Dr. Grace Pailthorpe, 1938.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Haycock, David Boyd, Kirstie Meehan, and Sacha Llewellyn. British Surrealism. London: Dulwich Picture Gallery, 2020.  p. 53"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"breasts","id":"x34494"},{"text":"eyes","id":"x37617"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["P.40-1983"],"accessionNumberNum":"40","accessionNumberPrefix":"P","accessionYear":1983,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-08","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-30","availableToBook":false}}