{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O14952"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O14952/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BG2549/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BG2549/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006BG2549","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2018KY6292","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O14952","accessionNumber":"P.6-1960","objectType":"Watercolour","titles":[{"title":"Surrealist Composition","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"In this picture it is evident that Burra had absorbed the visual vocabulary of Surrealism.  The female figure who dominates the picture contains pastiche elements from Ernst and Magritte. The influence of De Chirico is apparent in the arcaded building on the right.  The perspective of the whole is illogical and disturbing.  It is impossible to reconcile background and foreground, left and right.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Burra, Edward","id":"A2054"},"association":{"text":"painter (artist)","id":"AAT25136"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"watercolour","id":"AAT15045"}],"techniques":[{"text":"painting","id":"AAT54216"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Watercolour","categories":[{"text":"Paintings","id":"THES48917"}],"styles":[{"text":"Surrealism","id":"AAT21512"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2006BG2549","2018KY6292"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLE","id":"THES49657"},"free":"","case":"DR","shelf":"127","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"watercolour (painting)","id":"AAT78925"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Britain","id":"x32019"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1934","earliest":"1929-01-01","latest":"1938-12-31"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"77.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"35.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Dimensions taken from departmental notes","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Watercolour, Surrealist Composition, by Edward Burra, ca. 1934.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<u>100 Great Paintings in The Victoria & Albert Museum.</u> London: V&A, 1985, p.196"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"The following is an excerpt from an article entitled 'Edward Burra: Spain and Surrealism' by Katherine Hudson, which appeared in <i>The </i><i>British Art Journal</i>, Volume XII, No. 1.\n\n\"<i>Surrealist Composition</i> exhibits many of the motifs and stylistic traits that were to characterise Burra's work of the 1930s.  Its title designates Burra as a surrealist before the movement had truly emerged in England, and in retrospect, this categorisation proves a useful means of viewing his work within some sort of art historical frame.  But how far was Burra really a Surrealist?  Clearly, he drew on a rich heritage of English romanticism and whimsy, which the major theoriticians of surrealism in Britain, Herbert Read, David Gascoyne, and André Breton acknowledged as a significant precursor to the movement - Lewis Carroll is a recurring reference point in their writing, and the precipitous tunnels and doorways to different worlds in <i>Surrealist Composition</i>recall the fantasy realm of <i>Alice in Wonderland</i>.  At the same time, the increasing exposure Burra gained to the European Surrealist exhibitions in London and Paris had, without doubt, a considerable bearing on his style.  Andrew Causey cites in particular Miro's <i>Portrait of Mrs Mills</i> c. 1750 (after George Engelheart) (1929) and Picasso's fragmented female figures as influences, while spatially, de Chirico seems an obvious comparison.\""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["P.6-1960"],"accessionNumberNum":"6","accessionNumberPrefix":"P","accessionYear":1960,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-02-08","recordCreationDate":"1999-12-15","availableToBook":false}}