MARION ADNAMS - DERBY'S SURREALIST PAINTER

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The majority of artists with Derbyshire connections have been well-documented, but once in a while a genuine artistic talent somehow slips the net. One such is the surrealist painter Marion Adnams, a former pupil at Parkfield Cedars School in Derby - here Peter Seddon presents a short biography of a very spirited lady.

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Marion Elizabeth Adnams was born in Otter Street, Derby, in 1899.

After attending Parkfield Cedars School in Derby she expressed a desire to study art, but instead was encouraged to attend University College, Nottingham, where she obtained a B.A. in Modern Languages in 1919.

Although her artistic ambitions had been put on hold, she decided in 1930 to attend part-time life classes at Derby School of Art, at the same time pursuing a demanding 'day job' teaching modern languages full time at Homelands Grammar School for Girls.

However, she did not give up on her art, and continued painting with a view to gaining an art teacher's diploma, which she successfully achieved in 1938.

Her work first attracted attention in Derby and its environs, and by 1939 was being shown in London galleries. Her style was certainly unusual, undoubtedly influenced by her drawing tutor at Derby School of Art - he was the surrealist painter Alfred Bladen, who had become the institution's first Head of Drawing in 1929.

Marion Adnams was in addition influenced by the Belgian surrealist painter Rene Magritte and by the British artist Paul Nash, and many of her canvasses also betray a distinct air of the Spanish 'surrealist extraordinaire' Salvador Dali.

Not that Adnams publicly acknowledged these influences, for in fact she claimed that the contemplative character of much of her work sprang from her strong religious belief.

Art critics have written that she painted 'with clarity and conviction', often 'depicting natural forms or small animals displaced from their familiar contexts'.

Although her art gained recognition, she found it necessary to continue teaching, and in 1946 she assumed the post of senior lecturer and head of department at Derby Training College. It was said that she was noted there for her 'self-assurance and strong personality', which made her 'difficult to deal with harmoniously' - perhaps a nice way of saying that at times she could be downright awkward and unreasonable!

Her final post was as Head of Art at the Derby Diocesan College of Education, the position she retired from in 1960.

She had continued to paint throughout her working life, but retirement afforded her more time to develop in fresh directions. Much of her work from the sixties was strongly influenced by the life and landscape of Provence, in southeastern France, where she had chosen to live during that decade of 'liberation'.

She amassed a considerable body of work, and from the late 1930s to the late 1960s exhibited continuously in London.

She later resumed living in Otter Street, Derby, in the small house where she was born and had lived most of her life. Marion E. Adnams died there aged 96 in 1995.

Examples of her work may be seen in a variety of art galleries, including those in Derby, Nottingham and Leicester.

Also - assuming their survival - in the modern Immanuel Church in Hawthorn Crescent, Stapenhill, Burton on Trent, for which in 1964-65 she painted a series of murals after the building had first opened for worship in 1963. Perhaps someone can confirm if the murals survive, always assuming that the church itself does.

Her work occasionally comes to auction, more usually selling for a few hundred pounds rather than thousands, although in November 2006 her 1946 canvas 'Aftermath' shown here achieved a hammer price of £2,200 at Christie's London saleroom.

Works sometime surfaces unexpectedly too - when 'Singing in the Dark' by the Gloucestershire-based poet Alison Brackenbury was published early in 2008, a Marion Adnams painting was selected to adorn its cover, shown here.

Perhaps some readers of Bygone Derbyshire might remember Marion E. Adnams - if so you can leave a comment by following the discussion link at the top of the page.

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== Marion Adnams painting on display at the Derby Museum ==

It was great to see your article on the artist Marion Adnams. We currently have an exhibition 'Gaze' at the Derby Museum and Art Gallery until 1 June 2008. The exhibition features portraits from the museums collection and we have included the painting 'Alter Ego' by Marion Adnams. The dream like surrealist scene comprises of a female figure that appears to be made out of folded card or paper with her face in silhouette. She stands on a beach next to a skeleton of a bird. Representative of the artist it challenges the more traditional approach to self portraiture.

Matt Edwards Collections Access Assistant (Art)

www .derby. gov.uk/LeisureCulture/MuseumsGalleries/Gaze.htm

I remember the name...

Thanks for an interesting article, Peter. I remember my father, Cyril Sprenger, talking about Marion Adnams, but I don't remember in what context. He also taught Art (and Music) in the 'fifties at Southgate Girls School, and later Southgate Boys (on Brighton Road, I think?) He must have known her as a fellow art teacher at that time, but I had no idea that she was a surrealist - indeed from hearing her name mentioned by him in the 'fifties and 'sixties, I don't think I've ever seen or heard her name mentioned since. What a talent she was, and what a shame he didn't obtain any of her works at the time!

Howard Sprenger, Southampton.

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