Choose a mood and the room itself answers — the light cools or warms, the air changes pace, and only the works that carry that feeling step forward from the dark. Everything else recedes into shadow.
John Banting: The Unassuming Surrealist of Bloomsbury John Banting (1902-1972) remains a curiously compelling figure in the history of British art, often described as “the only true English Surrealist painter” by Anthony Powell. He wasn’t a flamboyant provocateur or a central member of the core group associated with André Breton; instead, he was a quietly observant artist who absorbed and subtly transmuted the currents of surrealism,
vorticism, and Bloomsbury aesthetics into his distinctive body of work – primarily book jackets, decorative panels, and evocative paintings. His life story is one of understated resilience, marked by periods of struggle, intellectual curiosity, and a deep engagement with political and social issues. Born in Chelsea, London, to a farming family, Banting’s early years were shaped by the rhythms of rural life and a somewhat isolated chi…