About the Author

Sir Roland Penrose is best known as a Surrealist artist and for his biography of his friend Picasso, ‘Picasso : his life and work’ (1958), followed by books on Joan Miró (1970), Man Ray (1975),  Antoni Tàpies (1978), and his autobiography ‘Scrap Book, 1900 – 1981′(1981). He was responsible for the First International Surrealism Exhibition in London in 1936 and organised the highly acclaimed Picasso retrospective for the Tate Gallery in 1960, followed by other key exhibitions at the Tate and major galleries. He co-founded the ICA (Institute of Contemporary Art) in 1947 but returned to painting in the last decade of his life, with exhibitions of his collages in London, Paris and Brighton.