A Surrealist Quest for Artistic Individuality: A Critical Study of the Works of Mina Loy, Leonora Carrington, and Ithell Colquhoun

Abstract

Surrealism was a twentieth-century avant-garde movement whose principal purpose was to reveal the undisclosed depths of human thought and to explore the reality of the mind by juxtaposing the realm of imagination with the outer reality, the marvellous with the ordinary, and the irrational with the rational primarily within the scope of art and literature. Although the movement flourished essentially in continental Europe, its reverberations in England via the interactions in the European art scene and co-organised exhibitions encouraged many English artists to engage in Surrealism and aggrandise the movement with their unique contributions. Even though these endeavours were mostly concentrated on visual arts and poetry, there were also several artists and writers who ventured to portray their surrealist vision within the realm of fiction. However, they did not adopt the set formulas of the pioneering groups or limit their artistic voice to the defined agenda of the movement; rather, they transformed the surrealist tenets for their own artistic ends, brought fresh perspectives with respect to the surrealist activity, and promoted their unique surrealisms that project their distinctive interpretations of the surrealist conception. Mina Loy, Leonora Carrington, and Ithell Colquhoun are among these writers whose uncompromising claims of artistic autonomy and individuality played an essential role in the development of the surrealist novel and the general trajectory of Surrealism. In parallel with this attitude, the pursuit of investigating the process of self-realisation through a physical, mental, and/or spiritual quest lies at the heart of their works. Correspondingly, this dissertation aims to analyse the fictional works of Mina Loy, Leonora Carrington, and Ithell Colquhoun to discuss how these writers portray in their novels the surrealist quest for self-discovery and individual wholeness, and thus develop their own surrealist visions by exploring the potentials of their artistic inspirations, imaginations, and the realm of the marvellous.