Patricia Allmer

Patricia is a leading scholar and curator of surrealism, its modern traditions, and contemporary legacies. She teaches at the University of Edinburgh (http://www.eca.ed.ac.uk/history-of-art/patricia-allmer).

Her new monograph reveals, for the first time, the significance of fairground attractions in René Magritte’s art – from carousels and cameras obscura to panoramas and stage magic (Reaktion Press, 2019). In recognition of her expertise on Magritte, she was the 2017/18 guest speaker for the prestigious Chaire Internationale Emile Bernheim programme in Brussels (http://edin.ac/2HIZtgj).

Her monograph Lee Miller: Photography, Surrealism, and Beyond is published by Manchester University Press (2016) and has been described as “groundbreaking” (Caitlin Davis, Woman’s Art Journal, Fall/Winter 2017). The Swedish national broadsheet Svenska Dagbladet’s double-spread review noted the book as “the most extensive and in-depth analysis of Miller’s visual work to date” (Jonas Ellerström, 9 September 2017).

Patricia curated, and edited the catalogue for, the award-winning major exhibition Angels of Anarchy: Women Artist and Surrealism (Manchester/Prestel, 2009). The Guardian called the exhibition a “milestone in rediscovering the secret history of the 20th century” (https://tinyurl.com/y3urknyh).

She co-curated and co-edited the catalogues for Taking Shots: The Photography of William S. Burroughs (Prestel: 2014) and 4 Saints in 3 Acts: A Snapshot of the American Avant-garde in the 1930s (Manchester University Press, 2017, http://edin.ac/2oRLSxU), both held at The Photographers' Gallery in London.

Patricia's other major publications include her monograph René Magritte: Beyond Painting (MUP: 2009); the edited collection Intersections: Women Artists/Surrealism/Modernism (MUP); and the co-edited collections Wonderful Things – Surrealism and Egypt’ (Dada/Surrealism, 20.1: 2013), European Nightmares: European Horror Cinema Since 1945 (Wallflower/Columbia University Press: 2012), Re/reading RE/Search (European Journal of American Culture, 30.2: 2011), Collective Inventions: Surrealism in Belgium (Leuven: 2007), and The Forgotten Surrealists: Belgian Surrealism Since 1924 (Image [&] Narrative 13: 2005).

She has contributed widely to exhibition catalogues and other publications. In 2010 she was awarded a Philip Leverhulme Prize in recognition of her major contribution to scholarship on surrealism.