1900 b. 14th Oct. St John's Wood, London. English Patron Painter, historian and Poet. He was a major promoter and collector of modern art and an associate of the surrealists in the United Kingdom. Penrose's father, James Doyle Penrose (1862-1932) was a successful portrait painter and his mother, Elizabeth Josephine Peckover, was the daughter of Baron Peckover, a wealthy Quaker banker. Roland grew up in a strict Quaker family in Watford and attended Leighton Park School, Reading, Berkshire. ==1920's== ==1930's== ==1940's== ==1950's== ==Later Life==
1918 Ambulance unit, Piave front , Italy. 1919 Jan. Enrols at Queens College Cambridge to study architecture. ==1920's== 1920 Whilest in the Marlowe Dramatic Society met John Maynard Keynes -> and by him was introduced to Duncan Grant ->, Clive -> Vanessa Bell, and Roger Fry ->, (who introduced impressionism to England). 1922 Moved to France to study painting with Andre Lhote. Meets Georges Braque and Yanko Varda. Attended the school of Andre Lhote. Read Rimbaud and Alfred Jarry. Meets Man Ray, Moise Kisling -> and Pascin. 1923 Living in Cassis sur Mer; builds studio with Yanko Varda. 1924 Meets the poet Valentine Boue. Reads Andre Breton; befriends Max Ernst. 1925 Dec 21st. m. Valentine Boue. Known to Paul Eluard. 1927 First visit to Egypt over Christmas with Bonamy Dobree ~>. Meets Vincente Galarza (Sp) ->. 1928 Returned to Paris and introduced to Louis Aragon, Joan Miro, Andre Masson, Salvador Dali and Jean Cocteau. First one man exhibition at Galerie Van Leer, Montparnasse. Summer holidays with Max Ernst at La Noblesse, La Cadiere d'Azur. Sells La Villa des Mimosas and he buys Château du Pouy, near Jegun. Second visit to Egypt to meet Galarza. 1929 Return to Paris from Egypt via Middle East and Greece. Roland becomes friends with Paul Eluard, Andre Breton and other Surrealists. ==1930's== 1930 Small role in Luis Bunuel's film L'Age d'Or. Conversation between Rock and Flower ~>. 1932 d. of his father. Buys collections from Rene Gaffe and Paul Eluard Valentine studies art at the Sorbonne. Nov. Roland and Valentine visits India meeting Galarza. 1933 Meets Henri-Pierre Roche on the boat returning to Europe from India. Walking trips in the Pyrenees. Roland plans visit to Jung with Valentine. 1934 Roland sponsors publication of Max Ernst's Une Semaine de Bonte and also finances film Les Affaires Publiques. Separates from Valentine who leaves for India. Meets David Gascoyne author of A short Survey of surrealism. 1935 Leaves Paris. Affair with Maguy. Organizer of the The International Surrealist Exhibition held in London the following year. Committee: (English) Hugh Sykes Davies, David Gascoyne, Humphrey Jennings, Rupert Lee, Diana Brinton Lee, Henry Moore, Paul Nash, Roland Penrose, Herbert Read, Edouard Mesens. (French) Andre Breton, Paul Eluard, Georges Hugnet, Man Ray assisted by Stanley William Haytor and involved British artists: Eileen Agar, then Robert Melville and Conroy Maddox. During this period he became friends with Wolfgang Paalen. Paul Eluard introduces him to Pablo Picasso. 1936 Opened the London Gallery on Cork Street where he promoted the Surrealists as well as friends Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth ->, Ben Nicholson -> and Naum Gabo ->. Commissioned a sculpture from Moore for his Hampstead House that became the focus of a press campaign against abstract art. Visits Mougins and Republican Spain with Valentine, Christian Zervos ->, and David Gascoyne. Valentine goes to India with Alice Paalen. Sept; Signed Declaration on Spain. 1937 meets Lee Miller. Holidays on The Fal River, Cornwall. Max Ernst, Man Ray, Henry Moore, Irina Radetsky, Eileen Agar, Leonora Carrington and Paul Eluard, Lee Miller, Nusch, Ady Fidelin, Edouard Mesens and Joseph Bard. Continued holiday in Mougins visiting Pablo Picasso who was the catalyst for his postcard collage style. Probably affair with Ady Fidelin. Painted The Real Woman -> a portrait of Lee Miller. Divorced Valentine but stayed friends. Night and Day
1938 January; exhibits in Exposition Internationale du Surrealisme? at the Galerie Beaux-Arts, Paris; organizers Andre Breton and Marcel Duchamp. Toured Greece, Hungary and Central Europe with Lee. Inspiring the illustrated poem The road is wider than long ->. Penrose organized a tour of Pablo Picasso's Guernica that raised funds for the Republican Government in Spain. Visited Max Ernst and Leonora Carrington in Saint-Martin d'Ardeche en route to Antibes. 1938 - 1940 with ELT Mesens edits The London Bulletin which ran for twenty issues. 1939 Jan. Travelled to Cairo as assistant to old friend and folk dance authority Beryl de Zoete. Lee Miller moves in to Downshire Hill. Exhibition at Mayor Gallery with Ithell Colquhoun. Last visit to France to see Max Ernst, Leonora Carrington and Pablo Picasso. Octavia ~>. ==1940's== 1940 Together with Edouard Mesens expelled Grace Pailthorpe and Reuben Mednikoff from the British Surrealists Group. As a Quaker, Penrose was a pacifist but after the outbreak of World War II he volunteered as an air-raid warden and then taught Military Camouflage at the Home Guard training centre at Osterley Park and wrote the Home Guard Manual of Camouflage. This led to Penrose being commissioned as a Captain in the Royal Engineers and working as Senior Lecturer at the Eastern Command Camouflage School in Norwich. He was an early staff member of the "Camouflage Development and Training Centre" located at Farnham Castle in Surrey. Penrose was also influential in securing passage from Europe for many artists and finding them work and accommodation in England or onward travel to the US including Kurt Schwitters and Salvador Dali. 1940 June. Exhibition Surrealism Today at the Zwemmer Gallery. Blitz - Roland works as Air Raid Warden. Valentine moves in to 21 Downshire Hill. 1941 David E. Scherman arrives in England. Roland enlists in Home Guard, September. 1942 Lee accredited as War Correspondent for Vogue magazine. 1942 - 1943 Lee and Roland lived in a menage a trois in Hampstead with Life magazine photographer David Scherman. 1943 Roland given commission as Captain in Regular Army, runs Eastern Command School of Camouflage, July. 1944 Lee goes to Europe as a War Correspondent. Roland goes to Paris after liberation, meets Pablo Picasso, Paul Eluard and other survivors, gathers material for In The Service of the People. 1946 Roland demobilised from Army. Creates organisation with Herbert Read that will become the ICA. Lee returns to Roland after reporting from Eastern Europe and they visit New York, Arizona and California. London Gallery re-opened. 1947 m. Lee Miller; Son Antony Penrose born. He produced a number of books, which cover the works of his friends Pablo Picasso, Max Ernst, Joan Miro, Man Ray and Antoni Tapies ->. Co-founded ICA -> in London with Herbert Reed?, Peter Watson, Geoffrey Grigson, and Edouard Mesens. 1949 Penrose and Miller bought Farley Farm in East Sussex. ==1950's== 1950 Pablo Picasso's visit to England. 1951 Patsy Murray comes to Farley Farm. Visit to St Tropez for wedding of Paul and Dominique Eluard. ICA exhibition `Picasso. Drawings and Watercolours since 1893. 1952 Paul Eluard dies. 1953 Roland meets Diane Deriaz. 1953 Christmas at Farley Farm. 1954 Commissioned by Gollancz to write Picasso, His Life and Work. 1956 ICA exhibition Picasso Himself, Portrait of Picasso published. Roland becomes Fine Arts officer in Paris for British Council. 1958? Picasso, His Life and Work published. 1959 Appointed Trustee of Tate Gallery. ==Later Life== 1960 Picasso Arts Council exhibition at the Tate Gallery. Awarded C.B.E. for services to contemporary art. 1961 Max Ernst Arts Council exhibition at the Tate Gallery. Roland successfully negotiates for the purchase of Picasso's Three Dancers by the Tate Gallery. 1964 Joan Miro Arts Council exhibition at the Tate Gallery. 1965 Roland is made senior fellow, Royal College of Art. 1966 Roland knighted. ICA begins move to Carlton House Terrace. First Sotheby's fund raising auction. Buys Burgh Hill farm, adjoining Farley Farm. 1967 Picasso Sculpture; Arts Council exhibition at the Tate Gallery. Second Sotheby's auction. 1968 ICA opens in Carlton House Terrace. 1969? Paintings stolen from 11A Hornton Street. Becomes President of the ICA. Encourages Penny Slinger in her research on Max Ernst. 1970 Joan Miro's monograph published. 1971? Antony and friends leave on Muddles Overland Trek. 1973 Pablo Picasso dies. Illusion in Nature and Art exhibition at the ICA. Antony and Suzanna marry in New Zealand, October. 1974? Roland creates The Elephant Trust. Roland and Lee go to New York for Man Ray and Max Ernst exhibition. Muddles Overland Trek returns. 1975? Man Ray. Inventor, Painter, Poet exhibition at the ICA. Man Ray published in London. 1976 Max Ernst. Prints, Collages and Drawings 1919-1972 exhibition at the ICA. Roland resigns from the ICA. Max Ernst dies. Man Ray dies. 1977? Roland on selection committee for Picasso's dation. Granddaughter Ami Valentine born. ` Tapies published in Barcelona. Lee Miller dies in his arms of cancer. 1978? Dada and Surrealism Reviewed exhibition at the Hayward Gallery . Tapies published in London. Valentine dies. 1979 Bomarzo, Italy with Diane Deriaz. Granddaughter Eliza born. 1980 Travelled with Diane Deriaz to France, America, Kenya, Sri Lanka. Roland Penrose Arts Council Retrospective. The Road is Wider Than Long reprinted. Roland returns to ICA as Honorary President. Honorary doctorate conferred by the University of Sussex. 1981 Sri Lanka with Diane Deriaz. ` Scrap Book 1900-1981â, Roland's autobiography published. Picasso's Picassos exhibition at the Tate. Visits Barcelona for his show at the Fondation Miro. 1982 Visits Trouville, France with Diane Deriaz. Roland Penrose, Collages Recentse exhibition at the Galerie Henriette Gomis, Paris. 1983? Visits Malindi, Kenya, with Diane Deriaz. Roland Penrose, Recent Collages at the Mayor Gallery. 1984 Jan; Visits Seychelles with Diane. d. April 25th. at Farley Farm. See work and Apollo magazine -> See Timeline