Humphrey Jennings (1907-1950)

Untitled

After studying English at Cambridge Jennings worked as a set painter and designer. He is best known for the films he made with the GPO Film Unit and the Ministry of Information during the Second World War. Jennings was involved in organising the 1936 International Surrealist Exhibition and exhibited a painting, collages and objects.

Jennings used collage and photography to place ordinary objects in unlikely settings, highlighting their strangeness and challenging the viewer's understanding of the everyday world. This cosy rural scene might seem at odds with Jennings's Surrealist credentials but the corn sheaves suggest figures and the pitchfork is a threatening presence. The painting has the flat look of a stage backdrop waiting for a performance to unfold.

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