The Schism - Final Diagnosis, 1940
A major retrospective of Edwin's career was held at the City Art Centre, Edinburgh from 4 Aug 2018 till 10 Feb 2019. During the exhibition, Picture of the Month illustrated each phase of his career in turn, using some of the 60 works that were exhibited.
Edwin started taking an active interest in Surrealism in 1939, one of only a few Scottish artists to do so. He later referred to this as "a brief flirtation with Surrealism" and it lasted till 1940 or 1941. This painting, The Schism - Final Diagnosis, was painted in August 1940 and maybe marks the end of the period in which he felt aligned with the Surrealists. A number of his Surrealist works seem connected with dreams and Freudian psychoanalysis, which was a big source of inspiration to the Surrealists. Freud would probably have found a lot to analyse in this dream!
Edwin started taking an active interest in Surrealism in 1939, one of only a few Scottish artists to do so. He later referred to this as "a brief flirtation with Surrealism" and it lasted till 1940 or 1941. This painting, The Schism - Final Diagnosis, was painted in August 1940 and maybe marks the end of the period in which he felt aligned with the Surrealists. A number of his Surrealist works seem connected with dreams and Freudian psychoanalysis, which was a big source of inspiration to the Surrealists. Freud would probably have found a lot to analyse in this dream!
