Plus: Reveal your inner Surrealist at West Dean’s London campus with unique creative short courses

A lobster phone, turtle wallpaper, sofa lips and a trail of wet footprints...

To mark the centenary of Surrealism next month, West Dean College will for the first time open its Collection of iconic Surrealist artworks and objects to the public through monthly tours starting on 29 October 2024.

West Dean College, the world-renowned college of arts, design, craft and conversation, was founded by Edward James (1907 - 1984), a patron of the Surrealist Movement. In 1971 Edward James bequeathed his family estate to become a centre for education and training in conservation and artisanal craft practices that he feared might be lost to humanity.

Famously, James collaborated with the Surrealists Salvador Dalí and René Magritte and was a friend and patron of many other leading Surrealist artists, including Leonora Carrington and Leonor Fini. Now under the custodianship of West Dean College, James assembled one of the earliest and most significant collections of Surrealism outside of France, and helped to shape the international reception of Surrealism in Britain and throughout the United States and Mexico.

Now, for the first time, to mark the centenary of the Surrealist Movement in October, the public will be able to see some of the most iconic works in the West Dean Collection that resulted from James’ patronage and creative partnerships. Starting on the 29th of October 2024, the monthly tours will take visitors behind the scenes of James’ former stately home, nestled in the idyllic environs of the South Downs in West Sussex, usually reserved for students and academics of the College.

The tours will explore the life and work of Edward James through a number of iconic Surrealist artworks, furniture pieces, curious objects and fascinating archive material, including rarely seen paintings by leading Surrealists, including Salvador Dalí, Leonora Carrington and Leonor Fini.

Alongside his patronage, James’ own artistic pursuits ranged from poetry and writing to interior and garden design, and he formed many creative partnerships, most notably with Salvador Dalí which led to the creation of the iconic Mae West Lips Sofas and Lobster Telephones. Originally designed for Monkton House, a former Lutyens-designed shooting lodge on the West Dean estate, the collaborative creations are now on display at West Dean House.

Visitors will also be able to see the famous Tilly Losch Footprint Carpet conceived by Edward James, which depicts the trail of wet footprints left by James’ wife, Tilly Losch, when she left the bathroom. James and Losch, an Austrian-born ballerina, were married in 1931 but divorced in 1934 after a turbulent marriage. The carpet was installed in the spiral staircase at West Dean House c.1970, together with the Turtle wallpaper, also conceived by James.

Reveal your inner Surrealist at West Dean London

For those wanting to create their own Surrealist-inspired artworks and objects, West Dean’s London campus will offer two unique creative short courses in the heart of Bloomsbury.

Surreal Automata (26 October 2024 and 12-15 January 2025) invites creatives of all ages to build one or more working automata - animated surreal designs driven by a crank mechanism to hand-power moving parts. Working with lightweight art and craft materials, these could be collaged adaptations of famous Surrealist paintings or your own Surrealist-style weirdness.

Surrealism in Textiles (12-13 October 2024 and 13-14 February 2025) will play with form, composition and fabric to create dreamlike scenes inspired by ‘La Pozas’ Sculpture Garden, a surrealistic group of structures created by Edward James, more than 2,000 feet above sea level, in a subtropical rainforest in the Sierra Gorda mountains of Mexico.

The two courses are part of the autumn term of inspiring short courses in arts and crafts at West Dean London, which opened its doors to students and creatives in April this year, bringing West Dean West Sussex’ signature programme to the capital city. Taught by experts in their fields, the courses encourage fresh approaches that are sustainable and promote a sense of wellbeing, rooted in West Dean’s founding belief that ‘making makes lives better’.

For further information please see here

For further information and images, and to express interest in visiting West Dean for an exclusive tour prior to the first public tour, please contact Helena & Miles at Map.

Helena Zedig
[email protected]
0044 7803 596 587

Miles Evans
[email protected]
0044 7812 985 993

Notes to Editors

West Dean College was founded by Edward James, a poet and patron of the Surrealist Movement who bequeathed his West Sussex family estate to become a centre for conservation and the historic craft practices he feared might be lost to humanity. Since opening in 1971 as a centre for education and training in conservation and the visual and applied arts, West Dean has built a global reputation as a home for groundbreaking creativity and world-leading conservation, offering a wide range of full and part time courses on its campus nestled in the inspiring natural realm of the West Sussex countryside. - from ceramics, furniture making and metalwork to its world-renowned programme in historic instrument making and horology. Notably, West Dean College houses one of the only professional tapestry studios in the UK, known for its collaboration with artists such as Howard Hodgkin, Eva Rothschild, Tracey Emin, Martin Creed and Michael Armitage and for weaving the Henry Moore Tapestries and other commissions for the likes of the Houses of Parliament and Historic Scotland (The Hunt of the Unicorn tapestry project, the biggest weaving project undertaken in the UK for 100 years).

While the tutors are all renowned experts in their field, notable alumni range from award-winning painters and ceramic artists to the Repair Shop presenters. West Dean’s sustained commitment to craft and endangered heritage skills has underpinned the growth of arts and crafts in the UK and internationally. Founded on the belief that making makes life better, West Dean embraced the health and environmental benefits of making long before the current vogue for craft as a mindfulness outlet. In 2021, in what was hailed as an exciting new era for specialist creative education, West Dean merged with the renowned KLC School of Design. September 2024 will see the two colleges cement their union further by establishing a London outpost and home for both full and part time courses in Dilke House in the heart of London’s Knowledge Quarter.