Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
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<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/wyndham-lewis-1502" aria-label="More by Wyndham Lewis" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Wyndham Lewis</a>
Surrender Barcelona
Purchased 1947
adults
animals: mammals
architecture
armour
army
Barcelona - non-specific
boat - non-specific
cities, towns, villages (non-UK)
clothing and personal items
countries and continents
features
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helmet
horse
man
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<p>Lewis was working on this painting in the year of the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. The conflict in Spain was the setting for Lewis's novel 'The Revenge for Love', which was published in 1937. However, Lewis denied any connection between this picture and the book. In 1950 Lewis wrote: 'In the Surrender of Barcelona I set out to paint a Fourteenth Century scene as I should do it could I be transported there, without too great change in the time adjustment involved.' The frieze of soldiers in the foreground can be seen as alluding to Velasquez's painting 'Surrender of Breda' 1635.</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2004</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
21 September 2001 – 7 July 2002
2002-07-07
21 September 2001 – 7 July 2002
2002-07-07
2001-09-21
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2001-09-21
Wyndham Lewis
Collection based display
18 July 2009 – 11 October 2009
2009-10-11
18 July 2009 – 11 October 2009
2009-10-11
2009-07-18
National Galleries of Scotland (Edinburgh, UK)
2009-07-18
Imagining Spain: From Goya to Picasso, The British and Spain
Loan-out
5 February 2010 – 16 May 2010
2010-05-16
5 February 2010 – 16 May 2010
2010-05-16
2010-02-05
Fundación Juan March (Madrid, Spain)
http://www.march.es
2010-02-05
Wyndham Lewis
Loan-out
8 November 2014 – 30 June 2015
2015-06-30
8 November 2014 – 15 February 2015
2015-02-15
2014-11-08
Pallant House Gallery (Chichester, UK)
1 March 2015 – 30 June 2015
2015-06-30
2015-03-01
Laing Art Gallery (Newcastle upon Tyne, UK)
http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/
2014-11-08
British Artists and the Spanish Civil War: Conscience and Conflict
Loan-out
23 June 2017 – 9 January 2018
2018-01-09
23 June 2017 – 9 January 2018
2018-01-09
2017-06-23
Imperial War Museum North (Manchester, UK)
2017-06-23
The Enemy: The World and Wars of Wyndham Lewis
Loan-out
The Surrender of Barcelona
support: 838 × 597 mm
frame: 980 × 740 × 75 mm
Purchased 1947
<p>Lewis was working on this <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> in the year of the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. The conflict in Spain was the setting for Lewis's novel 'The Revenge for Love', which was published in 1937. However, Lewis denied any connection between this picture and the book. In 1950 Lewis wrote: 'In the <quote>Surrender of Barcelona<quote> I set out to paint a Fourteenth Century scene as I should do it could I be transported there, without too great change in the time adjustment involved.' The frieze of soldiers in the foreground can be seen as alluding to Velasquez's painting 'Surrender of Breda' 1635.</quote></quote></p>
Display caption
2004-09-03T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N05768</b> THE SURRENDER OF BARCELONA 1934–7
<br/> 
<br/>Not inscribed.
<br/>Canvas, 33×23 1/2 (84×59·5).
<br/>Purchased from the Leicester Galleries (Knapping Fund) 1947.
<br/><i>Exh:</i> Leicester Galleries, December 1938 (38), as ‘The Siege of Barcelona’; British Council, <i>Contemporary British Art</i>, New York World's Fair and Ottawa, 1939 (68); Toledo, 1942 (45, repr. p.65); Tate Gallery, July–August 1956 (134, repr. pl.10), and Arts Council tour, 1956 (45, repr. pl.2).
<br/><i>Lit:</i> Wyndham Lewis, <i>Rude Assignment</i>, 1950, p.130, repr. between pp.224 and 225; Handley-Read, 1951, pp.25, 28, 31, 44, 55–6, 63–4, 73, 89, repr. pl.16; <i>Letters</i>, 1963, p.503.</p>
<p>Also known as ‘The Siege of Barcelona’. The artist wrote (<i>loc. cit.</i>): ‘In the “Surrender of Barcelona” I set out to paint a Fourteenth Century scene as I should do it could I be transported there, without too great a change in the time adjustment involved. So that is a little outside the natural-non-natural categories dominating controversy today.’ ‘The Armada’ in the Vancouver Art Gallery, Canada, is another <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a> of the same period depicting men in armour.</p>
<p>In 1937 Wyndham Lewis published <i>The Revenge for Love</i>, a novel set in the Spanish Civil War, but he denied any connexion of this picture with that war.</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, <i>The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture</i>, London 1964, I
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-10-08T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
adults animals: mammals architecture armour army Barcelona - non-specific boat - non-specific cities, towns, villages (non-UK) clothing and personal items countries and continents features groups helmet horse man military objects people places sea seascapes and coasts society soldier Spain tower townscape townscapes / man-made features transport: water work and occupations