Dreamers Awake

More than 50 women artists are represented at the White Cube in Bermondsey for this all-female exhibition of 169 surrealist artworks. The inventors of surrealism, almost all of whom were men, rightly provoke feminist anger because so many of their creations involved women in various states of bondage, suffering or dismemberment. This show seems to do little to redress the imbalance, offering dozens of oppressive images that even a hefty doze of post-modern irony fails to negate. However, it also contains plenty of bona fide wonders, not least two drawings and a painting by the surrealist trailblazer Leonora Carrington, some pale-as-death pencil and gouache pictures by Donna Huddleston, a cigarette-heavy installation by Sarah Lucas, two bronzes by Maman herself, Louise Bourgeois, and a room devoted to a minimalist joint project by Bourgeois and Tracey Emin which is short on subtlety but long on impact – and worthy of a show in their own right. Dreamers Awake runs till September 17.

Advertisement