WHEN Antony Penrose was researching the biography of his mother, Lee Miller he discovered a suitcase in the loft containing a cache of negatives taken of the Surrealists on a holiday to Cornwall in 1937.

Roland Penrose had rented his brother Bernard's house at Lamb Creek for a month in the summer of 1937. Roland had just met Lee Miller, who arrived at Lamb Creek a few days after Roland with Man Ray and his girlfriend Ady Fidelin. Max Ernst and Leonora Carrington, Aileen Agar and Joseph Bard, Paul and Nusch Eluard, and Henry Moore made up what amounted to a Surrealist summer camp. The golden age of Surrealism was clearly the 1930s, and it is hard to think of place in England that was more intensively colonised by the top stars of the movement, albeit for a short period.

They visited Land's End, frolicked in the Fal, drank pints in Malpas and explored ancient sites and Falmouth itself, where Roland Penrose found the ship's figure-head he portrayed in his paintings.

The art historian and author Peter Davies has described the unpublished photographs as a major discovery. They will be shown alongside key works by each of the artists portrayed. Surrealist automata have also been commissioned from Tony Crosby, Keith Newstead and Paul Spooner.

Imaginative and innovative Surrealist workshops and an illustrated catalogue will accompany this fun filled exhibition.

In association with:
Falmouth College of Arts and St Barbe Museum, Lymington

Funded by:
The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, London

The exhibition can be seen at St Barbe Museum, Lymington 11 December 2004 until 12 February 2005