Shaping Surrealism in Britain: The London Bulletin, 1938-1940

The London Bulletin appeared from April 1938 to June 1940, and it did function as the catalogue for the exhibitions of the homonymous gallery and also its Cork Street neighbours (in particular, the Mayor Gallery and Guggenheim Jeune Gallery), but it never became a simple newsletter. It was the first periodical published in English by Surrealists themselves and therefore it was fundamental to spread the movement in Great Britain, both textually and visually. Although the design of the bulletin originated from Belgian modernist journals, contents were created in strict collaboration between the London Gallery directors and other members of the British surrealist group. The essay analyse the significant role the London Bulletin had in shaping the identity of Surrealism in Britain, to such an extent that in 1940 when the bulletin stopped to be published also the British surrealist group progressively dissolved.