John Selby-Bigge (1892-1973)

John Selby-Bigge (1892-1973) was a Surrealist and abstract painter, involved with both the English Surrealist Group and Unit One. Although he painted as John Bigge, his full name was John Amherst Selby-Bigge (usually hyphenated); he was the son of Sir Amherst Selby-Bigge and was created 2nd Baronet in 1919. Born in Oxford, Bigge entered the Slade School of Fine Art briefly in 1914, but had his coursediscontinued for military service in World War I, when he served with the Macedonian Mule Corps. In 1931, he was afforded his first solo exhibition at the Wertheim Gallery in London. The following year he had his first solo show at the Lefevre Gallery in Paris and, in 1934, he was one of the original exhibitors at the founding Unit One Exhibition. Two of his paintings were included in the major International Surrealist Exhibition at the New Burlington Galleries, 1936.