Toni del Renzio (1915-2007)

Toni del Renzio (1915-2007) was an artist and writer of Russian and Italian origin. He was at one point the leader of the British Surrealists, having brought a wide range of contacts, editorial organization, motivation and philosophy to the Group at a time of wartime hiatus. Del Renzio served with the Trotskyites in the Spanish Civil War, and then reached Paris in 1938, where he became friendly with Pablo Picasso and Andre Masson. Arriving in Britain a year later, he was fuelled with creative enthusiasm and seized Surrealism as a focus for his scholarly energies. His key work Arson: An ardent review, Part One of a Surrealist Manifestation in 1942 was partially financed by Ithell Colquhoun, whom he married in 1943 and divorced in 1948. Paintings by del Renzio are exceedingly rare, though there is a large watercolour by the artist in the Sherwin Collection, the Hepworth Wakefield.