biography

toni del renzio Count Antonino Romanov del Renzio dei Rossi di Castellone e Venosa (1915-2007)was born in Russia into an aristocratic Romanov family. In the course of a nomadic early life he had been conscripted into Mussolini’s’ cavalry but deserted and travelled to Spain where he fought for the Marxist (POUM) faction in the streets of Barcelona. After a short spell in Paris where he became immersed in contemporary artistic and theatrical circles, he fled to England to avoid the rising tide of fascism. He arrived either in late 1938 or early 1939, determined to promote the cause of surrealism. He was a man of great energy and ability. He also had the capacity to inspire deep loathing, perhaps linked with envy, in many of the people who knew him. As a result his attempts to reenergise the moribund surrealist group were a spectacular failure and led only to personal vilification. His efforts in this regard and the personal animosities have been dealt with in detail by Silvano Levy (1). By the autumn of 1941 he had made contact with the Birmingham surrealists, John and Robert Melville and Conroy Maddox. Writing to Henry Treece, Maddox reported that del Renzio claimed that while in France he had worked with Bunuel on film, designed for “Vogue” and shared accommodation with Dali and De Chirico. “I imagine he has painted at least half of Picasso’s paintings”, he added maliciously. (2) Nevertheless, by January 1942 del Renzio and Maddox were collaborating on a proposed surrealist periodical, “Arson”, and Colquhoun, who had not yet met either, was sending prose pieces to Maddox enquiring about their suitability for “Arson”. There was no room for any of her work (although there was for Marguerite Salle and Emmy Bridgwater with both of whom he had an attachment). Within the pages of “Arson” del Renzio mocked the “New Apoplexy” and derided Colquhoun’s recent paintings, as “sterile abstractions”. Despite this unpromising start, they began an affair, he moved into her studio, and she paid the debts he had incurred by the financial failure of “Arson”, thereby saving him from bankruptcy. They married on 10 July 1943 (Maddox was a witness), separated in the winter of 1946 and divorced in 1947. (3) Del Renzio shared her interest in the occult, once telling an interviewer, perhaps with tongue in cheek “My ambition is to paint a picture on each facet of the philosopher’s stone.” (4) How far the relationship and their shared interests inspired the artwork and poetry of the other is difficult to say. The typescript of Colquhoun’s essay “The Erotics of Ballet” have additions and amendments in del Renzio’s hand, perhaps reflecting his own interest in ballet (for example, he had designed the costumes for a ballet Midas, performed in 1939 and Colquhoun had designed costumes herself whilst a student. There are a small number of jointly written surrealist poems. The poems all have a strong sexual element; in del Renzio’s case his contributions are better described as carnal rather than erotic. Each wrote about myth and sexuality in the pages of the surrealist section of “New Road 1943” that was edited by del Renzio, suggesting that sexuality at a theoretical level must have been a subject of discussion and debate between them – as, indeed, it was for many surrealists. After their divorce, Colquhoun maintained a bitter hatred of him until the end. In old age del Renzio was interviewed as part of the National Life Stories Collections: Artist's Lives project. (5) He blamed the breakdown of the marriage largely on her self-centredness. No doubt she could have said exactly the same about him. Notes 1. Levy, S. The del Renzio Affair: A leadership struggle in wartime surrealism. Papers of Surrealism, issue 3. 2005. See also Toni del Renzio in Extremis: Alter Ego and Doppelganger. Papers of surrealism, issue 6, 2007. Both articles are online, but the links appear to be unstable. 2. Maddox’s letters to Treece are in the Treece papers, Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas. 3. Legal papers relating to the bankruptcy action are at the National Archives, Ref 89/1384. 1000 copies of Arson had been printed, at a cost of £105, but only £35 was recovered from sales. The title was inspired by a book by Nicolas Calas, ‘Foyers d’incendie’ (Hearths of Arson), published in 1938. 4. Sorrell, M. 1944. So this is Surrealism. The Queen. 20 September,17-18 & 32. One of del Renzio’s essays, written during their marriage, “Lustful Breezes make the Grass Sweetly Tremble”, Polemic No 3, 1946, 33- 42, makes much of Sandro Botticelli’s apparent use of qabalistic and alchemical imagery. 5. The tapes are in the British Library. The tape that concerns Colquhoun is part 21.