Grace
Pailthorpe

1883 – 1971

“I felt that there must be somewhere a quicker way to the deeper layers of the unconscious than by the long, drawn-out couch method, and I had a feeling that it was through art. At any rate, it should be used in conjunction.”

Bio

Grace Pailthorpe was a British surrealist painter, surgeon, and psychology researcher, and is considered one of the seminal artists who helped develop Psychorealism. She was born in St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex, as the only daughter of ten children, to parents who were members of the Plymouth Brethren, a conservative Christian religious group. She enrolled in the Royal College of Music in 1908 but soon decided to study medicine, and by 1914, she had qualified as a doctor at the Royal Victoria Infirmary. During World War I, she served with distinction as a surgeon at military hospitals in Paris, London, and Liverpool. Pailthorpe’s artistic work advanced her exploration of the unconscious, connecting her professional interests with her surrealist practice, which she saw as psychologically liberating. It led her to pioneering work in the development of art therapy later in her life. Pailthorpe’s work has been exhibited at some of the world’s most prestigious fine art institutions.