Anathema

This apocalyptic scene suggests a world destroyed by some cataclysm. Edward Bullmore may have intended it as a protest against the testing of nuclear weapons in the Pacific. Its title, Anathema, means ‘curse’.

The sombre colours and abstract forms – dead anthropomorphic tree, barren earth, threatening sky – show the influence of European surrealism, though Bullmore painted it three years before moving to London from New Zealand.

In London, Bullmore found an audience receptive to the surrealist qualities of his work. One of his pieces features in Stanley Kubrick’s film A Clockwork Orange.