John Banting (1902-1972)

Banting contributed to the hugely important International Exhibition of Surrealism at the New Burlington Galleries, London, in the summer of 1936. Salvador Dali, who delivered a lecture at the exhibition whilst wearing a deep-sea diving suit, nearly suffocated during his presentation, only to be rescued by a poet, David Gascoyne, who arrived with a spanner to release him. With strong Stalinist views Banting visited Spain between October and December 1937 during the Civil War.