DiscoverThe Dead Ladies ShowPodcast #86: Eileen Agar
Podcast #86: Eileen Agar

Podcast #86: Eileen Agar

Update: 2025-12-22
Share

Description

It’s our last episode of 2025, and the final episode of Season 8! Susan, Katy and Florian meet up to toast the end of another season, and of course to clink glasses in honor of our featured Dead Lady, Eileen Agar. 





Eileen Agar was the sort of artist who looked at a hat and thought, What if it grew feathers, sprouted seashells, and started whispering secrets to strangers? Born in Buenos Aires and raised in Britain, Agar was a painter, collagist and sculptor with a delicious taste for the absurd. She danced on the edges of Surrealism—sometimes elbowing her way in, sometimes pirouetting just out of reach—and exhibited alongside the likes of Dalí and Ernst, though she never let their mustaches overshadow her own wildly imaginative vision. DLS co-founder Florian Duijsens brings us her story. 





<figure class="wp-block-audio"></figure>







Show notes:





<figure class="wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex">
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Young Eileen</figcaption></figure>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Young Eileen</figcaption></figure>
</figure>



<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Eileen’s mother in a hat</figcaption></figure>



<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Eileen did love a snake</figcaption></figure>



<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">An early self-portrait</figcaption></figure>



<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">South of France: good light, good wine</figcaption></figure>



<figure class="wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-2 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex">
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Front</figcaption></figure>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Side</figcaption></figure>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Back</figcaption></figure>
</figure>



An early object, “poor Robin’s skull”





<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The clock above the mantelpiece</figcaption></figure>



<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Autobiography of an embryo</figcaption></figure>



<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Working</figcaption></figure>



<figure class="wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-3 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex">
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Angel of Anarchy, mark I (now lost)</figcaption></figure>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Angel of Anarchy, mark II</figcaption></figure>
</figure>



<figure class="wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-4 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex">

<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Tentatively optimistic: post-war “Dance of Peace”</figcaption></figure>
</figure>



<figure class="aligncenter size-large"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Bouillabaisse hat</figcaption></figure>



<figure class="wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-5 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex">
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">First edition</figcaption></figure>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">2008 catalogue</figcaption></figure>
</figure>



If you want to explore Eileen Agar and her work a little more, head over to the Tate’s online treasure chest.





Want to give the gift of Dead Ladies? Why not choose a gift subscription to our Patreon? Or maybe you yourself need even more Dead Ladies in your life? Patreon members get exclusive episodes of our Dead Lady Book Club, where we chat about books, ideas, music and more —  by and about Dead Ladies. And, of course, check out our year-end holiday edition, where we toast the ladies we lost in 2025. For just a couple of dollars, pounds or euros a month, you can support our work and join in the fun. Check it out at patreon.com/deadladiesshowpodcast  





Our theme music is  “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon





Thanks for listening! We will be back again in March 2026 with another fabulous Dead Lady. 

Comments 
00:00
00:00
x

0.5x

0.8x

1.0x

1.25x

1.5x

2.0x

3.0x

Sleep Timer

Off

End of Episode

5 Minutes

10 Minutes

15 Minutes

30 Minutes

45 Minutes

60 Minutes

120 Minutes

Podcast #86: Eileen Agar

Podcast #86: Eileen Agar

katyderby