Viewing Last Night I Dreamt of Manderley at Alison Jacques

“The road to Manderley lay ahead. There was no moon. The sky above our heads was inky black. But the sky on the horizon was not dark at all. It was shot with crimson, like a splash of blood. And the ashes blew towards us with the salt wind from the sea.” This is the breathtaking beginning of Daphne du Maurier’s 1938 classic novel, Rebecca, a Gothic romp later adapted by none other than Hitchcock. The unnamed female narrator becomes the second wife of a wealthy estate owner, but later is haunted by her husband’s late first wife.

This is the tantalising premise – and the source for the title – of a group show at Alison Jacques curated by Daniel Malarkey and featuring thirty groundbreaking artists of different generations, from Leonora Carrington, Gordon Parks and Dorothea Tanning to Sheila Hicks and Maggi Hambling. Each of the artists selected responds in some way to ideas of the subconscious, the dark corners of unconscious, and themes of transformation.

Conceived as a retelling of Rebecca, the works are arranged into three interconnected conceptual spaces exploring fairytale tropes, moving from interactions between the body and objects, seen through the prism of childlike curiosity, to a ‘cave of wonders’, to a final space – downstairs – exploring the ‘underworld’, contemplating conflicts between morality and religion, works that invite subversion and rebellion against convention. An uncanny adventure that will delight and surprise.