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Mary Leonora Carrington (6 April 191725 May 2011) was a British-born Mexican artist,
surrealist painter Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...
, and novelist. She lived most of her adult life in
Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
and was one of the last surviving participants in the surrealist movement of the 1930s. Carrington was also a founding member of the
women's liberation movement The women's liberation movement (WLM) was a political alignment of women and feminist intellectualism that emerged in the late 1960s and continued into the 1980s primarily in the industrialized nations of the Western world, which effected great ...
in Mexico during the 1970s.


Early life

Mary Leonora Carrington was born at Westwood House, Clayton Green,
Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth came ...
, Lancashire,See Carrington's "El Mundo Magico de Los Mayas" England, in a Roman Catholic family. Her father Harold Wylde Carrington (1880-1950) was a wealthy textile manufacturer, and her mother Marie (née Moorhead) was from Ireland.Leo Carrington & Sons website
She had three brothers: Patrick, Gerald, and Arthur. She lived at Crookhey Hall from 1920 until 1927, a large home in Cockerham, which exerted a great influence on her imagination. Educated by governesses, tutors, and nuns, she was expelled from two schools, including
New Hall School New Hall School is a Catholic co-educational independent boarding and day school in the village of Boreham in the City of Chelmsford, Essex, England. It was founded in 1642 in the Low Countries, now Belgium, by sisters of the Catholic order C ...
,
Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of Londo ...
, for her rebellious behaviour, until her family sent her to
Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...
, where she attended Mrs Penrose's Academy of Art. She also, briefly, attended St Mary's convent school in Ascot. In 1927, at the age of ten, she saw her first Surrealist painting in a
Left Bank In geography, a bank is the land alongside a body of water. Different structures are referred to as ''banks'' in different fields of geography, as follows. In limnology (the study of inland waters), a stream bank or river bank is the terra ...
gallery in Paris and later met many Surrealists, including
Paul Éluard Paul Éluard (), born Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (; 14 December 1895 – 18 November 1952), was a French poet and one of the founders of the Surrealist movement. In 1916, he chose the name Paul Éluard, a matronymic borrowed from his maternal ...
. Her father opposed her career as an artist, but her mother encouraged her. She returned to England and was presented at Court, but according to her, she brought a copy of
Aldous Huxley Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. He wrote nearly 50 books, both novels and non-fiction works, as well as wide-ranging essays, narratives, and poems. Born into the prominent Huxle ...
's '' Eyeless in Gaza'' (1936) to read instead. In 1935, she attended the
Chelsea School of Art Chelsea College of Arts is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London based in London, United Kingdom, and is a leading British art and design institution with an international reputation. It offers further and higher educat ...
in London for one year, and with the help of her father's friend Serge Chermayeff, she was able to transfer to the Ozenfant Academy of Fine Arts established by the French modernist
Amédée Ozenfant Amédée Ozenfant (15 April 1886 – 4 May 1966) was a French cubist Painting, painter and writer. Together with Charles-Edouard Jeanneret (later known as Le Corbusier) he founded the Purism (arts), Purist movement. Education Ozenfant wa ...
in London (1936–38). She became familiar with
Surrealism Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...
from a copy of
Herbert Read Sir Herbert Edward Read, (; 4 December 1893 – 12 June 1968) was an English art historian, poet, literary critic and philosopher, best known for numerous books on art, which included influential volumes on the role of art in education. Read ...
's book, ''Surrealism'' (1936), given to her by her mother, but she received little encouragement from her family to forge an artistic career. The
Surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...
poet and patron Edward James was the champion of her work in Britain; James bought many of her paintings and arranged a show in 1947 for her work at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York. Some works are still hanging at James' former family home, currently West Dean College in
West Dean, West Sussex West Dean is a village, Anglican parish and civil parish in the District of Chichester in West Sussex, England north of Chichester on the A286 road just west of Singleton. The parishes include the hamlets of Binderton and Chilgrove. The civ ...
.


Association with Max Ernst

In 1936 Carrington saw the work of the German
surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...
Max Ernst Max Ernst (2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German (naturalised American in 1948 and French in 1958) painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and Surrealis ...
at the
International Surrealist Exhibition The International Surrealist Exhibition was held from 11 June to 4 July 1936 at the New Burlington Galleries, near Savile Row in London's Mayfair, England. Organisers The exhibition was organised by committees from England, France, Belgium, Sc ...
in London and was attracted to the Surrealist artist before she even met him. In 1937 Carrington met Ernst at a party held in London. The artists bonded and returned together to Paris, where Ernst promptly separated from his wife. In 1938 they left Paris and settled in Saint Martin d'Ardèche in southern France. The new couple collaborated and supported each other's artistic development. The two artists created sculptures of guardian animals (Ernst created his birds and Carrington created a plaster horse head) to decorate their home in Saint Martin d'Ardèche. In 1939 Carrington and Ernst painted portraits of each other. Both capture the ambivalence in their relationship, but whereas Ernst's ''The Triumph of Love'' features both artists in the composition, Carrington's '' Portrait of Max Ernst'' focused solely on Ernst and is laced with heavy symbolisms. The portrait was not her first Surrealist work; between 1937–1938 Carrington painted ''Self-Portrait'', also called ''The Inn of the Dawn Horse'', now exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Sporting white jodhpurs and a wild mane of hair, Carrington is perched on the edge of a chair in this curious, dreamlike scene, her hand outstretched toward a prancing hyena and her back to a tailless rocking horse flying behind her. With the outbreak of World War II Ernst, who was German, was arrested by the French authorities for being a "hostile alien". With the intercession of
Paul Éluard Paul Éluard (), born Eugène Émile Paul Grindel (; 14 December 1895 – 18 November 1952), was a French poet and one of the founders of the Surrealist movement. In 1916, he chose the name Paul Éluard, a matronymic borrowed from his maternal ...
, and other friends, including the American journalist
Varian Fry Varian Mackey Fry (October 15, 1907 – September 13, 1967) was an American journalist. Fry ran a rescue network in Vichy France that helped approximately 2,000 to 4,000 anti-Nazi and Jewish refugees to escape Nazi Germany and the Holocaust ...
, he was discharged a few weeks later. Soon after the Nazis invaded France, Ernst was arrested again, this time by the
Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...
, because his art was considered by the Nazis to be " degenerate". He managed to escape and flee to the United States with the help of
Peggy Guggenheim Marguerite "Peggy" Guggenheim ( ; August 26, 1898 – December 23, 1979) was an American art collector, bohemian and socialite. Born to the wealthy New York City Guggenheim family, she was the daughter of Benjamin Guggenheim, who went down with ...
, who was a sponsor of the arts. After Ernst's arrest Carrington was devastated and agreed to go to Spain with a friend, Catherine Yarrow. She stayed with family friends in Madrid until her paralyzing anxiety and delusions led to a psychotic break and she was admitted into an asylum. She was given
electroconvulsive therapy Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a psychiatric treatment where a generalized seizure (without muscular convulsions) is electrically induced to manage refractory mental disorders.Rudorfer, MV, Henry, ME, Sackeim, HA (2003)"Electroconvulsive th ...
and was treated with the drugs
Cardiazol Pentylenetetrazol, also known as pentylenetetrazole, leptazol, metrazol, pentetrazol (INN), pentamethylenetetrazol, Corazol, Cardiazol, Deumacard, or PTZ, is a drug formerly used as a circulatory and respiratory stimulant. High doses cause convuls ...
(a powerful
convulsant A convulsant is a drug which induces convulsions and/or epileptic seizures, the opposite of an anticonvulsant. These drugs generally act as stimulants at low doses, but are not used for this purpose due to the risk of convulsions and consequent exc ...
), and Luminal (a
barbiturate Barbiturates are a class of depressant drugs that are chemically derived from barbituric acid. They are effective when used medically as anxiolytics, hypnotics, and anticonvulsants, but have physical and psychological addiction potential a ...
). She was released from the asylum into the care of a keeper, and was told that her parents had decided to send her to a sanatorium in South Africa. En route to South Africa, she stopped in Portugal, where she made her escape. She went to the Mexican Embassy to find
Renato Leduc Renato Leduc (November 16, 1897 – August 2, 1986) was a Mexican poet and journalist. Biography Leduc, son of a French father and a Mexican mother, served as a signalist in Pancho Villa's ''División del Norte'',Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...
(they knew each other from bull fights) and agreed to a marriage of convenience with Carrington so that she would be accorded the immunity given to a diplomat's wife. The pair divorced in 1943. Meanwhile, Ernst had married Peggy Guggenheim in New York in 1941. That marriage ended a few years later. Ernst and Carrington never resumed their relationship.


Mexico

After spending a year in New York, Leduc and Carrington went to Mexico, where many European artists fled in search of asylum, in 1942, which she grew to love and where she lived, on and off, for the rest of her life. When Carrington first came to Mexico she was preceded by the success of surrealist exhibitions which allowed her to create many connections within the surrealist movement. Her connections within these surrealist circles were influential in opening artistic doors that had long been closed to Mexican artists. After living in Mexico for seven years, Leonora Carrington held her first solo exhibition at the Galeria Clardecor. Much of the initial response from the public was very encouraging, and the press for months following published positive and approving critic reviews. Events from this period continued to influence her work. After spending part of the 1960s in New York City, Carrington lived and worked in Mexico once again. While in Mexico she was asked, in 1963, to create a mural which she named ''El Mundo Magico de los Mayas'', and which was influenced by folk stories from the region. The mural is now located in the
Museo Nacional de Antropología The National Museum of Anthropology ( es, Museo Nacional de Antropología, MNA) is a national museum of Mexico. It is the largest and most visited museum in Mexico. Located in the area between Paseo de la Reforma and Mahatma Gandhi Street with ...
in
Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
. In 1973 Carrington designed ''Mujeres conciencia'', a poster for the Women's Liberation movement in Mexico, depicting a 'new Eve'. In the 1970s women artists of previous waves and generations responded to the more liberal climate and movement of the array of feminist waves. Many pushed the issues of women's liberation and consciousness within their work while others spoke out on issues instead of making art. She frequently spoke about women’s “legendary powers” and the need for women to take back “the rights that belonged to them.” Many artists involved in the Surrealism regarded women to be useful as muses but not seen as artists in their own right. Carrington was adopted as a femme-enfant by the Surrealists because of her rebelliousness against her upper-class upbringing. Carrington primarily focused on psychic freedom in the belief that such freedom cannot be achieved until political freedom is also accomplished. Through these beliefs Carrington understood that "greater cooperation and sharing of knowledge between politically active women in Mexico and North America" was important for emancipation. Carrington's political commitment led to her winning the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Women's Caucus for Art convention in New York in 1986. Throughout the decade women identified and defined an array of relationships to feminist and mainstream concepts and concerns. Continuing through the decade women continued to question the meaning of existence through form and material.


Second marriage and children

She later married Emerico Weisz (nicknamed "Chiki"), born in Hungary in 1911, a photographer and the darkroom manager for
Robert Capa Robert Capa (born Endre Ernő Friedmann; October 22, 1913 – May 25, 1954) was a Hungarian-American war photographer and photojournalist as well as the companion and professional partner of photographer Gerda Taro. He is considered by some to b ...
during the
Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebeli ...
. Together they had two sons: Gabriel, an intellectual and poet, and Pablo, a doctor and Surrealist artist. Chiki Weisz died 17 January 2007, at home. He was 97 years old.


Death

Leonora Carrington died on 25 May 2011, aged 94, in a hospital in Mexico City as a result of complications arising from
pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severit ...
. Her remains were buried at Panteón Inglés (English Cemetery) in Mexico City.


Themes and major works

Carrington stated that: "I painted for myself...I never believed anyone would exhibit or buy my work." She was not interested in the writings of
Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts i ...
, as were other Surrealists in the movement. She instead focused on magical realism and alchemy and used autobiographical detail and symbolism as the subjects of her paintings. Carrington was interested in presenting female sexuality as she experienced it, rather than as that of male surrealists' characterization of female sexuality. Carrington's work of the 1940s is focused on the underlying theme of women's role in the creative process. Carrington's work is identified and compared with the surrealist movement. Within the surrealist movement, there was a strong exploration of the women's body combined with the mysterious forces of nature. During this time women artists correlated the woman figure with creative nature while using ironic stances. When painting, she used small brushstroke techniques building up layers in a meticulous manner, creating rich imagery. In ''Self-Portrait'' (1938) Carrington offers her own interpretation of female sexuality by looking toward her own sexual reality rather than theorizing on the subject, as was custom by other Surrealists in the movement. Carrington's move away from the characterization of female sexuality subverted the traditional male role of the Surrealist movement. ''Self-Portrait'' (1937–38) also offers insight into Carrington's interest in the "alchemical transformation of matter and her response to the Surrealist cult of desire as a source of creative inspiration." ''Self Portrait'' further explores the duality that comes with being a woman. This concept of duality is explored by Carrington using a mirror to assert duality of the self and the self being an observer with being observed. The hyena depicted in ''Self-Portrait'' (1937–38) joins both male and female into a whole, metaphoric of the worlds of the night and the dream. The symbol of the hyena is present in many of Carrington's later works, including "La Debutante" in her book of short stories ''The Oval Lady''. Three years after being released from the asylum and with the encouragement of
André Breton André Robert Breton (; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first '' Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') ...
, Carrington wrote about her psychotic experience in her memoir ''Down Below''. In this, she explained how she had a nervous breakdown, didn't want to eat, and left Spain. This is where she was imprisoned in an asylum. She illustrates all that was done to her: ruthless institutional therapies, sexual assault, hallucinatory drugs, and unsanitary conditions. It has been suggested that the events of the book should not be taken literally, given Carrington's state at the time of her institutionalization; however, recent authors have sought to examine the details of her institution in order to discredit this theory. She also created art to depict her experience, such as her ''Portrait of Dr. Morales'' and ''Map of Down Below''. Her book '' The Hearing Trumpet'' deals with aging and the female body. It follows the story of older women who, in the words of Madeleine Cottenet-Hage in her essay "The Body Subversive: Corporeal Imagery in Carrington, Prassinos and Mansour", seek to destroy the institutions of their imaginative society to usher in a "spirit of sisterhood." ''The Hearing Trumpet'' also criticizes the shaming of the nude female body, and it is believed to be one of the first books to tackle the notion of
gender identity Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent, and consistent with the ...
in the twentieth century. Carrington's views situated motherhood as a key experience to femininity. Carrington stated, "We, women, are animals conditioned by maternity.... For female animals love-making, which is followed by the great drama of the birth of a new animal, pushes us into the depths of the biological cave." While this may seem to differ from certain modern feminist perspectives, the cave, of which Carrington offers many versions, is the setting for a symbolic coming to life, not an actual birth-giving ("and this can mean aquatic or maternal, this can be double, in my opinion"; mère and mer, following Simone de Beauvoir). Carrington had an interest in animals, myth, and symbolism. This interest became stronger after she moved to Mexico and started a relationship with the émigré Spanish artist
Remedios Varo María de los Remedios Alicia Rodriga Varo y Uranga (16 December 1908 – 8 October 1963) was a Spanish-born Mexican surrealist artist working in Spain, France, and Mexico. Early life Remedios Varo Uranga was born in Anglès, is a small town ...
. The two studied
alchemy Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim wo ...
, the
kabbalah Kabbalah ( he, קַבָּלָה ''Qabbālā'', literally "reception, tradition") is an esoteric method, discipline and Jewish theology, school of thought in Jewish mysticism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ( ''Məqūbbāl'' "rece ...
, and the post-classic Mayan mystical writings,
Popol Vuh ''Popol Vuh'' (also ''Popol Wuj'' or ''Popul Vuh'' or ''Pop Vuj'') is a text recounting the mythology and history of the Kʼicheʼ people, one of the Maya peoples, who inhabit Guatemala and the Mexican states of Chiapas, Campeche, Yucatan and ...
. The first important exhibition of her work appeared in 1947 at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York City. Carrington was invited to show her work in an international exhibition of Surrealism, where she was the only female English professional painter. She became a celebrity almost overnight. In Mexico, she authored and successfully published several books. The first major exhibition of her work in UK for twenty years took place at
Chichester Chichester () is a cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. It is the only ...
's
Pallant House Gallery Pallant House Gallery is an art gallery in Chichester, West Sussex, England. It houses one of the best collections of 20th-century British art in the world. History The Gallery's collection is founded on works left to the city of Chichester by ...
, West Sussex, from 17 June to 12 September 2010, and subsequently in
Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the Episcopal see, See of ...
at the
Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts The Sainsbury Centre is an art gallery and museum located on the campus of the University of East Anglia, Norwich, England. The building, which contains a collection of world art, was one of the first major public buildings to be designed by ...
, as part of a season of major international exhibitions called ''Surreal Friends'' that celebrated women's role in the Surrealist movement. Her work was exhibited alongside pieces by her close friends, the Spanish painter
Remedios Varo María de los Remedios Alicia Rodriga Varo y Uranga (16 December 1908 – 8 October 1963) was a Spanish-born Mexican surrealist artist working in Spain, France, and Mexico. Early life Remedios Varo Uranga was born in Anglès, is a small town ...
(1908–1963) and the Hungarian photographer Kati Horna (1912–2000). In 2013 Carrington was the subject of a major retrospective at the
Irish Museum of Modern Art The Irish Museum of Modern Art ( ga, Áras Nua-Ealaíne na hÉireann) also known as IMMA, is Ireland's leading national institution for the collection and presentation of modern and contemporary art. Located in Kilmainham, Dublin, the Museum pr ...
, Dublin. Titled ''The Celtic Surrealist'', it was curated by Sean Kissane and examined Carrington's Irish background to illuminate many cultural, political and mythological themes present in her work. Carrington's art often depicts horses, as in her ''Self-Portrait (Inn of the Dawn Horse)'' and the painting ''The Horses of Lord Candlestick''. Her fascination with drawing horses began in her childhood. Horses also appear in her writings. In her first published short story, "The House of Fear", Carrington portrays a horse in the role of a psychic guide to a young heroine. In 1935, Carrington's first essay, "Jezzamathatics or Introduction to the Wonderful Process of Painting", was published before her story "The Seventh Horse". Carrington often used codes of words to dictate interpretation in her artwork. "Candlestick" is a code that she commonly used to represent her family, and the word "lord" for her father. Carrington contributed to the 1973 Mexican
horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, ap ...
'' The Mansion of Madness'' directed by Juan López Moctezuma, loosely based on the
Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wid ...
short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...
''
The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether" is a dark comedy short story by the American author Edgar Allan Poe. First published in ''Graham's Magazine'' in November 1845, the story centers on a naïve and unnamed narrator's visit to a menta ...
''. She supervised the artistic design for the sets and costumes, with one of her sons, Gabriel Weisz. The repeated appearance of a white horse, Carrington's alter ego, and the elaborate surreal feasts and costumes show her influence and vision. In 2005
Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is owned by Groupe Artémi ...
auctioned Carrington's ''Juggler (El Juglar''), and the realised price was US$713,000, setting a new record for the highest price paid at auction for a living surrealist painter. Carrington painted portraits of the telenovela actor
Enrique Álvarez Félix Enrique Álvarez Félix (5 April 1934 – 24 May 1996) was a Mexican actor, known for his roles in telenovelas and in films, such as '' The Monastery of the Vultures'' and '' The House of the Pelican''. Family and personal life Enrique Álvarez ...
, son of actress
María Félix María de los Ángeles Félix Güereña (; 8 April 1914 – 8 April 2002) was a Mexican actress and singer. Along with Pedro Armendáriz and Dolores del Río, she was one of the most successful figures of Latin American cinema in the 1940s and ...
, a friend of Carrington's first husband. In 2015, Carrington was honoured through a
Google Doodle A Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google's homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and notable historical figures. The first Google Doodle honored the 1998 edition of the long-running an ...
commemorating her 98th birthday. The Doodle was based on her painting, ''
How Doth the Little Crocodile "How Doth the Little Crocodile" is a poem by Lewis Carroll which appears in chapter 2 of his 1865 novel ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''. Alice recites it while attempting to recall " Against Idleness and Mischief" by Isaac Watts. It descri ...
'', drawn in surrealist style. The painting was inspired by a poem in
Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are '' Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequ ...
's ''
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (commonly ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creature ...
'', and this painting was eventually turned into ''Cocodrilo'' located on Paseo de la Reforma.


Exhibitions

* 2022: Leonora Carrington: El Mundo Magico,
Mixografia Mixografia is a publisher of fine art prints and a contemporary art gallery located in the Central-Alameda neighborhood southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. Mixografia also refers to the workshop's printing process of the same name, which involves t ...
, Los Angeles, California, 9 July - 27 August 2022 * 2020: Fantastic Wome
Fantastic Women
Louisiana Museum of Modern art, Humlebæk, Denmark, 25 July - 8 November 2020 * 2019: Surrealism in Mexic
Surrealism in Mexico - - Exhibitions - Di Donna Galleries
New York, NY, 25 April – 29 June 2019 * 2019: Leonora Carrington, The Story of the Last Egg
Gallery Wendi Norris Offsite Exhibition
New York, NY, 23 May – 29 June 2019 * 2018: The Leonora Carrington Museum opens in
San Luis Potosí San Luis Potosí (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of San Luis Potosí ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de San Luis Potosí), is one of the 32 states which compose the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and i ...
, México * 2018: Leonora Carrington. Cuentos Mágicos, Museo de Arte Moderno de la Ciudad de México, Mexico, April – September 2018 * 2017: Mad About Surrealism,
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen Municipal Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen () is an art museum in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The name of the museum is derived from the two most important collectors of Frans Jacob Otto Boijmans and Daniël George van Beuningen. It is located ...
, Netherlands, Rotterdam * 2017: Surrealist Women, Mayoral, Barcelona, Spain, Barcelona * 2016: Monstruosismos, Museo de Arte Moderno de Ciudad de México, Mexico, Bosque de Chapultepec * 2016: Surreal Encounters. Collecting the Marvellous, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, UK, Edinburgh * 2016: Dalí, Ernst, Miró, Magritte ... : Surreal Encounters from the Collections Edward James, Roland Penrose * 2016: Gabrielle Keiller, Ulla and Heiner Pietzsch, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Germany, Hamburg * 2016: Artists and Lovers, Ordovas Gallery, London, UK, Mayfair * 2016: Strange Worlds: The Vision of Angela Carter, Royal West of England Academy, UK, Bristol * 2016: Leonora Carrington: The Last Tuesday Society & Viktor Wynd's Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art & Natural History. Hackney, London, September – December 2016 * 2015: Leonora Carrington: Tate Liverpool, 6 March – 31 May 2015 * 2015: Surrealism and Magic, Boca Raton Museum of Art, USA, Boca Raton * 2015: Kahlo, Rivera & Mexican Modern Art, NSU Art Museum, Fort Lauderdale, USA, Ft. Lauderdale * 2015: Mexico: Fantastic Identity. 20th Century Masterpieces from the FEMSA Collection, Museum of Latin American Art, USA, Long Beach * 2015: Lorna Otero Project Album of Family, Miami, The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, Florida International University, USA, Downtown Miami * 2015: Surrealism: The Conjured Life, Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago, USA, Near North Side * 2015: Fields of Dream: The Surrealist Landscape, Di Donna, USA, Upper East Side * 2014: Surrealism and Magic, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, USA, Ithaca * 2014: Paper, Pencil & Ink: Prints & Other Works on Paper, Ruiz-Healy Art, USA, San Antonio * 2013: Max Ernst, Fondation Beyeler, Basel, Switzerland, Basel * 2013–2014: Leonora Carrington: The Celtic Surrealist, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland (solo) * 2012: In Wonderland: The Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States, Los Angeles * 2012: County Museum of Art, USA, Park La Brea * 2011: Exultation: Sex, Death and Madness in Eight Surrealist Masterworks, Wendi Norris Gallery, USA, Union Square * 2011: The Colour of My Dreams The Surrealist Revolution in Art, Vancouver Art Gallery, Canada, Vancouver * 2011: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly?, Museum of Latin American Art, USA, Long Beach * 2011: Night Scented Stock, Marianne Boesky Gallery, 118 East 64th Street, USA, Upper East Side * 2011: Leonora Carrington &
Tilly Losch Ottilie Ethel Leopoldine Herbert, Countess of Carnarvon (''née'' Losch; November 15, 1903 – December 24, 1975), known professionally as Tilly Losch, was an Austrian dancer, choreographer, actress, and painter who lived and worked for most of ...
, Viktor Wynd Fine Art Inc. * 2010: Surreal Friends, Pallant House Gallery, UK, Chichester, and Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, UK, Norwich * 2010: Divine Comedy, Sotheby's New York, USA, Upper East Side * 2009: Latitudes: Latin American Masters from the Femsa Collection, The Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, USA, Santa Ana * 2009: Angels of Anarchy: Women Artists and Surrealism, Manchester Art Gallery, UK, Manchester * 2008: Arte Americas The Latin American Art Fair, Tresart, USA, Coral Gables * 2008: Works from the Natasha and Jacques Gelman Collection of Modern Mexican Art, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Ireland, Dublin * 2008: Talismanic Lens, Frey Norris Gallery, San Francisco, CA (solo) * 2007: Surrealism: Dreams on Canvas, Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor, NY * 2003: Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and 20th Century Mexican Art: The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection, National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago, IL * 2001–2002: Surrealism: Desire Unbound, The Tate, London, England and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY * 1999: Mirror Images: Women, Surrealism and Self-Representation,
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art, and was ...
, San Francisco, CA * 1999: Surrealism: Two Private Eyes/The Nesuhi Ertegun and Daniel Filipacchi Collections, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY * 1993: Regards des Femmes, Musée d'Art Moderne, Lieja, France * 1993: Sujeto-Objeto, Museo Regional de Guanajuato, Guanajuato y Museo de Monterrey, Moneterrey, Mexico * 1991: Galería de Arte del Auropuerto Internacional de la Ciudad de México, Mexico City, Mexico (solo) * 1991: Serpentine Gallery, London, England (solo) * 1991: Sainsbury, Norwich, England (solo) * 1991: Arnolfini, Bristol, England (solo) * 1991: The Mexican Museum, San Francisco, CA (solo) * 1990: Art Company, Leeds, England (solo) * 1990: Brewster Gallery, New York, NY (solo) * 1989: Museo Nacional de la Estampa, INBA, Mexico (solo) * 1987: Brewster Gallery, New York, NY (solo) * 1987: Art Space Mirage, Tokyo, Japan (solo) * 1987: Alexander Iolas Gallery, New York, NY (solo) * 1976: Leonora Carrington : a retrospective exhibition, Center for Inter-American Relations, New York City * 1976: Leonora Carrington : a retrospective exhibition, University Art Museum, University of Texas at Austin * 1970: Impressionism to Surrealism, Worthing Art Gallery, Worthing, England * 1969: The Surrealists, Byron Gallery, New York, NY * 1969: Galerie Pierre, Paris, France (solo) * 1969: Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, Sala Nacional, Mexico (solo) * 1969: Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, Mexico (solo) * 1969: Galería de Arte Mexicano, Mexico City, Mexico (solo) * 1968: Artistas Británicos en México 1800/1968, Instituto Anglo-Mexicano de Cultura, Mexico * 1967: IX Bienal de Pintura, São Paulo, Brazil * 1966: Surrealism: A State of Mind, Universidad de California, Santa Barbara, CA * 1966: Surrealismo y Arte Fantástico en México, Galeria Universitaria, Aristos, Mexico * 1965: Galería Antonio Souza, Mexico City, Mexico (solo) * 1965: Instituto Cultural Anglo-Mexicano, Mexico (solo) * 1965: Galería Clardecor, Mexico City, Mexico (solo) * 1963: Pinturas de la colección de Edward James, Worthing Art Gallery, Worthing, England * 1961: El Retrato Mexicano Contemporáneo, Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, Mexico * 1959: Eros Galerie, Daniel Cordier, Paris, France * 1956: Galería de Arte Mexicano, Mexico City, Mexico (solo) * 1943: Exhibition by 31 Women, the Art of This Century gallery, New York, NY * 1943: First Papers of Surrealism, Madison Avenue Gallery, New York, NY * 1943: 20th Century Portraits, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY * 1942: Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York, NY (solo) * 1938: Esposition du Surréalisme, Galerie Robert, Amsterdam, The Netherlands * 1938: Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme, Galerie Beaux-Arts, Paris, France


Books

* ''La Maison de la Peur'', H. Parisot, 1938 – with illustrations by
Max Ernst Max Ernst (2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German (naturalised American in 1948 and French in 1958) painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and Surrealis ...
* ''Down Below'' (VVV magazine, 1944) - reprinted by Black Swan Press in 1983 and
New York Review of Books New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...
in 2017 * ''Une chemise de nuit de flanelle'', Libr. Les Pas Perdus, 1951, translated by
Yves Bonnefoy Yves Jean Bonnefoy (24 June 1923, Tours – 1 July 2016 Paris) was a French poet and art historian. He also published a number of translations, most notably the plays of William Shakespeare which are considered among the best in French. He was pr ...
, with a cover by
Max Ernst Max Ernst (2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German (naturalised American in 1948 and French in 1958) painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and Surrealis ...
* ''El Mundo Mágico de Los Mayas'', Museo Nacional de Antropología, 1964 – illustrated by Leonora Carrington * ''The Oval Lady: Surreal Stories'' (
Capra Press Capra Press is an independent publishing house that was founded in Santa Barbara, California, in 1969. The press relocated to San Francisco, California in 2011. History Noel Young (1922–2002), a former commercial printer, founded the press i ...
, 1975) * '' The Hearing Trumpet'' (
Routledge Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law ...
, 1976); Penguin Books, Limited, 2005, * ''The Stone Door'' (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1977) * ''The Seventh Horse and Other Tales'' ( Dutton, 1988) * ''The House of Fear'' (Trans. K. Talbot and M. Warner. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1988) *''The Debutante and Other Stories'' (Silver Press, 2017) *
The Complete Stories of Leonora Carrington
' (
Dorothy, a publishing project Dorothy, a publishing project is a St. Louis-based small press publishing house founded by Danielle Dutton and Martin Riker in 2009. Dorothy specializes in publishing short works of literary fiction written by women. The press releases two books ...
, 2017. Introduction by Kathryn Davis)


Artworks

*'' Self-Portrait (Inn of the Dawn Horse)'', 1936–1937, The
Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
, The Pierre and Maria-Gaetana Matisse Collection *''The Horses of Lord Candlestick'', 1938 (private collection) *''The Meal of Lord Candlestick'', 1938 *'' Portrait of Max Ernst'', c. 1939,
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art is part of the National Galleries of Scotland, which are based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The National Gallery of Modern Art houses the collection of modern and contemporary art dating from about 1900 to th ...
*''The Temptation of St. Anthony'', 1945 (private collection) *'' The Kitchen Garden on the Eyot'', 1946, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art *'' The Giantess (The Guardian of the Egg)'', 1947 (private collection) *''The Old Maids'', 1947, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts University of East Anglia * ''The Bird Bath'', 1974 *''The Memory Tower'', 1995,
The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art & Natural History The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art & Natural History is a museum and bar in Hackney Central, situated in a former call centre on Mare Street in the London Borough of Hackney. It is operated by Viktor Wynd and part of The Last Tuesd ...
, London *''Gatomaquia'', 2009, Museo Leonora Carrington, Mexico


See also

* Women Surrealists


References


Further reading

* Chadwick, Whitney. ''Women Artists and the Surrealist Movement'' (Thames and Hudson, New York, 1985) * Sills, Leslie & Whitman. ''A. "Visions: stories of women artists'' (Morton Grove, Illinois, 1993) * Aberth, Susan L. ''Leonora Carrington: Surrealism, Alchemy and Art'' (Ashgate/Lund Humphries 2010), * Conley, Katharine. ''Automatic Woman: The Representation of Woman in Surrealism'' (Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press, 1996) * Moorhead, Joanna. ''Another world'' (article about Carrington), ''
Daily Telegraph Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...
'' (24 April 2010) * Van Raay, Stefan, Moorhead, Joanna and Arcq, Teresa. "Surreal Friends: Leonora Carrington, Remedios Varo and Kati Horna" (Lund Humphries in association with Pallant House Gallery, 2010) * Chadwick, Whitney
“Leonora Carrington: Evolution of a Feminist Consciousness”
''
Woman's Art Journal The ''Woman's Art Journal'' (''WAJ'') is a feminist art history journal that focuses on women in the visual arts. The journal also serves as a forum "for critical analysis of contemporary art issues as they relate to women." Overview The ''Woman ...
'', Vol. 7, no. 1: (1986. Retrieved 21 February 2012), pg. 38 * Hertz, Erich. "Disruptive Testimonies: The Stakes of Surrealist Experience in Breton and Carrington." ''Symposium'' Vol. 64, no. 2: (2010). Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed 29 March 2012)
Aberth, Susan. “Leonora Carrington: The Mexican years, 1943–1985.” ''Art Journal'' Vol. 51, no. 3: (Autumn 1992; accessed 1 April 2012) pgs. 83–85
*
Elena Poniatowska Hélène Elizabeth Louise Amélie Paula Dolores Poniatowska Amor (born May 19, 1932), known professionally as Elena Poniatowska () is a French-born Mexican journalist and author, specializing in works on social and political issues focused on th ...
, ''Lilus Kikus and Other Stories ''(1954) *
Alejandro Jodorowsky Alejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky (; born 17 February 1929) is a Chilean-French avant-garde filmmaker. Best known for his 1970s films ''El Topo'' and '' The Holy Mountain'', Jodorowsky has been "venerated by cult cinema enthusiasts" for his work ...
, ''The Spiritual Journey of Alejandro Jodorowsky: The Creator of el Topo (Park Street Press 2008), . * Elena Poniatowska, ''Leonora'' (Seix Barral 2011), . * Tina Kinsella, "We're frightened"
On Leonora Carrington
Public Conference, Irish Museum of Modern Art (2013). * Tina Kinsella, "An Exploration of Animality and Sexual Difference in the Artworks of Frida Kahlo, Leonora Carrington and Bracha L. Ettinger
Animality and Sexual Difference
Public Conference, Dublin City University (March 2014). * Tina Kinsalla, "Surrealism to Subrealism.
Surrealism
Public Conference, Maynooth University, Ireland (10 October 2014). * Sean Kissane, ''Leonora Carrington The Celtic Surrealist'' (DAP 2013), . * Joanna Moorhead, ''The Surreal Life of Leonora Carrington'' (Virago, 2017). * Gloria Orenstein. "In Memory of the Most Magical Friend I Ever Had: Leonora Carrington," ''Femspec''; Vol. 17, Iss. 1, 2016. * Nancy Deffebach. "Renaissance Science, Heresy, and Spirituality in the Art of Leonora Carrington." In "Arte y Ciencia: XXIV Coloquio Internacional de Historia del Arte." Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 2002. * (Online version is titled "How Leonora Carrington Feminized Surrealism".)


External links


Leonora Carrington's Cats

Leonora Carrington at Wikiart.org

Leonora Carrington's Surrealist Paintings at disinfo.com


15 January 2006

''The Guardian'' * Documents o
Leonora Carrington
in the ICAA Documents Project at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston


The Surreal Life of Leonora Carrington by Joanna Moorhead – review

Biography and work by Leonora Carrington at Artsy.net

Self portrait of Leonora Carrington at Met Museum

Artwork of Leonora Carrington at Wendi Norris Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carrington, Leonora 1917 births 2011 deaths 20th-century English women artists 20th-century Mexican painters 20th-century Mexican novelists 20th-century Mexican women writers 21st-century English women artists 21st-century Mexican painters Alumni of Chelsea College of Arts British emigrants to Mexico British surrealist artists British surrealist writers British women's rights activists English contemporary artists English women painters English people of Irish descent Mexican people of Irish descent Mexican surrealist writers Mexican women's rights activists Mexican women novelists Mexican women painters Officers of the Order of the British Empire People educated at New Hall School People from Clayton-le-Woods Women surrealist artists Weird fiction writers People from Chorley