Leonora Carrington

Leonora Carrington

Infobox Person


image_size = 150px
name = Leonora Carrington
image_size =
caption =
birth_date = birth date and age|1917|4|6
birth_place = Lancaster, Lancashire, England
death_date =
death_place =
occupation = Surrealist painter

Leonora Carrington (born April 6 1917) is a British-born artist, a surrealist painter and while living in Mexico, a novelist.

Early life

Carrington was born in Clayton Green, South Lancaster, LancashireVerify source|date=November 2007, England. Her father was a wealthy industrialist, her mother was IrishFact|date=May 2008. She also had an Irish nanny, Mary Cavanaugh, who told her Gaelic tales. Leonora had three brothers. Places she lived as a child included a house called Crooksey Hall. [http://www.kalin.lm.com/carrint.html accessed online July 21, 2007]

Educated by governesses, tutors and nuns, she was expelled from many schools for her rebellious behavior until her family sent her to Florence where she attended Mrs. Penrose's Academy of Art. Her father was opposed to an artist's career for her, but her mother encouraged her. She returned to England and was presented at Court, but according to her, she brought a book to read by Aldous Huxley "Eyeless in Gaza" (1936), instead. In London she attended the Chelsea School of Art and joined the Academy of Amédée Ozenfant. [http://www.kalin.lm.com/carrint.html accessed online July 21, 2007]

She saw her first Surrealist painting in a Left Bank gallery in 1927 (when she was ten years old), and met many surrealists, including Paul Eluard. (She was already familiar with surrealism from Herbert Read's book.)Fact|date=July 2007

Leonora Carrington found little encouragement from her family to forge an artistic career. Matthew Gale, curator at the Tate Modern singled out Surrealist poet and patron Edward James as the only champion of her work in Britain. James bought many of her paintings, and in 1947 arranged a show for her work at Pierre Matisse’s Gallery in New York. Some works are still hanging at his former family home now West Dean College in West Dean, West Sussex. [http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,,1981212,00.html#article_continue accessed online April4, 2008]

Max Ernst

Carrington saw Max Ernst's work in the 1936 International Surrealist Exhibition in London where she was immediately attracted to the Surrealist artist before actually meeting him.

She met Max Ernst at a party in London in 1937. The artists bonded and returned to Paris together where Ernst promptly separated from his wife. In 1938 they left Paris and settled in Saint Martin d'Ardèche in the Provence region, of the south of France. The new couple collaborated and supported each other's artistic development. With the outbreak of World War II, Max Ernst was arrested by French authorities for being a "hostile alien". Thanks to the intercession of Paul Eluard, and other friends including the American journalist Varian Fry he was discharged a few weeks later.

Soon after the French occupation by the Nazis, he was arrested again, this time by the Gestapo, he managed to escape and flee to America with the help of Peggy Guggenheim, a sponsor of the arts. [http://www.abcgallery.com/E/ernst/ernstbio.html accessed online July 21, 2007] After the Germans invaded their French village and took Ernst in custody in 1940, a devastated Carrington fled to Spain. Paralyzing anxiety and growing delusions culminated in a final breakdown at the British embassy in Madrid. Her parents intervened and had her institutionalized. She was given cardiazol, a powerful shock-inducing drug. When released into the care of a nurse who took her to Lisbon, Carrington ran away and sought refuge in the Mexican Embassy. Ernst meanwhile had been extricated from Europe with Peggy Guggenheim, but he and Carrington had experienced so much misery that they were unable to reconnect.

Mexico

After having escaped in Lisbon, Carrington arranged passage out of Europe with a Mexican diplomat who was a friend of Picasso. In fact, she married the diplomat as part of the travel arrangements. Events from that period would inform her work perhaps forever. She lives and works in Mexico and New York.

"I didn't have time to be anyone's muse...I was too busy rebelling against my family and learning to be an artist." --Leonora Carrington, 1983

In Mexico she later married Emericko Weisz. They had two sons: Gabriel Weisz, an intellectual and a poet and Pablo Weisz, a surrealist artist and a doctor.

Career

The first important exhibition of her work appeared in 1947 at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York City. Leonora 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 has had published several books.

Additional resources

"Women Artists and the Surrealist Movement" by Whitney Chadwick, Thames and Hudson, New York, 1985. With 220 illustrations, 20 in color.

"Visions: stories of women artists" by Leslie Sills, A. Whitman, Morton Grove, Illinois, 1993.

"Leonora Carrington- Surrealism, Alchemy and Art" by Susan L. Aberth. Lund Humphries, 2004.

Bibliography

* "La Maison de la Peur" (1938) - with illustrations by Max Ernst
* "Une chemise de nuit de flanelle" (1951)
* "El Mundo Magico de Los Mayas" (1964) - illustrated by Leonora Carrington.
* "The Oval Lady: Surreal Stories" (Capra Press, 1975)
* "The Hearing Trumpet" (Routledge, 1976)
* "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 Hearing Trumpet" (Boston: Exact Change, 1996)

References

External links

* [http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/carrington_leonora.html Artcyclopedia entry]
* [http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,,1981212,00.html Writer Joanna Moorhead goes in search of her long-lost cousin]
* [http://www.freynorris.com/docs/Leonora_Carrington_cv.htm Curriculum Vitae]
* [http://www.carringtonleo.5u.com/ her son's website, accessed April 7, 2008] '


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Leonora Carrington — Nombre Leonora Carrington Nacimiento …   Wikipedia Español

  • Leonora Carrington — (* 6. April 1917 in Lancashire, England; † 25. Mai 2011 in Mexiko Stadt[1]) war eine mexikanische surrealistische Malerin, Schriftstellerin und Dramatikerin britischer Herkunft. 1938 nahm sie an der später legendären Ausstellung Exposition… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Leonora Carrington — (6 de abril de 1917) es una pintora surrealista y escritora mexicana de origen inglés …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Leonora Carrington — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Carrington (homonymie). Leonora Carrington (née le 6 avril 1917 à Clayton Green, Lancashire, et morte à Mexico le 25 mai 2011[1]) est une artiste peintre et romancière britannique d inspiration s …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Carrington — and Carington are surnames shared by several notable people, including those listed below. The use of the one r Carington surname appears to be restricted to the British peerage Baron of Carrington created for Robert Smith in 1796.… …   Wikipedia

  • Carrington — ist der Familienname folgender Personen: Andrew Carrington (* 1977), australischer Sänger Ashley Carrington (* 1951), Pseudonym des deutschen Schriftstellers Rainer Maria Schröder Dora Carrington (1893–1932), englische Malerin Edwin W. Carrington …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Carrington (Homonymie) — Cette page d’homonymie répertorie les différents sujets et articles partageant un même nom. Patronyme Richard Christopher Carrington est un astronome anglais. Dora Carrington est une peintre anglaise, amie de Lytton Strachey. Leonora Carrington… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Leonora — (auch Léonora) ist ein weiblicher Vorname. Herkunft und Bedeutung Leonora ist durch Kürzung aus dem Vornamen Eleonora entstanden; Weiteres findet sich unter Eleonore. Bekannte Namensträgerinnen Leonora Carrington (1917–2011), britisch… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Leonora — Léonore Cette page d’homonymie répertorie les différents sujets et articles partageant un même nom. Léonore peut faire référence : un prénom féminin, variante d Éléonore, lui même variante du prénom Aliénor, un personnage principal de… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Léonora — Léonore Cette page d’homonymie répertorie les différents sujets et articles partageant un même nom. Léonore peut faire référence : un prénom féminin, variante d Éléonore, lui même variante du prénom Aliénor, un personnage principal de… …   Wikipédia en Français

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”