LEONORA CARRINGTON 1/5 – She was born in England, but lived her youth in France (with a tormented love story and a nervous breakdown), then spent nearly seventy years of her life in Mexico, where she met (becoming painter and writer), the surreal world of Horna, Gerszo and Peret, along with close friend of Remedios Varo and Bridget Bate Tichenor. LEONORA CARRINGTON 2/5 – For her, living in Mexico is living Surrealism in everyday life, with intense love, dreamlike atmospheres, anarchy and freedom, between dream and waking. For her, traveling in Mexico means to meet the millennial history of a place that blends history and myth, in the country of tequila and mezcal. LEONORA CARRINGTON 3/5 – In her long journey (England, Ireland, Italy, London, Paris, Spain, Portugal, Marseilles, New York and Mexico), she lives those experiences so as sentimental and aesthetic. In Paris, she lives the passion for Max Ernst (a man already married, and 26 years older than her), and from that intense life experience, comes the vision of the animal world. LEONORA CARRINGTON 4/5 – In her art, her dreamlike, often highly detailed compositions of fantastical creatures in otherworldly settings are based on an intensely personal symbolism. She shared the Surrealists’ keen interest in the unconscious mind and dream imagery. To these ideas she added her own unique blend of cultural influences, including Renaissance painting, Central American folk art and Jungian psychology. She drew on her life to represent women’s self-perceptions, the bonds between women of all ages. LEONORA CARRINGTON 5/5 – Her work, touches on ideas of sexual identity yet avoids the frequent Surrealist stereotyping of women as objects of male desire. Themes of metamorphosis and magic, as well as frequent whimsy, have given her art an enduring appeal. Her art is populated by hybrid figures that are half-human and half-animal, like combinations of various fantastic beasts that range from fearsome to humorous. You can see more on Meeting Benches, looking for: LEONORA CARRINGTON (1917/2011), ENGLISH PAINTER – Dreamlike, highly detailed compositions of fantastical creatures in otherworldly
