Leonora Carrington- Surrealist Frontier 1917-2011 Lesson 21


                                             Leonora Carrington 1917-2011


                                                      Self Portrait 1937

-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 is outstretched to the prancing hyena and behind her is a child's rocking horse in flight.

The daughter of an English industrialist, she spent her childhood on a country estate surrounded by animals and reading fairy tales and legends.  She used her childhood experiences in her paintings. The white horse indoors and scene in the window serve as a symbolic surrogate.


(jodhpurs -jaad-prz) close-fitting horseback riding pants inspired by Indian trousers-named after the Captial city formerly known as the state of Marwar now modern day Rajasthan in western India. Jodhpur city founded in 1495 by Rao Jodha who belonged to the Rathore Clan of Raiputs.


How can childhood memories influence an artist's artwork?


                                                                     The Giantess 1950
-The towering Madonna figure, cradles an egg, and geese fly out of her cloak, her golden hair is a field of wheat.

                                                                   

Surrealist painter Leonora Carrington was born and educated in England but lived most of her adult life in Mexico City. She was one of the last surviving participants of the Surrealist movement of the l930's. She had a relationship with surrealist Max Ernst but never married him.  

She was a rebellious child throughout her academic career. She was a debutante presented to King George V at Buckingham Palace and her parents gave her an after party at the Ritz in London. She hated the experience and wrote a story about making friends with a hyena at the London zoo and swapping places with the hyena who goes the debutante ball in her place-causing a chaotic scene.

                                                        Max Ernst 1891-1976


                                               Eye of Silence (frottage-rubbings)
Her rebellious streak continued and she choose to study art and live a bohemian lifestyle living in London.  She met Max Ernst (German Surrealist) he was 46 and married and she was l9.  The ran away together to Paris where they met several artists like Picasso and Breton and Miro.

At 23 the War came and Ernst was arrested. Confused Leonora fled to Spain where she had a nervous breakdown. She was institutionalized for awhile and then fled to Mexico.  Introduced by Picasso, she met and married Renato Leduc.  This marriage eventually dissolved and she married Hungarian photographer Chiki Weisz and stayed together until his death in 2007.
                                                          Portrait of Max Ernst by Leonora Carrington

                                                  El Gato de the Noche 2011
                                          Ebay $41, 800



                                                 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Micro expressions- We can explain. Lesson 10

Image
  Micro-expressions express the seven universal emotions: disgust, anger, fear, sadness, happiness, contempt, and surprise.  In the 1990's Paul Ekman *(clinical psychologist) expanded his list of emotions to include a range of positive and negative emotions not all encoded in facial muscles  Some emotions expressed as facial expressions: happiness, sadness, anger, surprise, disgust, fear, confusion, excitement, - Macro Expressions                                   Micro Expressions -obvious expression                                   -often misinterpreted or missed completely -last 1/2-4 secs                                             -occurs in ...
Read more

Tongue Twisters lesson 37 & 37 B

Tongue Twisters are a good way to practice and improve pronunciation and fluency.  They can also improve accents with repetition of sound. 1. How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? He would chuck, he would, as much as he could, and chuck as much wood As a woodchuck would if a woodchuck could chuck wood 2,How can a clam cram in a clean cream can? 3. Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear.  Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair.  Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn't fuzzy, was he? 4. I have got a date at a quarter to eight.  I'll see you at the gate, so don't be late. 5. You know New York, you need New York, you know you need unique New York. 6, I saw a kitten eating chicken in the kitchen. 7. If a dog chew shoes, whose shoes does he choose? 8 I thought I thought of thinking of thanking you 9. I wish to was my Irish wristwatch. 10. Near an ear, a nearer ear, nearly eerie ear 11. A big black bear sat on a big black rug 12. Tom threw Tim three thumbtacks 13. Nine nice night nurses nursi...
Read more

lesson 65 Salvador Dali

Image
  Dali and his pet ocelot Persistence of Memory 1931 Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dali (May 11, 1904- Jab 23, 1989 Figueres Spain 1, Salvador Dali was a Spanish "surrealist" artist renowned for his techincal skill, precise draftsmanship and the striking and bizarre images in his work. 2.Persistence of Memory (La Persistencia de la memoria) is a painting by Salvador Dali that was done in 1931.  It is considered on of the most famous contemporary paintings. 3. The paintings was first shown in 1932.  It has been in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City  since 1934.  4. The painting typifies what critics call "surrealism".  It is easy to recognise and is often used in  popular culture.  5. The painting was first to have a melting pocket watch, called a "soft watch".  Some people thought that the soft watch was inspired by Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. 4/ Dali said that the watches were not inspired by the the theory of relativity...
Read more