July 7 – September 15, 2024
Leonora Carrington (1917 – 2011) explores themes of metamorphosis, magic, and biblical allegory. She populates her compositions with hybrid creatures; human figures fused with mythical and imagined beasts suggest a confrontation between the material world and the world of dreams. Among the early European surrealists, Carrington is a pioneer in her century-spanning explorations of the subconscious and her portrayal of imagery related to mystical experience. Along with her notable painting practice, she utilizes lithography and other print media to communicate these concepts with an ethereal and delicate mastery of the drawn line.
Carrington rebelled against the societal expectations she encountered as an upper-class young woman born in Lancashire, England. She balked at the rules of her boarding schools, bored by the seemingly endless series of debutante balls. Her interests, instead, lay in Irish fables, and English writers such as Lewis Carroll, Jonathan Swift, and Beatrix Potter.
In 1937 Carrington began a relationship with Max Ernst. Ernst was arrested by the Gestapo, escaped, and fled to New York, leaving a devastated Carrington behind. She was institutionalized in Spain before making her way to Mexico, where she eventually married photographer Emerico “Chiki” Weisz, a Hungarian Jewish refugee. Over the course of her eight-decade career, Carrington explored the mystery of the world around her, claiming at the end of her life, “The only thing I know, is that I don’t know.”
OJMCHE gratefully acknowledges the Craig E. Wollner Fund for supporting the exhibition.