Growing up in a privileged and influential English family, young Leonora Carrington (1917-2011) was captivated by the Celtic folk tales her mother and grandmother shared about mythical creatures in Ireland. Her vivid imagination and rebellious nature got her expelled from several convent schools for activities like writing backwards and attempting levitation. Her father later insisted she be presented to King George V at a debutante ball, expecting her to “marry well.”
Despite societal expectations, Carrington pursued her passion for art and fantasy. She attended the Chelsea School of Art, discovered Surrealism at the 1936 International Surrealist Exhibition, and formed a close bond with artist Max Ernst. Through Ernst, she met art legends such as André Breton, Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró, and Pablo Picasso.
While Carrington is primarily recognized for her surreal paintings, her artistic repertoire extends well beyond painting. Shape of Dreams at L’SPACE Gallery showcases her creativity in sculpture and wearable art, emphasizing her large-scale lost-wax bronze sculptures and gold-plated jewelry. Most of the sculptures were cast towards the end of her life, with a few produced posthumously.
Her work, infused with surrealist elements, reflects the impact of her traumatic experiences during World War II, including a prolonged stay in a psychiatric institution. After her release, she settled in Mexico, living in a form of exile and creating art that delves into themes of transience and uncertainty, often featuring motifs like floating creatures and changing landscapes. According to the gallery, “There are exhibitions that begin with scholarship, and there are exhibitions that begin with intuition. Shape of Dreams began with a simple but persistent question: what happens when the fantastical beings that inhabit Leonora Carrington’s paintings step out of the canvas and into our world?”
The mystical, pagan elements in Carrington’s three-dimensional works are directly inspired by the figures in her paintings. These works feature cloaked figures, unusual masks, and human-animal hybrids, creating a magical world. A statement notes, “The sculptures appear almost in procession, as though Carrington’s creatures, priestesses, hybrid animals, and dream-beings have stepped out of the pictorial plane and entered the gallery space.”
Shape of Dreams is on display in New York through July 25. Additionally, a new biopic titled Leonora in the Morning Light and the exhibition Leonora Carrington: Portrait of a Singular Artist are available until July 19 at the Musée du Luxembourg.
