Leonora Carrington

4 April- 5 May 1998

Hours: 9:30a.m.- 5:00 p.m.

The important 20th century art movement Surrealism was revolutionary in iths liberation of artists’s imagination as they turned their gaze upon the power of fantasy and the world of the unconsciousness which had been conditioned by the logic and reason of the modern age. Surrealism also brought forth more women painters than had been active in preceding art movements. Leonora Carrington is one of the most individualistic of such women Surrealists as Frida Kahlo, Remedios Varo, Leonor Fini and Dorothea Tanning.

Leonora Carrington was born in Lancashire, England in 1917, the daughter of a successful businessman. Expressing a strong desire to paint from an early age, Carrington, against the objections of her parents, entered the London art school Amedee Ozenfant Academy, London in 1936. This began her formal training as a painter. The following year, after her dramatic meeting with Max Ernst, she joined the Surrealist group in Paris where she interacted with such a major Surrealists as Ernst and Andre Breton, and exhibited a number of works in the Surrealist group exhibitions. During this period Carrington’s own art flourished and her creative work extended beyond the realm of painting, as seen in her publication of the novel The House of Fear and The Oval Lady. Like many of her fellow artists of the period, Carrington left Europe during World War Ⅱ, and after a period in New York, settled in Mexico Cityin 1942. Since her move to Mexico, Carrington has shed the influences of Surrealism, and continues her creative activities in Mexico today at the age of 80, creating a unique and strongly narrative world inspired by the Celtic legend of her mother’s people the Irish, the mystic Kabbalah of Judaism, and the traditions of Mexico, including its ancient mythology and folklore.

This exhibition commemorates the 100th anniversary of Japanese immigration to Mexico. We would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere appreciation to the owners who have generously agreed to lend their precious works to this exhibition, to the Foreign Ministers of both Japan and Mexico, Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes / Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes for their patronage, Galeria de Arte Mexicano for their assistance with planning, Mr. Luis-Carlos Emerich for his indispensable advice as a specialist in this field and to all those individuals and organizations who have lent their efforts to the realization of this exhibition.

This exhibition was supervised by Nonaka Masayo.

Installation views