LEONORA CARRINGTON

Mary Leonora Carrington (6 April 1917 – 25 May 2011) was a British and Mexican Surrealist painter and novelist. She lived most of her adult life in Mexico City and was one of the last surviving participants in the Surrealist movement of the 1930s.  Carrington was also a founding member of the women's liberation movement in Mexico during the 1970s.

Early life

From 1920 until 1927 she lived at Crookhey Hall, a Gothic Revival mansion in Cockerham, which exerted a great influence on her imagination.

Educated by governesses, tutors, and nuns, she was expelled from two schools, including New Hall School in Chelmsford for her rebellious behaviour, until her family sent her to Florence, where she attended Mrs Penrose's Academy of Art. She also, briefly, attended St Mary's convent school in Ascot. In 1927, at the age of ten, she saw her first Surrealist painting in a Left Bank gallery in Paris and later met many Surrealists, including Paul Éluard.

She became familiar with Surrealism from a copy of Herbert Read's book, Surrealism (1936), given to her by her mother, but she received little encouragement from her family to forge an artistic career. The Surrealist poet and patron Edward James was the champion of her work in Britain; James bought many of her paintings and arranged a show in 1947 for her work at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York. Some works are still hanging at James' former family home, currently West Dean College in West Dean, West Sussex.

• Recent Recognition: Long considered a "forgotten" surrealist, her market value and critical acclaim have surged recently. In 2024, her painting Les Distractions de Dagobert sold for $28.5 million, a record for a British-born female artist.
• Public Museums: A dedicated Leonora Carrington Museum opened in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, in 2018. Her works are held in major collections like the Tate Modern, MoMA, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

Carrington, also a sculptor, is credited with feminizing surrealism. Her paintings and writing brought a woman's perspective to what had otherwise been a largely male-dominated artistic movement. Carrington demonstrated that women should be seen as artists in their own right and not to be used as muses by male artists.

Leonora Carrington died on 25 May 2011, aged 94, in a hospital in Mexico City as a result of complications arising from pneumonia. Her remains were buried at Panteón Inglés (English Cemetery) in Mexico City.

Read more about Leonora: https://artsproutsart.com/leonora-carrington-surrealism-and-motherhood/

SARAH BERNHARDT

1844 to 1923

Bernhardt was known for her acting ability. Her debut in Racine’s tragedy Iphigénie cemented her importance as a stage actress and launched what would become a 60-year career and a pan-European reputation as “the Divine Sarah.”

But many may not know that while acting, Bernhardt began studying sculpture with Mathieu Meusnier and Emilio Franchesci and became passionately devoted to the art. By 1874, she was exhibiting her work at the Paris Salon, which she continued to do until 1886. Exhibitions of the artist’s sculpture were held in London, New York, and Philadelphia. Bernhardt participated in the World’s Columbia Exposition in Chicago in 1893 and at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1900.

Bernhardt excelled at modeling and shaping, and the majority of her sculptures are portrait busts, though she also made smaller objets de vertu (objects of virtue). Fifty of her artworks have been documented.

Passionate about all forms of art, Bernhardt also painted, designed dresses, directed a theater company, and supervised the sets and costumes for her productions.

Sculptures

• After the Storm
• Bust of Louise Abbéma, 1878, Musée d'Orsay, Paris