With that in mind, I will be posting shorts a la Facebook posts. Little posts, little notes.
Leonora Carrington died last year at 94. She was NOT a Surrealist. She associated with the group and was with Max Ernst for two years. The thinking person who does some research will discover that she was critical of Surrealist’ tenets as well as the group’s treatment of women.
Leonor Fini and Leonora Carrington
EXCERPTS FROM Essay by Carrington in “WHAT SHE MIGHT BE” Catalogue —
“Technology, that is, the astute extensions of the human body, like the club of the cave man, the submarine or the jet, are hypnotic impressions of man and his thinking toys. Meanwhile, we women allow ourselves to be devoured by our stuffed teddy bears. Surely it is time (if there is enough time) to become adult women and throw away our teddy bears and other fatidic toys that threaten to convert the etagere into a grave.”
“It is a curious thought that the cerebral cortex is used to fantasize, to pretend, to brag. It pretends to be superior for having a certain nationality, for having a big house or six television sets. Or it pretends to be better than you (woman) or me (man), to pretend that –us, women– we are right because we have the more fatal and destructive weapons. What is all that pretense of mortals? Would it be possible that the cerebral cortex had a real and positive function, like searching for the truth, the will to survive life, the will to discover the mystery of life?”
“The extraordinary and horrendous abuse of the human body by another human brain is difficult to explain. But I mention Professor Santiago Genoves: ‘The same cunning that invents war can invent peace.’ Pretense is actually a dead end that goes nowhere because it is a lie. I believe that we need to see through this ‘smog’ within us and ask ourselves what or who is this inside that can live, grow, and evolve. It is a maternal thought emerging perhaps from the maternal instinct, but, and this is why they say, instinct gives birth to conscience.”
“To be able to unchain all the emotions, we must observe the elements that kept them in chains: all the false identities that we embrace through advertising, literature and the ultimate beliefs with which we feed ourselves from the time we are born.”
Excellent 14 Minute Introduction, includes footage of Carrington
Next Up: Edward James…
Art Poetry Sexy Women 20th Century Art Introduction Leonora Carrington Painter Painting surrealism
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AMY KING 
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