Noticias
From April onwards
The Museum of Modern Art will showcase Leonora Carrington´s art as never before
February 24, 2018The Museum of Modern Art will showcase from April 21 to September 23, 2018 new interpretations of Leonora Carrington’s creative work and her multiple facets, (April, 1917-May 2011) with the great exhibition Leonora Carrington. Magic stories.
At a press conference, it was reported that 200 pieces will be part of the retrospective: mural and easel paintings, sculptures, graphics, rugs, scenery, masks, photographs, documents, books and personal objects from collections in Mexico, the United States and Europe.
The exhibition will have a space with photographs by Lee Miller, Kati Horna and Chiki Weisz, and will be divided into eight sections: The young artist. Paris and New York 1937-1942; The Exile in Mexico: Friends and Family; The White Goddess: Women, Sorceress and Goddesses; The Animal Kingdom; Religions of the World and Ancient Myths; Narrative Imagination: Literature, Theater and Cinema; Politics and Feminism; and Mexico, Mirror of the Wonderful.
The general director of the National Institute of Fine Arts (INBA, for its acronym in Spanish), Lidia Camacho, pointed out that the curatorial vision of the exhibition will allow the public to know how poetry, literature, philosophy and expressions of ancient civilizations, mainly Mayan and Celtic, were reflected in Leonora Carrington's pictorial imaginary.
She said that the point of view of this exhibition will be an unprecedented approach to the creator’s work, beyond a reunion, which highlights 60 years of production made from the age of 12 and until her last days.
“Her themes, her techniques, her form and color will unfold before the eyes of her followers as never before. The exhibition in a particular way will fully account for the different stages of Leonora's creation, including when she lived in New York”, she said.
Sylvia Navarrete, director of the Museum of Modern Art, pointed out that it was 25 years ago when the last retrospective of the artist was held in Mexico, so after all these years there is a generation that knows her because she is one of the most famous painters in Mexico, but they have not come into contact with her work.
“We questioned how to approach this young audience without having a conventional discourse, and it was there that it was decided that the most interesting thing was to show not only the painter but also the writer and reader”.
Navarrete added that the purpose of the exhibition is to show Leonora Carrington in full, so she hopes that the event invokes her presence.
“Carrington is one of the most important surrealist painters, but beyond that cliché, she was perhaps one of the most educated painters who was interested in things that have to do with expanding the consciousness, who tried to exert a power of metamorphosis every day in her own life”, she said.
Gabriel Weisz, son of the artist and president of the Leonora Carrington Foundation, commented that his mother built her own universe. “That's very easy to say, someone who can build their own imaginary in paintings, some sculptures reflect the extraordinary being she was”.
"She managed to draw out her explosive imaginary full of a very particular black humor. She never took herself seriously, only when she had to be”, he said.
The exhibition Leonora Carrington. Magic stories, will be assembled under the curatorship of Stefan van Raay and Tere Arcq. The following are part of the paintings on display: The Giantess (1946), Are You Really Syrius? (1953) and The Inn of the Dawn Horse (Self-Portrait) (ca. 1937-1938), as well as unpublished works: the Leo wool rug (For Hugh Fremantle) (1975), six masks for the play written by Carrington Opus Siniestrus (1976) and the collage on cardboard with double vision Papillon nocturne (1949).
Tere Arcq explained that the exhibition wants to show the recurrent themes throughout the artist's life. “We structured the first themes connected to a historical moment, but also other topics that were important and dialogue between her literature and painting can be explored”, she said.
The researcher commented that among the issues to be explored in the different themes is the vision she had of the powerful woman, magic, alchemy, tarot, the presence of animals and Mexico. We will have the opportunity to see for the first time the mural she painted for Anthropology in conjunction with the preliminary sketches”, she said.
Arcq said that Leonora Carrington was always surrounded by groups and artists where collaboration was important, so in each of the themes there will be a work of another artist who was close to her or just collaborated, for example, Max Ernst, Gunther Gerzso or Remedios Varo.
The works on loan come from The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Pierre and Maria-Gaetana Matisse Collection, in the United States, the Tate Modern and Edward James Foundation, in Europe, and from the Mexican collections of the National Museum of Anthropology, the BBVA Bancomer Foundation, the Pérez Simón Collection and the Mexican Art Gallery.
It is worth mentioning that the museum of the Palace of Fine Arts will publish a bilingual book, made up of 18 essays by national and international authors and will include historical and contemporary voices of personalities close to Leonora Carrington.
The exhibition closes the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the birth of the British-born artist, and parallel to it there will be an educational and academic program of the exhibition consisting of guided visits, talks, roundtables, children's and young people's workshops, a reading circle and a film series in collaboration with the Cineteca Nacional.
The exhibition is organized by the Department of Culture and INBA, with the support of the Leonora Carrington Foundation, A. C. and after its exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, will be on view at the Contemporary Art Museum (MARCO) in Monterrey from October 2018 to February 2019.
Mexico,Distrito Federal
