Leonora Carrington: Invitation, Invocation and Manifestation
Saturday, October 25, 2014
2pm – 3pm
Leonora Carrington: Invitation, Invocation and Manifestation
Prof. Susan Aberth (Bard College)
From her first widely exhibited work, Inn of the Dawn Horse (Self Portrait), executed while only twenty-one in 1938, the artist Leonora Carrington used the act of painting to invoke and harness unseen forces. Through the depiction of communion with and between animals, the presentation of altars containing ritual sacrifices, or the drawing of magic circles and other geometric patterns, Carrington’s work often serves as a perpetual summoning of the divine to manifest. Celtic goddesses, spirits of the departed, the Sidhe of the Tuatha Dé Danann, and other chthonic and ancient entities are called forth to serve unknown purposes or perhaps simply to demonstrate their continued existence and intervention in our supposedly secular times. This talk will focus on works in various media that best illustrate this aspect of Carrington’s oeuvre.
