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4.16 AVERAGE
4.16 AVERAGE
An absolute joy of a book, as much a biography of a genius as a personal reflection of the friendship between the two cousins. Carrington’s genius is I hope not in question these days, but it’s extraordinary to read how much she refused to be defined as anything other than who she herself wanted to be. It’s wildly inspirational, but also incredibly moving: testament to an artist who refused to be the usual woman figure to the surrealists of mistress, muse or mother replacement. She was just always and totally wanting to be herself and on her own terms. It’s a particularly powerful book about feminism and the still small position so many women artists hold in the pantheon. Hopefully Carrington is part of a move to changing that
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Wow, what a forceful personality she was! I really didn't know anything about Carrington before reading this book. I love how she pushed back against merely being a muse to an artist and instead insisted that she was an artist herself.
The section of the book about how she & Max Ernst escaped from Nazi occupied France could be an entire book unto itself. Someone should really write a historical fiction novel about what happened. If it was fiction, people would say it was too far-fetched, but it really happened.
I feel like the book started growing weak about two thirds of the way into it. There was so much detail about Carrington's life up to the early 60s. The 1960s-2000s is then rather hurriedly glossed over. I wonder if it was because she died before she could finish telling the author all about that part of her life?
Anyone interested in the European & American art world of the twentieth century should read this to get a woman's perspective on the Surrealist movement.
The section of the book about how she & Max Ernst escaped from Nazi occupied France could be an entire book unto itself. Someone should really write a historical fiction novel about what happened. If it was fiction, people would say it was too far-fetched, but it really happened.
I feel like the book started growing weak about two thirds of the way into it. There was so much detail about Carrington's life up to the early 60s. The 1960s-2000s is then rather hurriedly glossed over. I wonder if it was because she died before she could finish telling the author all about that part of her life?
Anyone interested in the European & American art world of the twentieth century should read this to get a woman's perspective on the Surrealist movement.
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
A nice account of a brilliant woman’s fascinating life
From BBC Radio 4 - Book of the Week:
Leonora Carrington, born in 1917, was the last surviving member of the Surrealist movement of the 1930s. A prodigious painter and writer, she was caught up in some of the most exciting - and most terrible - events of the 20th century. Joanna Moorhead tells the remarkable life story of her father's cousin.
At the age of 17, Leonora Carrington rejected her upper class English upbringing and her family, in favour of the bohemian life of an artist, first in London and then Paris. She became the lover and muse of Max Ernst, and friend of Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali and many other creative geniuses. Soon after the outbreak of the war however, she suffered a mental breakdown and ended up in an asylum in Madrid. She eventually escaped war-torn Europe by marrying a Mexican, which enabled her passage to New York, and from there she journeyed to Mexico where she lived out the rest of her life.
Mexico is where Joanna Moorhead went to find Leonora in 2006. During Joanna's childhood, all she knew was that her father's cousin had been a wild child who had caused the family no end of trouble and "simply flounced off into the sunset". But this first visit of many was the start of a life-changing friendship. During days of talking and reading, of drinking tea and tequila, of going for walks and eating in local restaurants Leonora told Joanna her amazing life story.
This book is the story of Leonora Carrington's life, and of the relationship between two women. And it's about Surrealism as Leonora lived it - a way of approaching the world in a spirit of constant curiosity, with the desire to work out, if not the answers, then at least some of the questions.
Read by Juliet Stevenson
Written and introduced by Joanna Moorhead
Abridged by Sara Davies
Directed by Alexa Moore
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08slp5t
Leonora Carrington, born in 1917, was the last surviving member of the Surrealist movement of the 1930s. A prodigious painter and writer, she was caught up in some of the most exciting - and most terrible - events of the 20th century. Joanna Moorhead tells the remarkable life story of her father's cousin.
At the age of 17, Leonora Carrington rejected her upper class English upbringing and her family, in favour of the bohemian life of an artist, first in London and then Paris. She became the lover and muse of Max Ernst, and friend of Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali and many other creative geniuses. Soon after the outbreak of the war however, she suffered a mental breakdown and ended up in an asylum in Madrid. She eventually escaped war-torn Europe by marrying a Mexican, which enabled her passage to New York, and from there she journeyed to Mexico where she lived out the rest of her life.
Mexico is where Joanna Moorhead went to find Leonora in 2006. During Joanna's childhood, all she knew was that her father's cousin had been a wild child who had caused the family no end of trouble and "simply flounced off into the sunset". But this first visit of many was the start of a life-changing friendship. During days of talking and reading, of drinking tea and tequila, of going for walks and eating in local restaurants Leonora told Joanna her amazing life story.
This book is the story of Leonora Carrington's life, and of the relationship between two women. And it's about Surrealism as Leonora lived it - a way of approaching the world in a spirit of constant curiosity, with the desire to work out, if not the answers, then at least some of the questions.
Read by Juliet Stevenson
Written and introduced by Joanna Moorhead
Abridged by Sara Davies
Directed by Alexa Moore
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08slp5t