Surreal Spaces: The Life and Art of Leonora Carrington

"Leonora Carrington is going to seriously hit the headlines. The biography is by a relative of hers who is a journalist, Joanna Moorhead. She’s a mover and a shaker and I read the other day that the film rights have been sold. It’s a very colorful life that will certainly make a heck of a film! From debutante in Lancashire, to founder of women’s lib in Mexico. This is the most tabloid of the books and its style is rather suited to Leonora’s life and art, actually. Yes, and will be better known as a surrealist after the movie. What I’m interested in is the difference between Leonora as a surrealist and the male surrealists. It connects to Gauguin and symbolism. People called him a symbolist, though he hated labels. He said, ‘Don’t call me a symbolist. Don’t call me anything. I want to be free as an artist.’ But the male surrealists loved the label. They really delved into Freudian symbolism and do it in that gorgeous, varnished sort of finish. Leonora is much softer in her finish and her symbols are not recognizable. I wanted to find out what was going on in her head. She said: ‘What I don’t want to be is understood. I don’t want these to be interpreted.’ I find that very interesting. One question you haven’t asked me is about insanity and art. Leonora was shut up in an asylum and given electroconvulsive therapy. Then there’s Van Gogh and his mental illness."