Head Mask

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Painter and novelist Leonora Carrington redefined female symbolism and imagery in Surrealism. Working in oil painting, traditional bronze and cast iron sculpture, and mixed-media sculpture that incorporated wood, glass, and iron objects, Carrington, a one-time romantic companion and muse of the Surrealist Max Ernst, shared Ernst’s concerns with the dream world and the symbolic intermediaries connecting it to reality. Rejecting the Surrealist ideal of woman as a source of creative energy, she turned to the animal world, the occult, and Celtic myth for hers. El Juglar (1954) is one of Carrington’s most renowned works, a dream landscape of horses, imaginary creatures, occultist motifs, and autobiographical references. She is most often associated with the Spanish artist and fellow female Surrealist Remedios Varo, with whom she had close ties.