Out of This World: The Surreal Art of Leonora Carrington could be called “What do you do with a girl like Leonora”?
A proper young lady she was not (despite her parents’ wishes). Leonora Carrington wanted to do the unthinkable: she wanted to be an artist. Proper English people did not become scandalous artists, let alone proper young English ladies. Thankfully Carrington was not proper (as mentioned above). She painted on walls, paper and created the most imaginative, non-traditional pieces of art.
Michelle Markel creates a great age appropriate story and introduction to an artist that many may not know. She has captured the bohemian, non-proper, surrealistic world Carrington was from, created and gave to others. Facts are entwined with lovely language to paint a word picture that flatters the beyond gorgeous art of Amanda Hall.
Hall’s work could have been done by the artist herself. Hall shows Carrington’s world: her childhood (her room, her toys, her mother in her obvious fox stole), her love of art, her love of not-conforming and not being “proper” in anything she did. The art and the times and places around Carrington come to life. Realistically abstract (Carrington might have had “wild hair” but probably did not rival a sea witches nor did she fly in the cathedrals of Italy) and in tones brighter than what I understand to be Carrington’s work; you see the world of Carrington: representations of her art, other contemporary artists and the pieces of history surrounding them (such as World War Two).
The afterwards brings more facts into play, showing how pieces of the artists life fit together.