Leonora Carrington and the Pro-Mythical Turn in Post-War Feminism
Per Faxneld
Abstract
The surrealist Leonora Carrington made extensive use of esoteric material throughout her career. The article focuses on the iconography of a painting she created for a poster produced by the Mexican women’s liberation movement Mujeres Conciencia and how it can be understood by considering some of the key esoteric currents Carrington engaged with. Many of the themes on display in the poster, the article argues, can also be found in a series of other works by Carrington, and should be seen as part of a life-long treatment of intertwined esoteric, mythological, and feminist concerns. While it is impossible, as well as undesirable, to establish absolute symbolical “meanings” when analyzing Carrington’s creations, it is suggested her artistic project aimed at the undermining of oppressive, monolithic patriarchal myths by making polyvalence itself a key strategy. The article situates Carrington in the traditions of surrealist anti-clericalism and turn-of-the-century esoteric and myth-embracing feminism that she visibly drew on, and finally demonstrates how her work also fits with a new pro-mythical turn in the second-wave feminism of the early 1970s.
Keywords
Leonora Carrington; surrealism; esotericism; feminism; anti-clericalism; myth