Out of This World

The Surreal Art
of Leonora Carrington

Balzer + Bray
(Harper Collins Publishers)
(pub. 1.22.2019) 
40 pages

A True Tale with
A Cherry On Top   

A uthor: Michelle Markel
 and illustrator: Amanda Hall  
 
C haracter: Leonora Carrington

O verview from the jacket flap: 
     "Ever since she was a little girl, Leonora Carrington loved to draw on walls, in books, on paper - and she loved the fantastic tales her grandmother told that took her to worlds that shimmered beyond this one, where legends became real.
     Leonora's parents wanted her to become a proper English lady, but there was only one thing she wanted, even if it was unsuitable: to become an artist. In London, she discovered a group of artists called surrealists, who were stunning the world with their mysterious creations. This was the kind of art she had to make. This was the kind of person she had to be.
     From life in Paris creating art alongside Max Ernst to Mexico, where she met Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, Leonora's life became intertwined with the powerful events and people that shaped the twentieth century..."
    

T antalizing taste: 

      "She learned to dive into her imagination, to summon memories and secret wishes ...
    She painted a plush chair in her childhood home. A little version of her took a seat. Out flowed her hair like a wild mane. Up went her rocking horse to the ceiling. A hyena tiptoed toward her hand.
     Leonora and the other female surrealists were thrilled to be making art from a woman's point of view. They had no interest in painting women who looked like pretty decorations as men had done for centuries. Leonora was just beginning to unleash her artistic powers when a terrible thing happened.
     In 1940, Germany invaded Western Europe..."

And something more: At the back of the book, Amanda Hall explains in her Illustrator's Note: "... the specific challenge for me was to convey the spirit, themes, and sensibility she explored in her creative output without attempting to re-create literally any of her actual imagery.  Since working on Out of this World, I have also become familiar with aspects of her extraordinary life story and her determination to forge her own creative and personal authenticity.  That was all the more remarkable in the context of such historical and global turbulence."