Painter, sculptor, writer and poet affiliated with the surrealist movement. Leonora Carrington studied art with Amédée Ozenfant in London before falling in love with surrealist artist Max Ernst and joining the surrealist ranks in 1937. After eloping to France with him, she made her way through Spain, Portugal and the United States before settling down in Mexico. She lived there for most of her life – she struck a firm and long-lasting friendship with fellow surrealist artists Remedios Varo and Kati Horna, and married Hungarian photographer Chiki Weisz.
In the early summer of 1937, surrealist artist Roland Penrose brought together many major surrealist artists at Lambe Creek in Cornwall. He rented a house (belonging to his brother) on the shore of the Truro River, just across from Malpas, where he was joined by Lee Miller, Max Ernst, Leonora Carrington, May Ray, Ady Fidelin, Paul Éluard, Nusch Éluard, E.L.T. Mesens, Eileen Agar, Joseph Bard and Henry Moore. Agar described it as “a delightful Surrealist house party”, where time was spent in artistic and erotic enjoyment and exploring Cornwall – the group most notably went to Malpas, Kea church, Falmouth, Loe Pool and Land’s Ends. Lamb Creek holds a dear and memorable place in the history of the surrealist group, before the Second World War disrupted their activities and relationships.
In 2004, Falmouth Art Gallery held an exhibition on the Lambe Creek group. They also published a catalogue, The Surrealists in Cornwall, that is still available for purchase there.
“For Leonora, who had been raised in our financially advantaged but culturally impoverished family, the weeks spent in Cornwall were her inauguration into freedom, her first experience of an existence that wasn't bounded by the narrow expectations of her clan and her class. A new and fascinating world was starting to bud, a world with wide horizons and books and art and, more than anything, ideas, and she was rushing towards it with both her arms open wide”.
