Leonora Carrington

In this unfinished painting, Leonora Carrington portrays her friend and fellow artist Stella Snead. The manor house in the background, often seen in historical portraits of European nobility, is perhaps Carrington’s way of imbuing Snead with power. Snead projects strength in her leotard-like outfit as she actively twists toward a mysterious spiraling sphere. The cat, sketched below, was the subject of a painting Snead created while she and Carrington were art students in London.

This enigmatic representation reflects both artists’ association with the unconscious imagery of Surrealism. Carrington and Snead were among the many Surrealist artists who came to New York, where this painting was made, to escape the war in Europe.  

–Jan Howard, Houghton P. Metcalf Jr. Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs