‘Major Arcana’ Tarot, c. 1955. Chromolithography reproduction.
Leonora Carrington was a British-born surrealist painter who lived and worked in Mexico. Biblical stories, Irish fairy tales and Aztec culture alchemically blend to equip her with a unique way of approaching the world around her.
Leonora Carrington also asks us to rethink our relationship with feminism through her personally designed tarot cards. Her unique imagination and way of seeing are revealed in this deck which provides an occult roadmap to her vision of the world. She reveals her ambition for a shift away from the power of patriarchy as she explores a return to female based and led spirituality. Carrington further suggests that only through an alchemical union of male and female genders can equity occur. One example is her tarot of the Devil, where she creates an image that is both male and female, turning to the medieval figure of Baphomet, rather than the traditionally Christian images of a devil as half-man, half-goat.
Recent exhibitions include ‘Leonora Carrington: Revelation’, Fundacion Mapre, Madrid (2023); ‘Objects of Desire,’Design Museum, London (2023); ‘Surrealism and Magic: Enchanted Modernity’, Museum Barberine, Germany (2022) and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice (2021) and ‘Surrealism Beyond Borders’, Tate Modern, (2022).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonora_Carrington
