Surrealist artist Leonora Carrington dies

Summary of story from BBC, May 26, 2011

British-born sculptor Leonora Carrington – considered one of the last of the original surrealist artists – has died at the age of 94.

Mexico’s National Council for Culture and Arts confirmed she died on Wednesday after suffering from a respiratory illness.

She was famed for haunting, dreamlike works focusing on strange ritual-like scenes with birds, cats, unicorn-like creatures and other animals (see WVoN story).

As well as creating sculptures, she wrote articles, novels, essays and poems exhibited around the world.

Carrington arrived in Mexico in 1942 after escaping from a mental hospital and fleeing Nazi-occupied France, but held her first surrealist painting exhibits in Paris, 1938.

Her friend, poet Homero Aridjis said, “She was the last great living surrealist. She was a living legend.”