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Carrie
Registered
(6/20/00 1:26:48 pm)
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The Art of Remedios Varo
Hello everyone. I recently attended an exhibit showcasing three generations of Mexican Masters and stumbled upon Varo. Unfortunately, my knowledge of art is currently limited to Western Cultures. However, I found his work dark and disturbing and wonderfully magical. Does anyone here know anything about him or have any comments on his work? All of the pieces I saw were from the 1950s and seemed to have a surrealist slant. Lovely stuff. Just wondering if anyone had comments.
Carrie
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Kerrie
Registered
(6/20/00 1:36:00 pm)
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re: Remedios Varo
Wow- I just typed "Remedios
Varo" in Altavista and several pages (about 1,000)-quite spectacular!
Try that with any keywords of topics you're looking for!
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Terri
Unregistered
(6/21/00 12:45:59 am)
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Remedios Varo
Carrie, Remedios Varo is a woman, not a man! And one of my absolutely favorite arists of all time. (In some ways, she inspired my character "Anna Naverra" in The Wood Wife.) There is a very good biography of her, but my copy is in Arizona so I can't give you the author. (Ellen, help! I think my copy is on my desk there...or else on the bedroom shelves.) Varo's work is wonderful, mystical, and wrapped through with mythic and fairy tale imagery. Her best friend was the painter and writer Leonora Carrington, whose work is also fabulous. The two of them were quite involved with "magic," and it definitely shows in their work. Carrington is an English artist (married to Max Ernst for a time) who ended up in Mexico with a number of other European Surrealists because of the war. She's still alive and lives in the U.S. now. There has been a growing interest in her work, and Varo's, and other women Surrealists, including a big show last year in Massachusetts that I'm still lamenting having missed. Check out Carrington's fiction also, some of which is still in print.
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Terri
Unregistered
(6/21/00 12:58:08 am)
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P.S.
P.S. Kerrie, try "The "Varo Registry" web site, which is a good introduction to Varo and Surrealism, and has links to other sites. You can get to it from the Endicott Studio links page (under art).
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Kerrie
Registered
(6/21/00 3:13:28 am)
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Carrington
There was a movie made about Ms. Carrington. It was quite interesting- confused me quite a bit! Carrington, starring Emma Thompson and Jonathan Pryce.
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Ellen
Unregistered
(6/21/00 9:49:08 am)
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Remdios Varro
Terri: Just went searching for the book on Varro, but can't find it. Could it be in your studio?
And Kerri, I think we're talking about two different Carrington's: the one in the film is Dora (?) Carrington, a completely person from Leonora.
E.
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Kerrie
Registered
(6/21/00 10:36:48 am)
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Re: Remdios Varro
Oooops- I didn't catch that! Thanks for the correction- I'll have to look up her art now as well!
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Carrie
Registered
(6/21/00 10:50:20 am)
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Re: Remdios Varro
Thanks Terri. I had a feeling you'd know something about this. And oh..oops -- Varo would be a woman. Boy do I feel like an idot but now I'm off to the bookstore. Now that I know there's a connection with your novel, I'm just that much more intrigued. Her work seemed magical to me. The lacy winged creatures, dark forests and off little animals are fascinating. I couldn't get close enough to them. *sigh*
Cheers.
Carrie
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Terri
Unregistered
(6/21/00 11:34:26 pm)
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Varo biography
Sorry, Ellen, you'e right, I probably took the book down to the studio. I have another copy here in England, but I loaned it to Alan Lee's daughter, who is now down in New Zealand working on the Tolkien film with her dad...so lord only knows where the book is... I wish I could remember the name of the author. Sorry Carrie!
And yes, Dora Carrington is the painter in the film Carrington. She was a member of the Bloomsbury group (another obsession of mine...) and a very interesting person, but you wouldn't know that from the film, was was a dreary, dismal mess.
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Terri
Unregistered
(6/23/00 12:08:53 am)
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to Carrie
Carrie: I have never actually seen a Varo painting in real life, despite being an enormous fan of hers for years. I'm quite jealous that you have! And glad that this revival of interest in the women surrealists and Mexican artists means that her work is getting around. Can you say a bit more about what the paintings are like, in the flesh? Someone told me that they're actually quite small, compared to what one expects from the reproductions.... I love her bizarre, fantastical imagery, and personally thing that Varo and Carrington are the finest painters of the whole Surrealist group.
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Carrie
Registered
(6/23/00 8:10:27 am)
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Re: to Terri
Terri,
The four pieces I saw were "The World Beyond II," "Dialogues," "Spirit of the Forest" and "The Truth." The pieces were hung in the ASU West Gallery as part of a travelling exhibition. Now that I'm looking at the program I see that there were several pieces there by Leonora Carrington. Is this the other artist you were talking about? Anyhow, Varo's pieces drew me in. All of the art was hung salon style and for some odd reason they didn't group her work together. The funny thing is they were the ones that I couldn't walk away from. They were all very small, but their content made them seem much bigger. I'm guessing they were around 2.5 feet wide. The texture and application of the paint creates a three-dimensional window that you would swear you could fall into. The dark shadows beckon with controlled chaos and the creatures that roam her world capture the eye. Those that are etheral appear light as air -- lacy wings intricately wrought and delicate faces searching for memories. But even the grotesque beings she captures held a promise of truth. I crouched in front of "The World Beyond II" until my legs cramped. Even though I was only inches from the canvas, I knew I would never be able to uncover everything depicted. It is almost as though they hide, reveal themselves momentarily and then retreat back into the darkness where they can watch the world outside at their leisure. It was a magical experience.
Wow...sorry about that. But her work stuck a chord with me. I can't wait to collect some books about her.
Cheers.
Carrie
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Terri
Unregistered
(6/23/00 9:56:32 pm)
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Remedios Varo
Thanks for the gorgeous description, Carrie. Now I long to see them more than ever.
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Elizabeth
Unregistered User
(7/21/00 5:11:05 pm)
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Remedios Varo
I stumbled across Remedios Varo's work for the first time right around the time I read The Wood Wife and made an immediate connection. Thrilled to have that connection confirmed. I have a gorgeous book on Remedios Varo, called Unexpected Journeys: The Art and Life of Remedios Varo by Janet A. Kaplan. Could this be the book you're thinking of, Terri?
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Ellen
Unregistered User
(7/22/00 6:04:20 am)
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Unexpected Journeys
Yes, that's the book!
E.
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Terri
Unregistered User
(8/12/00 12:51:52 am)
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Book recommendation
Carrie:
Have you seen the book "Women Artists and the Surrealist Movement"? It's a terrific book, although one could wish that more of the art was reproduced in color. The text is by Whitney Chadwick, and covers a range of artists including Varo, Carrington, Kahlo, Kay Sage, Leonor Fini.
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Rich
Unregistered User
(12/23/00 12:18:50 pm)
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Varo at Nat. Museum of Women in the Arts
Evidently this museum had a show of various of her
work a while back, their web site lists a show catalog
www.nmwa.org/shop/books/book02.HTM
BUT they also have a massive (many lbs) book covering
many of her works and history (ISBN: 968-411-442-7)
Quite interesting, since I'd never heard of her before seeing card in the their gift shop
Enjoy
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