Leonor Fini: Theatre of Desire

I always imagined that I would have a life very different than the one imagined for me, but I understood from a very early age that I would have to revolt in order to make that life

–Leonor Fini

Admirers of Argentini-Italian artist Leonor Fini have included Andy Warhol, Madonna, Kim Kardashian West, and more recently Maria Grazia Chiuri, head of the house of Dior, whose Spring 2018 collection was dedicated to the artist. Multi-talented and fearlessly forward thinking, Fini refused to be categorized in any way, especially through gender norms. Although Fini exhibited in major Surrealist surveys throughout the 1930s and 40s, counting Max Ernst and Salvador Dalí as friends, she rejected the movement’s traditional view of woman as muse. Her art explored the masculine and feminine, dominance and submission, eroticism and humor. Fini’s practice went beyond the medium of painting to embrace theatre, ballet, the illustrated book and costume. Rejecting social convention, Fini insisted that identity, like artistic expression, is never fixed–it must constantly be open to inspiration and imagination. The powerful self-portraits she produced throughout her long career present woman as warrior, sphinx, dominatrix and feline goddess, mastering landscapes and lovers alike. The first American survey of her work, Leonor Fini: Theatre of Desire 1930-1990, will open September 28 at the Museum of Sex (MoSEX) and run through March 4, 2019.

Leonor Fini, Arcachon, 1940.

Leonor Fini, Paris, c. 1938.

Leonor Fini, Nonza, Corsica, 1967

Leonor Fini, Max Ernst, and Enrico Colombotto-Rosso, Nonza, Corsica, c. 1965.

Leonor Fini, Femme costumée/ Femme en armure (Woman in Costume/ Woman in Armor), 1938, oil on canvas.

Leonor Fini, Portrait de femme aux feuilles d’acanthe (Portrait of Woman with acanthus leaves), 1946, oil on canvas.

Leonor Fini, Dans la tour (In the tower), 1952, oil on canvas.

Leonor Fini, L’Alcove (The Alcove)/Self-portrait with Nico Papatakis, 1941, oil on canvas.

Leonor Fini, Femme assise sur un homme nu (Woman Seated on a Naked Man), 1942. Oil on Canvas, Private Collection.

Leonor Fini, La Leçon de botanique (The Botany Lesson), 1974, oil on canvas.

Leonor Fini, Les Aveugles (The Blind Ones), 1968, oil on canvas.

from The Paris Review https://ift.tt/2M3Wiq9

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