The Magical Worlds of Leonora Carrington

Program March 27, 2025, 7 p.m.
Virtual Program

Dr. Susan Aberth, prominent cultural historian and leading Leonora Carrington scholar, has observed, “Like the alchemical processes of distillation and transmutation that abound in her work, [Carrington] continues to shift across boundaries and elude easy classification.” 

Join Dr. Aberth in conversation with Dr. Gannit Ankori, Henry and Lois Foster Director and Chief Curator, and curator of the Rose’s current exhibition, Leonora Carrington: Dream Weaver, as they delve into the enigmatic world of this visionary artist. Together, they will explore Carrington’s childhood immersion in Irish folklore, her harrowing escape to Mexico in the 1940s alongside other European refugees, and her creative journey across mystical terrains, steeped in magic, mythology, and the occult.

 

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Screenshot

The Magical Worlds of Leonora Carrington, 2025. Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University.

 

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Susan Aberth is the Edith C. Blum Professor in the Art History and Visual Culture Program at Bard College. Her publications include The Tarot of Leonora Carrington, co-authored with Mexican curator Tere Arcq, and Leonora Carrington: Surrealism, Alchemy and Art. She has contributed to the publications Witchcraft; Not Without My Ghosts; Agnes Pelton: Desert Transcendentalist; Surrealism, Occultism and Politics: In Search of the Marvelous; and Leonora Carrington and the International Avant-Garde, among others. Her work has also appeared in Artforum, Journal of Surrealism of the Americas, Abraxas: International Journal of Esoteric Studies, and Black Mirror.

 

This program is held in conjuction with the exhibition, Leonora Carrington: Dream Weaver, January 22–June 1, 2025.