Surrealism, Occultism and Politics: In Search of the Marvellous, ed. Tessel Bauduin, Victoria Ferentiou and Daniel Zamani (Routledge, 2018). Studies in Surrealism (Series editor: Gavin Parkinson), , 2018
M. González Madrid
Among the published writings of the artist Remedios Varo there is one letter addressed to a “Dear Mr. Gardner”. Scholars of Varo’s work have long interpreted the letter as an amusement of the author’s, one of her many missives written to people she did not know. However, a recent study has identified this “Mr. Gardner” as Gerald B. Gardner, whose books Witchcraft Today and The Meaning of Witchcraft describe the rituals and beliefs of modern-day witches. In her letter, Varo describes how Miss Carrington “was kind enough” to translate the book for her, and that it had prompted her “great interest”. The identification of this character opens up new readings of Varo’s work.
Varo’s fascination with magic and hermeticism was cultivated together with other artists and writers of the Parisian surrealist group, particularly Benjamin Péret, Óscar Domínguez and Victor Brauner. In both her Parisian work and the work that made her famous in her Mexican exile, one may trace signs of her knowledge about magic, clairvoyance, dreams, automatic “magic dictation”, divination, astrology, alchemy and witchcraft. Moreover, Varo — and other female surrealist artists—were often described as sorceresses , in keeping with the masculine surrealist tradition which, based on Michelet’s La Sorcière, figured the witch as a woman who was wise, rebellious, enigmatic… and beautiful.
Reconfiguring the Surrealist Gaze: Remedios Varo’s Images of Women
INÉS FERRERO CÁNDENAS
Universidad de Guanajuato, México
Abstract
A large number of surrealist theorizations were devoted to defining the role woman played in the creative process, where she held a polarized position. Within such theorizations the gaze held a key role. It was the gaze of the male poet, painter or photographer, his way of seeing and imagining femininity, which constructed the icon of the surrealist ‘feminine’. This article elucidates upon how Remedios Varo’s paintings revise both the surrealist gaze that sets out a concrete type of female identity and the woman who abandons herself to the (masculinist) cultural conceptualization of what she is. The article presents an analysis of several of Varo’s paintings that reflect upon the construction of ‘femininity’ through an allegorical dimension that makes it possible to understand Varo’s plastic images as a direct response to surrealist theorizations on women’s psyche, existence and images
Frida Kahlo, Remedios Varo, Leonora Carrington,and Leonor Fini:
Feminist Lessons in Chimerism, Corporeality, Cuisine, and Craft.
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