Leonora Carrington (1917-2011)

The present work was previously in the collection of Edward James, the renowned Surrealist poet and patron, and brother of Audrey James. Edward James was a passionate devotee of Surrealism and was a key supporter of artists such as René Magritte and Salvador Dalí. It was his support of these artists that contributed to the formation of some of the most iconic works within the genre, such as Mae West Lips Sofa, 1972, and Lobster Telephone, 1938. James’ prestigious collection also included works by Hieronymus Bosch, Giorgio de Chirico, Paul Klee, Pablo Picasso and Max Ernst, to name a few. His devotion to the patronage of the arts and his visionary eye left a lasting legacy, not only through the Edward James Foundation, but in his properties such as Monkton House, the Lutyens-designed hunting lodge built for his family on the West Dean Estate, which he transformed into a Surrealist spectacular. Some of Carrington’s most seminal works still hang at West Dean today.

James was a significant patron to Carrington in her early career, and they later became close companions. James bought numerous paintings from Carrington, and he organised her first major exhibition at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York.