“I didn’t have time to be anyone’s muse,” said celebrated Surrealist
painter and author Lenora Carrington. “I was too busy rebelling against
my family and learning to be an artist.” In 1938 she met Max Ernst and within months they moved to France. “From Max I had my education,” she said. “He taught me
everything.” After the Gestapo arrested him, she suffered a breakdown
and was institutionalized. This experience influenced her story Down
Below. To escape, she married a Mexican diplomat and moved to Mexico
City where she lived until her death in May 2011. Although friendly
with many famed male artists, she was undaunted by the era’s sexism.
Once Miró handed her coins and told her to buy him cigarettes. She recounts, “I gave
it back and said if he wanted cigarettes, he could bloody well get them
himself.”

This video features a reading of her
piece The Debutante.