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Juan Soriano De Lacandón

A work made of graphite and casein on panel.
© 2018 Leonora Carrington / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

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  • A work made of graphite and casein on panel.

Date:

1964

Artist:

Leonora Carrington
English, 1917–2011

About this artwork

In 1964 the artist Leonora Carrington painted this imaginative portrait of her friend, the self-taught artist Juan Soriano. A member of Surrealist circles in Paris and New York City during the 1930s and 1940s, Carrington settled in Mexico in 1942 after the trauma of fleeing war-torn Europe. Mexico occupied an important place in the imagination of many European artists—André Breton called it the “Surrealist place par excellence”—and for Carrington the country came to be a source of inspiration and wonder.

Juan Soriano De Lacandón was one of the first paintings in which Carrington combined her Surrealist-inspired dreamscapes with Mexico’s history, culture, and ancient practices. Inspired by her study of the indigenous Lacandón people for a 1963 mural commission, The Magical World of the Maya (Museo de Antropología e Historia, Mexico City), the artist portrayed Soriano surrounded by the flora and fauna of ancient Mayan mythology. Bearing the scarification marks of a shaman, he holds in his hand a small jaguar, admired by the Maya as a spiritually powerful creature and a conduit to the underworld. According to native belief, the shaman alone was privileged to assume the form of the jaguar. This notion of animal incarnation may have resonated with Carrington, who adopted the horse as a type of alter ego in her earlier work. In presenting Soriano as a revered holy man, the artist demonstrated her deep admiration for her subject. Her use of precolonial symbolism also suggests her assimilation into the world of her adopted homeland, where she remained until her death.

Status

On View, Gallery 397

Department

Modern Art

Artist

Leonora Carrington

Title

Juan Soriano De Lacandón

Place

England (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1964

Medium

Graphite and casein on panel

Dimensions

40.3 × 80.3 cm (15 13/16 × 31 9/16 in.)

Credit Line

Lindy and Edwin Bergman Collection

Reference Number

2018.285

Copyright

© 2018 Leonora Carrington / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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