© Ana María Norah Horna y Fernández
On view
Modern and Contemporary Art
Theodora Walton William Walton III Pavilion
Theodora Walton William Walton III Pavilion
Surreal Portrait of Remedios Varo,
1957
Kati Horna, 1912–2000; born Budapest, Hungary; died Mexico City, Mexico; active Mexico City
2019-32
In the wake of World War II, many European artists immigrated to Mexico City, where they joined a thriving artistic community. Horna’s photograph is a visual testament to her collaborative friendship with two other émigré artists: Remedios Varo and Leonora Carrington. The three women served both as sources of inspiration and as models for one another. Here Horna photographed Varo wearing a mask made by Carrington. They developed an elaborate interconnected system of symbolic references, including uncanny bodily distortions, as seen in Carrington’s mask, which appends a face to the side of Varo’s head.
More About This Object
Information
Title
Surreal Portrait of Remedios Varo
Dates
1957
Maker
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
image: 26.6 × 25.5 cm (10 1/2 × 10 1/16 in.)
sheet: 27.2 × 26 cm (10 11/16 × 10 1/4 in.)
mat: 50.8 × 40.6 cm (20 × 16 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase, David L. Meginnity, Class of 1958, Fund
Object Number
2019-32
Place Made
North America, Mexico, Mexico City
Signatures
Signed in graphite, on verso
Materials
Techniques
Subject
The artist; estate of the artist, via Catalina Polgovsky Horna, granddaughter of the artist, Mexico City, Mexico; [purchased by Charles Isaacs Photographs, Inc., New York, NY, 2019]; purchased by Princeton University Art Museum, 2019.
