Twins,

1997

<p><em>Student Essay for CWR 209 / ART 223 / COM 240 / GSS 277 Along the Edge: Leonora Carrington</em></p><p> <strong>Power in the Pair</strong></p><p> Reflections on Leonora Carrington’s<em> Twins </em></p><p> <p>What world do these two shrouded figures emerge from? Peering out of glowing, golden apertures from the canvas of Leonora Carrington’s <em>Twins </em>(1997), human faces stare back at us. Deer-like horns atop the cloaks of the twin figures create a sense of hybridity, a realm where animal and human forms are merged. A pair of rectangular legs and triangular feet stem from long dark capes in the foreground. The viewer wonders what is concealed beneath the dark robes? Maybe a clue lies in the central corridor of space that divides the composition, where a zig-zagging path juts through, halting behind the feet of the figure on the right, providing perspective and suggesting the figures have been on a journey from beyond. While there is a doubling of forms, the figures are not in complete symmetry. One face wears a subtle grin and is found in the figure placed in the background while the other face, which contains a more solemn expression, is found closer in the foreground. Luminescent candles and cyan starlight dominate the top half of the painting. The candlesticks that are a recurring image in Carrington’s work may symbolize her childhood. In addition, an object with three petals reminiscent of a shamrock that emerges from the top of each face, perhaps alludes to her Irish heritage. Standing side by side, the two figures evoke a feeling of closeness intimating the iconic duo of Carrington’s literary protagonists, Marian and Carmella, in <em>The Hearing Trumpet </em>and the friendship Carrington shared with her fellow artist and kindred spirit in Mexico, Remedios Varo. Carrington and Varo engaged in frequent collaboration and their meetings served as a mutual source of inspiration between the two artists. Perhaps the two figures in <em>Twins</em> represents the admiration and respect Carrington had for Varo and the gratitude she felt for their life-long companionship. </p></p><p><p>With a distinct circular halo from a blue-green moon, soft light emanates between the two figures creating an ethereal mood and conveying a heightened sense of drama and mystery. Rounder more organic forms of the stars and moon alongside the oval faces of the figures contrast with angular, more geometric lines of the square-shaped apertures and flowing capes. The medium of oil paint allows light to reflect and penetrate the glaze, giving the work a luminous quality. The hybrid creatures seem to have arrived at a sacred place beneath the stars that celebrates their graceful and defiant spirit. <em>Twins </em>conveys a narrative of mysticism, creativity, and devotion to the unconscious mind, and perhaps inspires us to never give up the “wonderful strange power” that can be found in harmony with “another inspired being.”<a name="_ftnref1" href="#_ftn1">[1]</a> </p></p><p> <p> <p><p><strong> <em>Reed Hutchinson, Princeton Class of 2020</em></strong></p></p></p></p><div> <hr> <div> <p><a name="_ftn1" href="#_ftnref1">[1]</a> Leonora Carrington, <em>The Hearing Trumpet</em> (London, U.K: Penguin Modern Classics), 1974.</p> </div> </div>