Crookhey Hall,

1987

Carrington grew up in northwestern England in a Gothic-revival mansion called Crookhey Hall. Her childhood home appears repeatedly in her artwork, reflecting the troubling memories of that time that remained with her throughout her life. The ominous building in this print—based on an earlier painting of 1947—also carries associations with the mental asylum in Santander, Spain, to which Carrington was committed after she suffered a psychological breakdown in 1940. In her autobiographical novella <em>Down Below</em> (1944), she described the harrowing account of her psychiatric treatment, during which she was given the drug Cardiozol for convulsive shock therapy.

<p><em>Student Essay for CWR 209 / ART 223 / COM 240 / GSS 277 Along the Edge: Leonora Carrington</em></p><p><u>Carrington’s <em>Crookhey Hall:</em> Apparitions from a past</u></p><p>In the art works of Leonora Carrington there is often an unforgettable sense of place, a mapping of boundaries and entrances punctuated by lines and apertures that the viewer is forced to navigate. Carrington’s <em>Crookhey Hall</em> is no exception —the viewer is locked into this space by the shrub-lined roads before the artist’s childhood home and the tree line behind it. In fact, the way in which the ghostly figures in white garbs interact with both the lines and apertures in <em>Crookhey Hall </em>reflect Carrington’s concern with a space from her past.</p><p>Carrington’s childhood home, a manifestation of her past, is at the center of this piece and the white figures interacting with it showcase different facets of the artist’s relationship with this past. Atop Crookhey Hall, a white figure crawls on its knees, bound to the building below with an outstretching arm but very much <em>al aire libre</em>. To the left of the building, the space maintains a similar level of magnetism; another white figure swoops down toward a gap between the balcony’s columns. Suspended outside but aiming for the hall’s interior, the figure is as much a part of the outside world as it is a part of Crookhey Hall, the focus of this piece’s title.</p><p>On the right side of Crookhey Hall stands a third, impressive figure in white that is almost as tall as the building —not only is this figure looking straight at Crookhey Hall, but it is pointing at the juncture between the hall’s roof and its exterior wall. At the center of this figure’s fascination with Crookhey Hall is this juncture of interior and exterior spaces, this here and there or then and now that parallels the artist’s introspection and focus on a place and time that she is far away from. As magnificent as these white figures are for both their ability to fly and their impressive scale, they are still drawn in by the black hole in the middle of this green landscape.</p><p>As inferred from her collection of short stories, the life that Carrington was expected to live as a young woman was a life that she chose to escape. Undoubtedly, the white figure closest to the viewer shares this sentiment of wanting to escape this space, running along the road toward the edge of the print. But the black figure that floats directly behind it suggests a movement in the opposition direction, a confrontational attitude that recalling a dark past requires. Even the black figure’s direct gaze, aimed at the viewer of the piece, forces a confrontation between the spectator and the art: “I see you. I know that you are watching,” the figure in black says to the viewer. And so, the fascination of the other white figures with Crookhey Hall becomes more confrontational; rather than escaping this space, these figures are forcing themselves to confront it. </p><p> As was her life, Carrington’s <em>Crookhey Hall</em> is full of movements toward and away from her past, and these are reflected in the movements of the ghostly figures all around her childhood home. Carrington’s sentiments of confrontation and escape can be beautifully explored along the lines and apertures that fill this familiar space.</p><p><em> Jesús Martínez-Garza, Princeton Class of 2021</em></p>