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The Arts Intel Report

Leonor Fini: Metamorphosis

Leonor Fini in a cat mask at the Bal de la Voilette, 1948.

Jan 12 – Feb 25, 2023
509 W 27th St, New York, NY 10001, United States

Born in Buenos Aires in 1907, the Argentine-Italian artist Leonor Fini was always a rebel. As a child in Trieste, constant expulsion took her from school to school. She escaped to Milan as soon as she could, at 17, but her big break came when she moved to Paris in the early 1930s. Fini was soon part of the Surrealist movement, befriending Max Ernst, André Breton, and Salvador Dalí. She often attended the city’s masquerade parties, flitting between Dior and Schiaparelli, and sipping champagne with the city’s intellectuals. “I liked to go solely to make an entrance,” she once said, “to be intoxicated with myself for a few moments. That my costumes were so beautiful, so exaggerated, that everyone would stand back to watch as I passed by—that satisfied me completely.” This exhibition presents works spanning seven decades of Fini’s career. The theme is masquerades and transformation. —Elena Clavarino

Photo courtesy of Galerie Minksy