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Leonor Fini is born
Born to an Italian mother, and an Argentinian father, her parents split at a young age. Leonor was raised by her mother in Italy and from an early age led a free-spirited, Bohemian lifestyle. -
Personal Life - Love
Leonor preferred to live with several lovers at once. She said: "Marriage never appealed to me, I've never lived with one person. Since I was 18, I've always preferred to live in a sort of community - A big house with my atelier and cats and friends, one with a man who was rather a lover and another who was rather a friend. And it has always worked." (image taken from http://moorewomenartists.org/1615-2/ )
(quote taken from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonor_Fini ) -
Fini works with Elsa Schiaperelli
Leonor Fini collaborates with Elsa Schiaparelli to create the bottle for the scent called "Shocking" -- said to be inspired by the curvy figure of the American actress Mae West. (image taken from http://www.theperfumegirl.com/perfumes/fragrances/elsa-schiaparelli/shocking-by-schiaparelli/ ) -
Her early portraits and self-portraits are my favorite of her oeuvre
"Femme en Armure I" from 1938 (image from https://www.squarecylinder.com/2015/11/leonor-fini-weinstein/ ) -
After WW2 Leonor Fini turned to costume design
She designed costumes for ballet, theater, and the opera.
Pictured is Leonor Fini in Corsica, 1967
(from https://www.squarecylinder.com/2015/11/leonor-fini-weinstein/ ) -
Illustrates Several Covers for Harper's Bazaar
Leonor Fini was not only a talented painter, and costume designer, but she also was an illustrator and a print maker as we can see from this Harper's Bazaar cover from 1947.
She was also well-known for her passionate illustrated version of "The Story of O." (image from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/448037862909280792 ) -
Portrait of Ritratto di Alida Valli
Whether Fini was painting a self-portrait, or a portrait, based on her own life, or a theme from mythology or literature, she liked to portray women in positions of sexual power. (image from: https://www.centoparole.it/2016/07/leonor-fini-life-of-an-emblematic-woman/ ) -
Personal Life - Cats
"She later employed an assistant to join the household, which he described as "a little bit of prison and a lot of theatre". One of his jobs was to look after her beloved Persian cats. Over the years she acquired as many as 23 of them; they shared her bed and, at mealtimes, were allowed to roam the dining-table selecting tasty morsels - & woe betide the guest who complained" (quote from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonor_Fini ) (image from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/312507661623905931/ ) -
Her Work Reveals Lifelong Themes of Death, Decay, the Chthonic, the Mysterious
Fini's paintings often revealed themes of the mysterious, of death, decay, rebirth, transmutation. She painted many sphinxes and skulls. This image, translated by vogue.it, was titled "Lacquered Bone" by Leonor Fini. (image fr http://www.vogue.it/en/news/encyclo//people/f/leonor-fini ) -
"A Walk with Love and Death"
Fini designs the costumes for John Huston's film, the first to feature daughter Angelica Huston.
