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We have chosen Remedios Varo as our namesake to pay tribute to a talented
and accomplished woman artist who has not made it into the
mainstream of art history. We see the Varo Registry as the initial vehicle
to bring the field of women's art into the age of electronic information access.
This first step will help insure that this new medium will not suffer the
same omissions which have plagued women's art history in print.
Remedios Varo (1908-1963) was born in Spain and
educated in Spanish convent schools. Her father was a hydraulic engineer,
which had a recurring influence in her work. Her artistic training was strict
and academic, from which she fled into Barcelona's bohemian artistic circle.
She was married to the poet Benjamin Peret, and her widower, publisher Walter
Gruen. She moved to Paris where she became involved within the Surrealist
movement. Forced into exile by the Nazis, she settled in Mexico City
where her numerous retrospectives have drawn record crowds.
"Encounter", 1959, Oil on canvas, 15 3/8 x 11
3/4"
Varo used imagery in her work related to her father's profession. Fantastic
and complex pieces of machinery recur throughout her work relating to her
studies of alchemy theories and processes. Her figures, autobiographical in
many respects, are fantastic, often incorporating science, dreams,
witchcraft, and humor into psychological and spiritual journeys.
To find out more about Remedios Varo, pick up her biography by Janet Kaplan,
Unexpected Journeys: The Art and Life of Remedios Varo,
Abbeville Press, 1-800-ART-BOOK, #797, $24.95.
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