Leonor Fini: The Painter Leading Female Surrealist Artists at Frieze Masters

By Bronwyn May Johnston

Dreams of success at this year’s Frieze Masters were incarnated in the enigmatic compositions of female Surrealist artist, Leonor Fini. Never identifying with labels during her career, Fini considered herself neither a Surrealist nor a female artist, instead often proclaiming, ‘I am a painter, that’s enough’. However, to refer to Fini as simply ‘a painter’ is a significant understatement, an idea that seems to be catching on incredibly quickly in the contemporary market.

Leonor Fini, Self-Portrait with Stanislao Lepri, 1942 – 1943, oil on canvas, 46 x 38 cm, Galerie Minsky, Paris.

To celebrate one hundred years since the publication of André Breton’s, Manifeste du Surréalisme, exhibitions across the globe have immersed visitors in the surreal worlds imagined by Breton’s peers. Arlette Soulhami, who first met Fini in 1978 and has since become the owner of the Paris-based Galerie Minksy, presented a surreal-scape imagined by the Argentinian-Italian artist and her partner Stanislao Lepri, at this year’s Frieze Masters in London. The highest priced work found at Soulhami’s stand was Fini’s Self-Portrait with Stanislao Lepri, 1942-1943, valued at GBP 1.65 million. The canvas, striking in its Mannerist-like honesty, is emblematic of Fini’s artistic identity, displaying her characteristic autobiographical approach through her iconic metamorphic self-rendering.

Leonor Fini, Rogomelec, 1978, oil on canvas, 125 x 60 cm, private collection.

The notable valuation for this piece follows the upwards trend in recent sales of Fini’s work, which have accrued impressive amounts in the art market. This is widely representative of an increasing interest amongst buyers to acquire works by female Surrealist artists. In 2013, works by women Surrealists carried an average price of GBP 26,850, whilst their male contemporaries works were valued at an average GBP 55,300. This seismic change in the market was exemplified at Christie’s 20th/21st Century: London Evening Sale on 9 October, whereby following an estimation of GBP 650,000, Fini’s Rogomelec, 1978, went for the monumental price of GBP 907,200, including fees. This magnificent hammer thus speaks to the growing popularity of female Surrealists—including Leonora Carrington, Ithell Colquhoun, Dorothea Tanning, Kay Sage, and Valentine Hugo—who are now emerging from their positions at the periphery of the Surrealist movement, following decades of marginalisation at the hands of art historians.

Leonor Fini, Femme un Armure II, 1938, oil on canvas, 34.9 x 24.1 cm, Galerie Minsky, Paris.

The attention drawn by Fini’s work this October in London, has set the tone for numerous events in the coming months that seek to celebrate this remarkable artist. Self-Portrait with Stanislao Lepri, is due to travel to Milan’s Palazzo Reale, to feature in Fini’s largest ever survey—entitled Leonor Fini: The Gaze of the Sphinx— this coming February. This follows a series of exhibitions currently on display in Paris, such as the retrospective show honouring Fini, co-hosted by the Centre Pompidou and Minsky Gallery. Among this incredible collection of masterpieces, is Femme un Armure II, 1938, in which Fini interrogates gendered notions of male and female identity, that hold equal relevance in our contemporary society, as they did at the time of the work’s creation.

Thus, after years unappreciated in the corners of galleries and catalogues, as museum-goers flock to centennial anniversary exhibitions, it will be female artists like Fini, Tanning, and Kahlo, whose dreams will be the vehicles to immerse audiences in the world of Surrealism.

Bibliography

Breton, André. Manifeste du Surréalisme. Paris: Éditions du Sagittaire, 1924.

Christies. 20th/21st Century: London Evening Sale. Accessed October 14, 2024, https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6500933?ldp_breadcrumb=back

Galerie Minsky. Centenaire du Surrealismé: Leonor Fini. Accessed October 13, 2024, https://www.galerieminsky.com/en/leonor-fini-2/

Galerie Minsky. Frieze Masters 2024. Accessed October 13, 2024, https://www.galerieminsky.com/en/frieze-masters-2024/#1727354307953-f999b1ea-2bfd

Russell, Livia. Celebrating 100 Years of Surrealism at Frieze. Accessed October 13, 2024, https://www.frieze.com/article/celebrating-100-years-surrealism-frieze-london-frieze-masters-2024

Shaw, Anny. Surrealist Women Come into the Spotlight at Frieze Masters. Accessed October 13, 2024, https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/10/11/surrealist-women-come-into-the-spotlight-at-frieze-masters