Leonor Fini (1907-1996), Sphinx

Color lithograph on Arches paper, hand-signed by the artist, p.d.: Leonor Fini
Dimensions: 52 x 70 cm (sheet)
Edition: 116/185

Leonor Fini (1907-1996) is an Argentine surrealist painter of Italian descent. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, she grew up in Trieste, Italy. At the age of 17 she moved to Milan and then to Paris. There she met: Paul Éluard, Max Ernst, Georges Bataille, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Pablo Picasso, André Pieyre de Mandiargues and Salvador Dalí and his wife Gala. She traveled around Europe in Cartier-Bresson's car, and during one such trip he took the famous photo of Fini naked in a swimming pool. The photo sold in 2007 for $305,000 (a record price for his work). She painted portraits of Jean Genet, Anna Magnani, Jacques Audiberti, Alida Valli, Jean Schlumberger (jewelry designer) and Suzanne Flon, as well as many other well-known Paris celebrities.
Despite her close ties to the Surrealist circle, she did not consider herself one of them. However, her works were often exhibited together with those of the Surrealists. Her paintings are very personal and symbolic, sometimes somewhat theatrical. You can see in them a fascination with the female body and sexuality. While working for Elsa Schiaparelli, she designed the flacon of Shocking perfume, which became a standard product of the Schiaparelli company. She also designed costumes and decorations for theater, ballet and opera. She designed the costumes for Renato Castellani's Romeo and Juliet (1954) and John Huston's Walk with Love and Death (1968). She was married once, briefly, to Fedrico Veneziani. From 1941 she was linked to Italian aristocrat and former consul in Monaco Stanislao Lepri, who, under her influence, took up Surrealist painting. From 1952, Fini became involved with Polish writer and publicist Konstanty Jelenski. From that year until the deaths of Lepri (1980) and Jelenski (1987), the three lived together in a house in Paris, leading an intense social life and revolving among the bohemian artistic community. All three were bisexual and also led a fairly casual sex life, entering into external relationships. At Jeleński's urging, Fini provided the Lambert Gallery (the originator and founder was Kazimierz Romanowicz) with a list of addresses of art dealers, collectors, snobs and salon regulars and art critics.