La dame ovale (The Oval Woman)

Translated to “The Oval Woman,” La dame ovale is a book that, through form alone, encapsulates the writing prowess of Leonora Carrington and the intensity of Max Ernst’s collages. Small in size, with a baby blue cover and only 535 copies printed, it imparts a sense of whimsy that reflects the dreamlike quality of Carrington’s fiction. Carrington and Ernst were both prominent members of the Surrealist circle in Paris. This book was one of their last collaborations before the rise of the Nazi regime led them to find a new artistic haven in Mexico. In the story of the Oval Woman, as well as many of Carrington’s other writings, a central figure is a horse. In this case, a wooden rocking horse comes alive and possesses (or is possessed by) the main character, Lucrecia, and is destroyed by her father. To complement the story, Ernst made collages full of recurring visual symbols such as humans with animal heads and appendages that bring Carrington’s magical and ominous imagery to life.