Militant Muse

Farewell to the Muse documents what it meant to be young, ambitious, and female in the context of an avant-garde movement defined by celebrated men whose backgrounds were often quite different from those of their younger lovers and companions. Focusing on the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, Whitney Chadwick charts five female friendships among the Surrealists to show how Surrealism, female friendship, and the experiences of war, loss, and trauma shaped individual women’s transitions from someone else’s muse to mature artists in their own right. Her vivid account includes the fascinating story of Claude Cahun and Suzanne Malherbe in occupied Jersey, as well as the experiences of Lee Miller and Valentine Penrose at the front line.



Chadwick draws on personal correspondence between women, including the extraordinary letters between Leonora Carrington and Leonor Fini during the months following the arrest and imprisonment of Carrington’s lover Max Ernst and the letter Frida Kahlo shared with her friend and lover Jacqueline Lamba years after it was written in the late 1930s.


This history brings a new perspective to the political context of Surrealism as well as fresh insights on the vital importance of female friendship to its progress.

Adio muzei documenteaza ce a insemnat sa fii tanar, ambitios si feminin in contextul unei miscari de avangarda definita de barbati celebri ale caror medii erau adesea destul de diferite de cele ale iubitorilor si insotitorilor lor mai tineri. Concentrandu-se pe anii 1930, 1940 si 1950, Whitney Chadwick prezinta cinci prietenii feminine printre suprarealisti pentru a arata cum suprarealismul, prietenia feminina si experientele razboiului, pierderii si traumei au modelat tranzitiile individuale ale femeilor de la muza altcuiva la artisti maturi in drept propriu.