39:Leonora Carrington’s “The Magical World of the Maya” 1963-64 Pt. 2

Leonora Carrington, “The Magical World of the Mayans”, 1963-64. Casein and tempera on panel.

We are so excited to bring you Part 2 of our series on Leonora Carrington’s mural “The Magical World of the Maya” from 1963-64!

If you haven’t listened to Part 1, we HIGHLY recommend starting there »»» https://youtu.be/4Rx_f27XNlg

Ancient inspiration

During the process of making the mural, when LC wasn’t painting, she was either studying the K’iche Maya Popol Vuh (Maya creation story) or was making studies of animals native to Chiapas in the nearby Tuxtla-Gutierrez zoo.

Back to that creation story: the Maya believed that there were three realms to this world: the sky, the earth, and the underworld or Xibalba.

In the mural, we have a red, apocalyptic sky with dark clouds.

The moon, sun and planet Venus shift their position as everything in this universe prepares for this moment.

LC has given earth the most space with a sprawling Chiapan landscape: mountains and rolling hills; dry, desert-y land, and tall, green pine trees.

Small figures of people dressed mostly in white, make their way towards a couple of churches.

Of course, this wouldn’t be a Leonora Carrington without mystical creatures: the red rain god Chac makes his way through the mountains, bringing a torrential storm with him; a big white, teary-eyed ram or horse; blue-faced bat-like demons hover above a healing ritual scene; other gods in animal form soar above everything.

And below it all, in the underworld, the jaguar king, two headed monkeys, hyena eels and the like live in the terrifying darkness below, wreaking havoc to those above.

A church based on the one in San Juan Chamula, Chiapas, sits behind a giant ram/horse (we’re not sure!). The underworld lurks below.

Mayan crosses?

You may have noticed there are several crosses throughout the painting, above the medicine huts and tall ones on a hill to the right.

But these are not Christian crosses: it just so happened that crosses were already a sacred symbol to the Maya long before the Spanish arrived as it symbolizes the four axis of the earth.

The towering ones on the hill are not from myth or legend: they are located in a cemetery in the Tzotzil town of Romerillo and are still there to this day.

They are 30 feet tall and are painted blue and green (sacred colors). Fresh pine branches are laid on the tombs as pines are also sacred to the Tzoztil.

Before we knew what they were, they reminded us a lot of the crosses from Neon Genesis Evangelion:

Cross imagery from Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995-1996).

The inclusion of the Romerillo cemetery is just one example of many in which LC brings in current-day references of the Maya and melds them with ancient symbols.

Syncretism

Speaking of melding, we can’t talk about the Chiapas Maya without mentioning syncretism which is when different religions, cultures, or ideas are combined to create a hybrid concept.

Due to Spanish colonization, and like many indigenous peoples all over the world, in order to maintain their beliefs while still persevering despite oppression, they had to adopt symbols and traditions of the dominant religion into their own spiritual practices.

One prominent example in the mural, is the church on the left based on the San Juan Chamula church in Chiapas (behind the giant, white ram/horse in the mural).

While it might look like an ordinary colonial Catholic church on the outside, the rituals and worship performed inside are syncretistic: there’s some Catholic-ness in there but the rest is a creation of the indigenous people.

We describe the interior more in detail in the episode and you don’t want to miss it because we promise it’s unlike anything you’ve ever heard before!

A mural like no other

“The Magical World of the Maya” is both a work of its time yet still timeless. While LC would not be selected to make such a work today, the times were different in 1963.

Despite her not being indigenous, we think she still approached the topic much more thoughtful than many of the muralists that came before her.

Her iconic style of washy layers, dreamy glazes and sketchy brush marks, the end result is a unique combinaion of her experience studying the Popol Vuh, learning from the contemporary Chiapas Maya first hand, and her own interpretation of the myths and gods she read about, while still staying true to many aspects of Chiapas.

Tune in for even more depth and details of this work. This episode is dedicated solely to the work so we were able to get really nerdy about the actual painting of it.

It’s our most ambitious deep dive yet so let us know your thoughts. We’d love to hear from you!

The mural in LC’s studio - it barely fits!

Featured Music:

Chris Zabriskie - 'Everybody's Got Problems That Aren't Mine' from the album 'Thoughtless' https://chriszabriskie.bandcamp.com/album/thoughtless

glaciære - 'Shimmering Dust'

Monplaisir - 'Staring at the void between me and the wall'

2003 Toyota Corolla - '2011 Toyota Corolla'

Chris Zabriskie - 'Rewound'

2003 Toyota Corolla - '2002 Toyota Corolla'

For more Leonora Carrington:

We first covered her work, the small 1945 “The House Opposite” in our Las Tres Witches episodes (Part 1 and Part 2) featuring her witchy besties artists Remedios Varo and Kati Horna (highly rec checking those out too) and we left off as she settled into her new home in Mexico City.

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