1951.112.4 Leonora Carrington, To Study the Numbers, 1942

Although she is not known as a printmaker, Leonora Carrington used etchings such as this to explore the occult, drafting dreamlike landscapes filled with imaginary, often grotesque creatures. Here Carrington placed dogs’ heads onto a shared, circular body; their faces sneer and scowl, each tied by the neck or snout. One dog—possibly a self-portrait of the artist—kneels in pain, its muzzle bound to a tree extruding from his hindquarters in place of his tail. The cryptic clues left behind by the artist are both haphazard and mysterious. Selectively carved to appear upside down and mirrored in the printed impression, the inscription from which the piece is titled—“To Study the Numbers/Seventy Nine/The Dogs of the Sleeper”—sits squarely on the plate. This reference to numbers in conjunction with the incorrect mathematical calculation visible on the upper right of the scene results in a wholly perplexing print.

Tower Gallery: Latin American Art, Label text, 2017.

Carrington_Leonora: ULAN: 500018196

Lancashire (county / England): TGN: 7008154

England (nation): TGN: 7002445

Mexico City (Mexico): TGN: 7007227

Mexico (nation): TGN: 7005560

etching (printing process): AAT: 300053241

prints (visual works): AAT: 300041273

works on paper: AAT: 300189621

printmaking: AAT: 300131119

figures (representations): AAT: 300189808

animals (Animalia kingdom): AAT: 300249395

dogs (animals): AAT: 300250130

occult sciences (disciplines / concepts): AAT: 300054587

dreams: AAT: 300251611

landscapes (environments): AAT: 300008626

landscapes (representations): AAT: 300015636

imaginary views (views / visual works): AAT: 300404144

grotesques: AAT: 300010211

creatures: AAT: 300379697

heads (representations): AAT: 300262520

bicephalic (two-headed / double-headed): DMA

multicephalic (polycephaly / multi-headed): DMA

circular (shape): AAT: 300263827

bodies (human and animal components): AAT: 300404640

ties (fasteners): AAT: 300239307

chains (object genre): AAT: 300014625

rope: AAT: 300014248

collars (neckwear): AAT: 300210058

noses (animal or human components): DMA

muzzles (animal equipment): AAT: 300400788

kneeling: AAT: 300265356

self-portraits: AAT: 300124534

portrait: AAT: 300015637

pain (sensation / psychological concepts): AAT: 300055182

bindings (gathered matter components): AAT: 300055023

trees (plants): AAT: 300132410

impressions (prints): AAT: 300178549

inscriptions: AAT: 300028702

numbers: AAT: 300055665

mathematicians (science-related occupation): AAT: 300025786

mathematics: AAT: 300054522

calculations (documents by form): AAT: 300234043

formulas (algorithms / mathematical concepts): AAT: 300055660

sleeping: AAT: 300375130

Surrealist (style or movement): AAT: 300021512

From 1951: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, gift of Bernard J. Reis [1], [2], [3]

[1] The main source for this provenance was existing information in TMS (in Dallas Museum of Art Digital Collections Records Object Files). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.  

[2] The main source for this provenance is letter from Bernard Reis, Bernard Reis & Company, New York, to Jerry Bywaters, Director of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts (dated January 05, 1951, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File, Confidential). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.

[3] The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.

Apply to objects where number equals 1951.112.4