Skip to main content

Visit Main Menu Block

  • Hours & Admission
  • Accessibility & Amenities
  • Tours & Group Visits
  • Visitor Guidelines

Exhibitions and Events Main Menu Block

  • Exhibitions
  • Events

Art and Design Main Menu Block

  • Collection
  • Collection Research
  • Past Exhibitions
  • Watch / Listen / Read

Footer Main

  • Become a Member
  • Who We Are
  • Opportunities
  • Rent the Museum

Image

Image with id "QsQkK" not found, published, or embeddable.

Leonora Carrington

Stella Snead and Her Cat
Now On View

Description

Maker

Leonora Carrington (English

Title

Stella Snead and Her Cat

Year

1941

Medium

  • Oil on canvas

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • Oil on canvas

Dimensions

61 x 45.4 cm (24 x 17 7/8 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

inscribed on the stretcher by Stella Snead: Leonora's of me

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Helen M. Danforth Acquisition Fund

Object Number

2019.54

Type

  • Paintings

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Art and Design from 1900 to Now
Jun 04, 2022 – Sep 01, 2026

Label copy

In this unfinished painting, Leonora Carrington portrays her friend and fellow artist Stella Snead. The manor house in the background, often seen in historical portraits of European nobility, is perhaps Carrington’s way of imbuing Snead with power. Snead projects strength in her leotard-like outfit as she actively twists toward a mysterious spiraling sphere. The cat, sketched below, was the subject of a painting Snead created while she and Carrington were art students in London.

This enigmatic representation reflects both artists’ association with the unconscious imagery of Surrealism. Carrington and Snead were among the many Surrealist artists who came to New York, where this painting was made, to escape the war in Europe.  

–Jan Howard, Houghton P. Metcalf Jr. Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs

Paula and Leonard Granoff Galleries
Dec 18, 2015

Use & Feedback

Image use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use.

This object is in copyright

Tombstone

Leonora Carrington (English
Mexican, 1917-2011
b. in England)
Stella Snead and Her Cat, 1941
Oil on canvas
61 x 45.4 cm (24 x 17 7/8 inches)
Helen M. Danforth Acquisition Fund 2019.54

To request new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

RISD Museum

  •  Facebook
  •  Twitter
  •  Instagram
  •  Vimeo
  •  Pinterest
  •  SoundCloud

Footer Main

  • Become a Member
  • Who We Are
  • Opportunities
  • Rent the Museum

Footer Secondary

  • Image Request
  • Press Office
  • Rent the Museum
  • Terms of Use