Bona de Mandiargues by Sibylle de Mandiargues /// #14

BONA DE MANDIARGUES (1926–2000) was one of the most original artists of the post-war avant-garde and played a vital role in the revival of feminist Surrealism,
yet her remarkable work is little known today.

In Paris, she moved among André Breton, Max Ernst, Dorothea Tanning, Meret Oppenheim, Leonor Fini and Man Ray, before joining Leonora Carrington’s circle in
Mexico. Shaped by these extraordinary artistic communities, Bona forged a distinctive visual language through painting, deconstruction and assemblage.

Her enigmatic works explore gender and androgyny, the recurring symbol of the hermaphroditic snail, and the intertwined forces of pain, violence, pleasure, love and eroticism. This introduction reveals the life and work of a singular artist whose visionary imagination deserves to be rediscovered