Leonora Carrington | Surrealist artist, 94

Leonora Carrington, 94, a British-born painter, writer, and sculptor considered one of the last of the original surrealists, has died, Mexico's National Arts Council confirmed Thursday.

Ms. Carrington was known for her haunting, dreamlike works that often focused on strange, ritual-like scenes with birds, cats, unicornlike creatures, and other animals as onlookers or seeming participants.

She was part of a famous wave of artistic and political emigres who arrived in Mexico in the 1930s and '40s - and in the male-dominated realm of surrealism was a member of a rare trio of Mexico-based female surrealists along with Frida Kahlo and Remedios Varo.

"She was the last great living surrealist," said poet Homero Aridjis, a longtime friend. "She was a living legend."

Mexican author Elena Poniatowska was a longtime friend of the artist and wrote the novel Leonora based on her life. "Leonora was truly a woman who was one of a kind," Poniatowska said.

Ms. Carrington was born in Lancashire, England, but her longtime home and inspiration was Mexico, once famously dubbed a "surrealist country" by writer and poet Andre Breton.

- AP