Bridget Bate Tichenor facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Bridget Bate Tichenor
|
|
|---|---|
Portrait by George Platt Lynes, New York 1945
|
|
| Born |
Bridget Pamela Arkwright Bate
November 22, 1917 Paris, France
|
| Died | October 12, 1990 (aged 72) Mexico City, Mexico
|
| Nationality | British |
| Education | Slade School of Fine Art, École des Beaux Arts, Art Students League of New York |
| Known for | Painting, Fashion editor |
|
Notable work
|
Domadora de quimeras, Caja de crystal, Los encarcelados, Líderes |
| Movement | Surrealism, magic realism |
Bridget Bate Tichenor (born Bridget Pamela Arkwright Bate) (November 22, 1917 – October 12, 1990) was a British surrealist painter. She created amazing fantastic art in a style called magic realism. She was also a fashion editor. Bridget was born in Paris, France, but later made Mexico her permanent home.
Contents
Early Life in Europe
Bridget Bate was the daughter of Frederick Blantford Bate and Vera Nina Arkwright. Vera was also known as Vera Bate Lombardi. Even though Bridget was born in France, she grew up in England. She went to schools in England, France, and Italy.
When she was 16, Bridget moved to Paris to live with her mother. There, she worked as a model for the famous fashion designer Coco Chanel. She lived between Rome and Paris from 1930 to 1938.
Bridget's father, Fred Bate, helped her with her art. He suggested she attend the Slade School in London. His close friend, the surrealist photographer Man Ray, took many pictures of Bridget during her modeling career.
Bridget's mother, Vera Bate Lombardi, worked for Coco Chanel. She helped Chanel connect with royal families in Europe. Bridget was also related to many important British and European families through her grandmother, Rosa Frederica Baring.
Life in New York
Bridget married Hugh Joseph Chisholm in New York on October 14, 1939. This marriage was planned by her mother. The goal was to help Bridget leave Europe because of the upcoming World War II. They had a son named Jeremy Chisholm on December 21, 1940. Jeremy later became a successful businessman.
In 1943, Bridget studied art at the Art Students League of New York. She learned from artist Reginald Marsh. Her friends, the painters Paul Cadmus and George Tooker, also studied there. People who knew Bridget at this time described her as "striking" and "glamorous." She lived in an apartment at the Plaza Hotel and wore clothes by famous designers like Hattie Carnegie.
Bridget met Jonathan Tichenor in 1943. He was an assistant to photographer George Platt Lynes, who often photographed Bridget. She divorced her first husband in 1944. In 1945, she married Jonathan Tichenor and became Bridget Bate Tichenor. They lived in an artist's studio in Manhattan.
Painting Style
Bridget Bate Tichenor's painting method was very special. She learned it from artist Paul Cadmus in 1945. It was based on old 16th-century Italian painting techniques. She would prepare a smooth surface on a board and then apply many thin layers of oil paint. She used tiny brushes, sometimes with just one hair!
Bridget felt her art was spiritual. Her paintings often showed ideas from ancient religions, magic, alchemy, and old Mesoamerican stories. She painted in a style similar to the Italian Renaissance.
Life in Mexico
The cultures of Mesoamerica (like the ancient Maya and Aztec civilizations) and her own international background greatly influenced Bridget's art. She became a "magic realist" painter in Mexico. She was one of several surrealist and magic realist women artists who moved to Mexico in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
She first visited Mexico because of her cousin, Edward James. He was a British art collector who loved surrealism. Edward James lived in a place called Las Pozas, which had a huge surrealist sculpture garden with waterfalls. In 1947, he invited Bridget to visit him. This trip changed her life and her art.
After her visit, Bridget divorced her second husband in 1953. She moved to Mexico that same year and made it her permanent home. She left her job as a fashion editor for Vogue magazine. In Mexico, she joined other famous artists like Leonora Carrington, Remedios Varo, Alice Rahon, and photographer Kati Horna.
Bridget had lived in many different cultures. She saw how the world changed after two World Wars. Mexico felt like a new world to her, full of artistic inspiration. She believed in metaphysics, which is about understanding reality and existence.
When Bridget moved to Mexico in 1953, she began a journey of art and mysticism. She believed in ancient spirits and wanted to understand herself better. She painted alone, using her art to explore her own identity. She created new characters and masks in her paintings. These characters represented her beliefs and truths. Her art was a way for her to show her own life story and quests in a secret visual language.
In 1958, she showed her work at the First Salon of Women's Art in Mexico. Other artists like Carrington, Rahon, and Varo were also there. That same year, she bought the Contembo ranch in Michoacán. She painted there by herself with her many pets until 1978.
Bridget was close friends with painters like Leonora Carrington, Alan Glass, Zachary Selig, and Pedro Friedeberg in Mexico.
Between 1982 and 1984, Bridget lived in Rome. She painted a series of artworks called Masks, Spiritual Guides, and Dual Deities. She spent her last years at her home in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.
Contembo Ranch
Bridget Bate Tichenor's house at Contembo Ranch in Michoacán was a simple country home. It was built in a cross shape with brick and adobe in 1958. The area was called Ario de Rosales, which means "place where something was sent to be said" in the local Purépecha language. Bridget became an artistic voice for this place she called home.
Many of the magical creatures in her paintings were inspired by her pets. She had terriers, chihuahuas, Italian mastiffs, sheep, goats, monkeys, parrots, iguanas, snakes, horses, and cows. She also found inspiration in the local Purépecha people.
The light, colors, and landscapes in Bridget's paintings came from the volcanic land around her home. From her studio on the second floor, she could see the curve of the earth. Pine-covered red mountains stretched towards the Pacific Ocean. There was also a beautiful waterfall with turquoise pools on her property.
Later Life and Legacy
Bridget Bate Tichenor passed away in Mexico City in 1990. She chose to be with her close friends at the end. The de Laborde-Noguez family, who were friends of her mother, became her trusted companions.
A documentary film about Bridget was made in 1985. It was called Rara Avis. This film showed her life in Europe, her modeling career with famous photographers like Man Ray and Irving Penn, and her work as a Vogue fashion editor. It also covered her magic realism painting career in Mexico, which began in 1956. The title Rara Avis means "a rare and unique bird" in Latin. The film was shown at a film festival in 2008.
Artist Pedro Friedeberg wrote about Bridget Bate Tichenor in his 2011 book, De Vacaciones Por La Vida (Holiday For Life). He shared stories about her and their friends, including Salvador Dalí, Leonora Carrington, and Edward James.
Works of Art
More and more art collectors and museums are becoming interested in Bridget Bate Tichenor's paintings. Her art was first sold in 1954 in Mexico City. Later, her patron, Antonio de Souza, sold her works. She also had exhibitions in other galleries. In February 1990, a large exhibition of her work was held in San Miguel de Allende.
When she died, she left 200 paintings. These were shared between Pedro Friedeberg and the de Laborde-Noguez family. Her paintings are now part of important collections in the United States, Mexico, and Europe. Even famous families like the Churchill and Rockefeller families own her art. Her works are admired for their detailed and mysterious style.
Photographs of Bridget Bate Tichenor are also very popular. Two portraits of her by Man Ray were sold at auction in London in 1996. Another Man Ray photo was sold in New York in 1997. A famous photograph by Irving Penn, called The Tarot Reader, which features Bridget, is in the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
In 2007, two of Bridget's paintings were sold at Christie's auction house. They sold for almost 10 times more than expected! One painting, Domadora de quimeras, which showed the face of Mexican actress María Félix, sold for $20,400 USD. Another painting, Caja de crystal, also sold for much more than its estimated price.
In 2008, the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey held an exhibition that included Bridget's paintings. It was called History of Women: Twentieth-Century Artists in Mexico. The exhibition focused on women artists who worked in Mexico.
Bridget Bate Tichenor's paintings were also part of a 2012 exhibition called In Wonderland: The Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States. This exhibition was organized by LACMA and the Museo de Arte Moderno. It included her paintings Líderes, Autorretrato (Self-Portrait), and Los encarcelados. Los encarcelados is a tall artwork made of four stacked wooden cages with painted heads inside.
The Museum of the City of Mexico also held a special exhibition dedicated to Bridget Bate Tichenor in 2012. It showed over 100 of her paintings. This exhibition explored her surrealist vision and painting technique.
Images for kids
-
Autorretrato (Self-Portrait) by Bridget Bate Tichenor, undated, oil on canvas.
-
Los encarcelados by Bridget Bate Tichenor, 1965, oil on masonite.
See also
In Spanish: Bridget Bate Tichenor para niños
