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Bridget Bate Tichenor
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Bridget Bate Tichenor (born Bridget Pamela Arkwright Bate) (November 22, 1917 – October 12, 1990)[1] was a British surrealist painter of fantastic art in the school of magic realism and a fashion editor. Born in Paris, she later embraced Mexico as her home.[2]

Key Information

Family and early life in Europe

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Bate was the daughter of Frederick Blantford Bate (c. 1886–1970) and Vera Nina Arkwright (1883–1948), who was also known as Vera Bate Lombardi. Although born in France, she spent her youth in England and attended schools in England, France, and Italy. She moved to Paris at age 16, to live with her mother, where she worked as a model for Coco Chanel.[3] She lived between Rome and Paris from 1930 until 1938.

Fred Bate carefully guided his daughter with her art. He recommended she attend the Slade School in London, and visited her later at the Contembo Ranch in Mexico. Fred Bate's close friend, surrealist photographer Man Ray, photographed her at different stages of her modeling career from Paris to New York.[4][5]

Vera Bate Lombardi is said to have been the public relations liaison to the royal families of Europe for Coco Chanel between 1925 and 1938.[3] Her grandmother, Rosa Frederica Baring (1854–1927) was a member of the Baring banking family, being a great-granddaughter of Sir Francis Baring (1740–1810), the founder of Barings Bank, and Bridget Bate was therefore related to many British and European aristocratic families.

New York and the United States

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Bate married Hugh Joseph Chisholm at the Chisholm family home, Strathglass in Port Chester, New York on October 14, 1939.[6] It was an arranged marriage, devised by her mother Vera through Cole Porter and his wife Linda's introduction, in order to remove Bate from Europe and the looming threat of the World War II.[7] They had a son in Beverly Hills, California on December 21, 1940 named Jeremy Chisholm.[8] H. Jeremy Chisholm was a noted businessman and equestrian in the US, United Kingdom and Europe, who was married to Jeanne Vallely-Lang Suydam and father to James Lang-Suydam Chisholm when he died in Boston in 1982.[9]

In 1943, Bate was a student at the Art Students League of New York and studying under Reginald Marsh along with her friends, the painters Paul Cadmus and George Tooker.[10] Acquaintances have described Bate during this time as "striking",[11] "glamorous",[10] and a "long-stemmed beauty with large azure eyes and sumptuous black hair".[12] She lived in an apartment at the Plaza Hotel and wore clothes by Manhattan couturier Hattie Carnegie.[13] It was around this time that the author Anaïs Nin wrote about her infatuation with Bate in her personal diary.[14][15] Bate was at a party in the Park Avenue apartment of photographer George Platt Lynes, a friend who used her as a subject in his photographs, when she met Lynes' assistant, Jonathan Tichenor, in 1943.[13] They started an affair in 1944 when her husband was away and working overseas for the US government. She divorced Chisholm on December 11, 1944 and moved into an Upper East Side townhouse in Manhattan that she shared with art patron Peggy Guggenheim.[16] She married Jonathan Tichenor in 1945, taking his last name to become known as Bridget Bate Tichenor, and they moved into an artist's studio at 105 MacDougal Street in Manhattan.[16]

Painting technique

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Bate Tichenor's painting technique was based upon 16th-century Italian tempera formulas that artist Paul Cadmus taught her in New York in 1945, where she would prepare an eggshell-finished gesso ground on masonite board and apply (instead of tempera) multiple transparent oil glazes defined through chiaroscuro with sometimes one hair of a #00 sable brush.[14] Bate Tichenor considered her work to be of a spiritual nature, reflecting ancient occult religions, magic, alchemy, and Mesoamerican mythology in her Italian Renaissance style of painting.[17]

Life in Mexico

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The cultures of Mesoamerica and her international background would influence the style and themes of Bate Tichenor's work as a magic realist painter in Mexico.[18] She was among a group of surrealist and magic realist female artists who came to live in Mexico in the late 1940s and early 1950s.[7] Her introduction to Mexico was through a cousin she had first met in Paris in the 1930s: Edward James, the British surrealist art collector and sponsor of the magazine Minotaure. James lived in Las Pozas, San Luis Potosí, and his home in Mexico had an enormous surrealist sculpture garden with natural waterfalls, pools and surrealist sculptures in concrete.[19] In 1947, James invited her to visit him again at his home Xilitia, near Tampico in the rich Olmec culture of the Gulf Coast. He had urged her for many years to receive secret spiritual initiations that he had undergone, and a lifetime change and new artistic direction resulted from her epiphanies during this trip.[11] After visiting Mexico, Bate Tichenor obtained a divorce in 1953 from her second husband, Jonathan Tichenor, and moved to Mexico in the same year, where she made her permanent home and lived for the rest of her life.[14] She left her marriage and job as a professional fashion and accessories editor for Vogue[12] behind and was now alongside expatriate painters such as Leonora Carrington, Remedios Varo, Alice Rahon, and photographer Kati Horna.[2]

Having lived in varied European and American cultures with multiple identities reflecting her life passages, Bate Tichenor recognized the Pre-Columbian cycles of creation, destruction, and resurrection that echoed the events of the catastrophes of her own life mounted within the dismantling and reconstructive context of two World Wars.[14] The openness of Mexico at that time fueled her personal expectations of a future filled with endless artistic inspiration in a truly new world founded upon metaphysics, where a movement of societal, political, and spiritual ideals were being immortalized in the arts.[14]

At the time of Bate Tichenor's move to Mexico in 1953, she began what would become a lifetime journey through her art and mysticism, inspired by her belief in ancestral spirits, to achieve self-realization.[14] While painting alone and in isolation, she removed her familiar and societal masks to find her own personal human and spiritual identities; she would then reposition those hidden identities with new masks and characters in her paintings that represented her own sacred beliefs and truths.[14] This guarded internal process of self-discovery and fulfillment was allegorically portrayed with a cast of mythological characters engaged in magical settings. She painted a dramatization of her own life and quests on canvas through an expressive visual language and an artistic vocabulary that she kept secret.[14]

In 1958, she participated in the First Salon of Women's Art at the Galerías Excelsior of Mexico, together with Carrington, Rahon, Varo, and other contemporary women painters of her era.[20] That same year, she bought the Contembo ranch near the remote village of Ario de Rosales, Michoacán where she painted reclusively with her extensive menagerie of pets until 1978.[7]

Bate Tichenor counted painters Carrington, Alan Glass, Zachary Selig and artist Pedro Friedeberg among her closest friends and artistic contemporaries in Mexico.[21]

Between 1982 and 1984, Bate Tichenor lived in Rome and painted a series of paintings titled Masks, Spiritual Guides, and Dual Deities.[14] Her final years were spent at her home in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico.[14]

Contembo Ranch

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The architecture of Bate Tichenor's house at Contembo Ranch in Michoacán was a simple Tuscan-style country villa cross-shaped designed brick and adobe two-story structure that she built with her Purépechan lover Roberto in 1958. Ario de Rosales was named "place where something was sent to be said"[14] in the Purépecha language. Bate Tichenor became an artistic channel for the place that she chose to call her home.[14]

Many of the faces and bodies of her magical creatures in her paintings were based upon her assorted terriers, chihuahuas, and Italian mastiffs, sheep, goats, monkeys, parrots, iguanas, snakes, horses, cows, and local Purépecha servants and friends.[14]

The light, colors and landscapes of Bate Tichenor's paintings were inspired by the topography of the volcanic land that surrounded her mountaintop home. There was a curvature of the Earth that could be seen from her second-story studio where the pine tree covered red mountains cascaded towards the Pacific Ocean. There also was a waterfall with turquoise pools of water that traversed her property.[14]

Death and legacy

[edit]

At the time of Bate Tichenor's death in the Daniel de Laborde-Noguez and Marie Aimée de Montalembert house on the Calle Tabasco in Mexico City in 1990, she chose to be exclusively with her close friends. Bate Tichenor's mother Vera Bate Lombardi was a close friend of Comte Léon de Laborde, who was a fervent admirer of Coco Chanel in her youth and had introduced Lombardi to Chanel. Comte Léon de Laborde's grandson, economist Carlos de Laborde-Noguez, his wife Marina Lascaris, his brother Daniel de Laborde-Noguez and his wife, Marie Aimée de Motalembert became Bate Tichenor's most respected allies, trusted friends, and caretakers at the end of her life in their home in Mexico City.[3]

Bate Tichenor was the subject of a 1985 documentary titled Rara Avis, shot in Baron Alexander von Wuthenau's home in Mexico City.[22] It was directed by Tufic Makhlouf [23] and focused on Bate Tichenor's life in Europe, her being a subject for the photographers Man Ray, Cecil Beaton, Irving Penn, John Rawlings, George Platt Lynes, her career as a Vogue fashion editor in New York with Condé Nast art director Alexander Liberman between 1945 and 1952, and her magic realism painting career in Mexico that began in 1956.[7] The title of the film, Rara Avis, is a Latin expression that comes from the Roman poet Juvenal meaning a rare and unique bird,[24] the "black swan."[25] Rara Avis was screened at the 2008 FICM Morelia international film festival.[26]

Artist Pedro Friedeberg wrote about Bate Tichenor and their life in Mexico in his 2011 book of memoirs De Vacaciones Por La Vida (Holiday For Life), including stories of her interaction with his friends and contemporaries Salvador Dalí, Leonora Carrington, Kati Horna, Tamara de Lempicka, Zachary Selig, and Edward James.[21]

Works of art

[edit]
Autorretrato (Self-Portrait) by Bridget Bate Tichenor, undated, oil on canvas, 19 11/16 x 19 11/16 inches, from a private collection.
Los encarcelados by Bridget Bate Tichenor, 1965, oil on masonite mounted inside of wooden caged boxes, 107 x 27 x 25 cm, at the 2012 LACMA In Wonderland exhibition.

Interest in Bate Tichenor's paintings by art collectors and museums has been increasing in recent years, as well as collections of art photographs with her as the subject. Her paintings were first sold in 1954 by the Ines Amor Gallery in Mexico City, and then later by her patron, the late Mexican art dealer and collector Antonio de Souza at the Galeria Souza in the Paseo de la Reforma, Mexico City. In 1955, the Karning Gallery, directed by Robert Isaacson, represented her. In 1972 and 1974, she exhibited at the Galeria Pecanins, Colonia Roma, Mexico City. A comprehensive retrospective exhibition was held at the Instituto de Bellas Artes de San Miguel de Allende in February 1990, nine months before her death. She left 200 paintings that were divided between Pedro Friedeberg and the de Laborde-Noguez family. Her works became a part of important international private and museum collections in the United States, Mexico and Europe that included the Churchill and Rockefeller families. They were sought after for their refined esoteric nature with detail in master painting technique.[14]

Two 1941 gelatin silver print portraits of Bate Tichenor by avant-garde artist Man Ray were auctioned by Christie's London in 1996.[4] Another 1941 gelatin silver print photograph of Bate Tichenor by Man Ray was auctioned by Sotheby's New York in 1997.[5] A silver gelatin print of fashion photographer Irving Penn's 1949 photograph of Bate Tichenor and model Jean Patchett, titled The Tarot Reader, resides in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.[27] Two paintings by Bate Tichenor were auctioned by Christie's in July, 2007 at New York's Rockefeller Plaza, and both received almost 10 times the original estimates in the auction of Mexican actress María Félix's estate.[28] Bate Tichenor's oil on canvas titled Domadora de quimeras, featuring the face of María Félix with details by painter Antoine Tzapoff, went for $20,400 USD, which was several times higher than its original low estimate of $2000 USD.[29] Another painting by Bate Tichenor, Caja de crystal, also sold for much more than its estimated price.[30]

In 2008, the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey held an exhibition of Bate Tichenor's work, including her paintings among 50 prominent Mexican artists such as Frida Kahlo. It was titled History of Women: Twentieth-Century Artists in Mexico. The exhibition centered on women who had developed their artistic activities within individual and diverse disciplines while working in Mexico.[31]

Bate Tichenor was featured in the 2012 exhibition In Wonderland: The Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States, organized by LACMA and the Museo de Arte Moderno. Included were Bate Tichenor's paintings Líderes, Autorretrato (Self-Portrait), and Los encarcelados, a tall work of four stacked wooden cages with painted masonite heads inside of each box and a pyramid on the top of the structure. The exhibition took place at the LACMA Resnick Pavilion in Los Angeles.[32][33]

The Museum of the City of Mexico's director, Cristina Faesler, has organized over 100 paintings for an exhibition dedicated to Bate Tichenor in Mexico City beginning May 23, 2012 to August 5, 2012.[34] The exhibition at the Museo de la Ciudad de México is a visual monograph of Bate Tichenor's work, her surrealist vision and technique.[35]

References

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Bridget Bate Tichenor

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Bridget Bate Tichenor (November 22, 1917 – October 12, 1990) was a British-born surrealist painter and former renowned for her fantastical works in the magic realism tradition, characterized by symbolic imagery of egg-headed creatures, masks, and mystical landscapes inspired by and personal mythology. Born in to a prominent Anglo-American family, she modeled for designers like and photographers such as in her youth before transitioning to a career in publishing and fine art. After marrying twice—first to financier in 1939 and later to Jonathan Tichenor—she relocated permanently to in 1953, where she immersed herself in the local artistic scene alongside figures like and . Tichenor's early career in fashion included roles as a model in during and as a at Vogue from 1945 to 1953, where she worked under influential editors Edna Woolman Chase and Jessica Daves while living in New York. She pursued formal art training at London's Slade School and New York's Art Students League, studying under Reginald Marsh and forming close ties with artists and George Platt Lynes, from whom she learned 16th-century Italian and oil-glaze techniques that defined her luminous, jewel-like style. Her initial visits to in the late 1940s, facilitated by her cousin —a key patron of —sparked a profound connection to the country's landscapes, indigenous spirituality, and alchemical traditions, leading her to settle there after her second divorce. In , Tichenor produced over 200 paintings, often depicting enigmatic beings, animal spirits, and volcanic terrains drawn from her pets, Mesoamerican mythology, and personal initiations, such as an Aztec ritual. Notable works include Enigma (1955), Los Surrealistas (1956), Tribute (1963), and Primos (Cousins) (1966), which blend influences from and with her unique symbolic language. Her art was exhibited at venues like the Inés Amor Gallery starting in 1954 and featured in major retrospectives, including a 2012 show at the Museo de la Ciudad de México displaying 100 works, as well as displays at the and the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de . Tichenor resided at her Contembo ranch near Lake Pátzcuaro until 1978 before moving to , where she continued painting until her death in at age 72.

Early Life and Family

Family Background

Bridget Pamela Arkwright Bate, later known as Bridget Bate Tichenor, was born on November 22, 1917, in , , to Frederick Blantford Bate (1886–1970) and Vera Nina Arkwright (1883–1947). Her father, an American-born and broadcaster originally from , worked as a correspondent for in Europe during the and served as a representative for British broadcasting interests, including contributions to the . He was also involved in international affairs, such as his role in the American section of the Reparations Commission after . Her mother, also known as Vera Bate Lombardi or Sarah Gertrude Arkwright Bate Lombardi, hailed from a prominent English family with deep ties to British high society and reputed connections to nobility; she was rumored to be the illegitimate daughter of Prince Adolphus, Duke of Teck and , a brother to Queen Mary of Teck, though this claim remains unverified. Vera descended from influential lineages, including the Baring banking family and the Hammersley family of Norman Court, , which provided her with extensive social networks across . These familial links exposed Bridget to aristocratic circles from an early age, fostering her familiarity with elite cultural environments. The Bate family's British heritage was marked by a cosmopolitan lifestyle, with residences in both and that immersed Bridget in , , and international of the era. This peripatetic upbringing, influenced by her parents' professional travels and social engagements, laid the groundwork for her later entry into European artistic and fashion communities through extended family connections, such as her mother's associations with figures like . No siblings are documented in primary records, emphasizing the close-knit yet elite dynamics of her immediate family.

Childhood and Education in Europe

Bridget Bate Tichenor was born in on November 22, 1917, to a family of British heritage with international connections, including ties to the through her mother's side. Her was marked by frequent travels across , as her parents' peripatetic lifestyle—driven by her mother's role as a and liaison to European royalty—led to residences in , , , and . This nomadic existence, often supported by relatives such as the , who provided care and accommodations in his estates in , , and , exposed her to diverse cultural environments from a young age. Tichenor's formative education occurred amid these movements, with attendance at schools in , , and that shaped her early worldview. From ages five to sixteen, she received private tutoring in drawing, watercolor, and oil painting in and , funded by the of Westminster's generosity, which laid the groundwork for her artistic inclinations. She pursued formal studies at the in , where her father encouraged her enrollment, and later at the École des Beaux-Arts in during , honing her foundational skills in classical techniques. These experiences, combined with exposure to avant-garde circles through her mother's friendships with artists like and , sparked her interest in and metaphysical themes. As a girl in , she also benefited from tutoring by , whose metaphysical style influenced her early appreciation for symbolic and dreamlike representations. At the age of sixteen in 1933, Tichenor relocated to to live with her mother, entering the vibrant world of high fashion and social elites. There, she began a modeling career, posing for and gaining entrée into the designer's influential circle, which her mother had helped establish as Chanel's liaison to British society. She also worked with prominent photographers such as , , and , experiences that bridged her artistic education with the glamour of the fashion scene and foreshadowed her later professional path.

Career in the United States

Modeling and Fashion Editing

In the late 1930s, Bridget Bate Tichenor relocated to , where she continued her modeling career by leveraging her established European connections from working with designers like . Upon arrival in 1939, she quickly integrated into the American fashion scene, posing for prominent photographers such as Horst P. Horst, who captured her in a Vogue feature that year, highlighting her elegant, cosmopolitan presence. From 1945 to 1952, Tichenor served as a fashion editor at Vogue magazine in New York, specializing in accessories and contributing to the publication's iconic layouts and editorials. In this role, she collaborated closely with Condé Nast art director Alexander Liberman, helping shape visually compelling narratives that blended high fashion with artistic composition. Her work provided deep insights into visual storytelling, as she supported designers like Charles James and influenced emerging trends in editorial presentation during the postwar era. During the early 1940s, Tichenor engaged with New York's vibrant art community, enrolling at the Art Students League of New York around 1943 to pursue studies under instructor Reginald Marsh. There, she formed connections with fellow artists including and , whose influences began bridging her fashion expertise with formal artistic training. This period marked a pivotal intersection of her professional modeling and editing experiences with emerging interests in .

Marriages and Personal Life

Bridget Bate married Hugh Joseph Chisholm, a Yale-educated and heir to the Company fortune, on October 14, 1939, at the Chisholm family estate, Strathglass, in . This union was arranged by her mother to facilitate Bate's escape from as loomed, providing financial security and safe passage to the . The couple soon relocated to , where their only child, son Jeremy Chisholm, was born on December 27, 1940; Jeremy would later become a successful businessman and equestrian but died in 1982 at age 41. The war profoundly affected their family dynamics, with Chisholm serving as a radio correspondent for and stationed overseas for extended periods, leading to prolonged separations. Bate and young Jeremy remained in during the early , navigating the uncertainties of wartime relocations and emotional strains within the household. In , while Chisholm was abroad, Bate began an affair with Jonathan Tichenor, assistant to photographer , which precipitated the end of her first marriage; the was finalized on December 11, 1944. Bate married Tichenor in 1945, adopting his surname professionally thereafter, which she retained for her fashion editing role at Vogue and later artistic pursuits. The couple settled in New York, but their relationship deteriorated over time, culminating in a in 1953 amid Bate's growing interest in and travels abroad. These successive marriages provided periods of social stability during her early career in the United States, though the wartime disruptions and personal upheavals underscored the challenges of maintaining family life amid global conflict.

Move to Mexico and Artistic Beginnings

Arrival and Initial Settlement

Following her divorce from Jonathan Tichenor in 1953, Bridget Bate Tichenor relocated from New York to , seeking a fresh start away from the urban intensity of American life and drawn by the country's vibrant artistic scene, which she had glimpsed during prior visits influenced by her cousin, the collector . This move marked a deliberate departure from her prior career in fashion editing at Vogue, allowing her to pursue painting amid 's cultural richness. Upon settling in , Tichenor immersed herself in the local artistic community, residing among expatriate and Mexican creators who fostered her transition to and magic realism. She formed close friendships with fellow surrealists and , whose works and esoteric interests deeply influenced her evolving aesthetic, while also engaging with broader influences like Mesoamerican traditions and metaphysics. Tichenor's early integration into this milieu culminated in her first professional recognition when her paintings were sold at the Inés Amor Gallery in in 1954, signaling her commitment to art over fashion. In 1953, she had fully shifted to painting full-time, dedicating herself to a body of work that reflected her new surroundings.

Establishment of Contembo Ranch

In the late 1950s, Bridget Bate Tichenor purchased the Contembo Ranch near the remote pre-Columbian village of Ario de Rosales in Michoacán, Mexico, seeking a secluded space for her artistic pursuits. She developed the property over the following years into a self-contained compound, constructing a simple two-story Tuscan-style country villa using local adaptations such as brick and adobe, shaped like a cross to maximize 360-degree views of the surrounding terrain. Situated on a steep hill overlooking Lake Pátzcuaro, approximately 30 minutes away by car, the ranch blended European architectural influences with the rugged Michoacán landscape, creating an idyllic yet reclusive environment. Daily routines at Contembo were deeply intertwined with the natural world and animal care, managed by a staff of around 25 locals who handled chores and tended to the estate's extensive . Tichenor maintained a diverse collection of pets, including two monkeys, numerous birds such as 25 parrots that required daily unpacking from their shoeboxes, 35 Chihuahuas, five English Mastiffs, eight Weimaraners, 12 cats, snakes, an , and thoroughbred horses, which roamed the grounds and influenced her intimate interactions with the property. Her days often involved direct engagement with the verdant hills, forests, and lake views, where the vibrant , , and pre-Columbian echoes of the region sparked inspirations drawn from and mythological elements. Beyond its role as a personal haven, Contembo Ranch became a vital gathering spot for artists and intellectuals in Mexico's surrealist circle, hosting visits that nurtured creative exchanges and collaborations. Figures such as British-Mexican surrealist and fellow artist were among those who frequented the estate, drawn by Tichenor's hospitality and the stimulating rural setting that complemented the vibrant art scene in . This communal aspect transformed the ranch into a nexus for the Mexican surrealist community, where discussions and shared inspirations flourished amid its serene, otherworldly ambiance.

Artistic Style and Technique

Materials and Methods

Bridget Bate Tichenor's painting technique drew from 16th-century Italian tempera formulas, which she learned from artist Paul Cadmus in New York in 1945, adapting these historical methods to achieve luminous, durable effects in her surrealist works. Rather than using traditional tempera paint, she combined the preparatory aspects of tempera—such as creating a gesso ground—with transparent oil glazes to produce a polished, jewel-like finish that enhanced the mystical quality of her compositions. She prepared her panels by applying an eggshell-finished ground, typically on or wood boards, to create a smooth, reflective surface that mimicked practices and provided a stable base for subsequent layers. This custom ground was essential for the durability of her paintings, allowing the oil glazes to adhere without cracking over time, and required meticulous sanding and polishing to achieve the desired translucency. Tichenor applied the oil glazes in multiple thin, transparent layers using extremely fine brushes, often sable ones with a single hair for precision, building depth gradually over extended periods to ensure each layer dried fully before the next was added. This layering process, inspired by glazing techniques, resulted in vibrant, glowing colors that appeared to emanate from within the surface. To create depth and mystery, she employed lighting effects, strategically layering glazes to simulate internal light sources that radiated through figures and natural elements, adapting the dramatic contrasts of traditional to outdoor surrealist scenes without artificial illumination. This methodical application of light and shadow across layers heightened the ethereal atmosphere, with glowing trees and beings emerging from subtle darkness to emphasize symbolic forms.

Themes and Influences

Bridget Bate Tichenor's artwork is characterized by recurring motifs drawn from religions, , and Mesoamerican mythology, which collectively underscore her fascination with and the interplay between the material and ethereal worlds. elements, such as naguals and spirit guides, appear as conduits for interdimensional communication, reflecting her belief in as a bridge to hidden realities. Alchemical themes of rebirth and renewal manifest through symbols of transformation, though Tichenor prioritized indigenous earth-based wisdom over strictly Western esoteric traditions. Mesoamerican mythology permeates her compositions with cyclical narratives of creation and destruction, featuring deities like the and archetypal symbols such as eggs, serpents, and turtles, evoking a cosmovision rooted in pre-Columbian rituals. These motifs are deeply intertwined with influences from European , which Tichenor blended with indigenous art to explore personal identity and the subconscious. Her engagement with surrealist principles, as articulated in André Breton's Second Manifesto of Surrealism, emphasized the fusion of dream and waking states, allowing her to integrate subconscious revelations into visual narratives. This European foundation merged with the vibrant symbolism of codices and pre-Columbian artifacts, creating a hybrid aesthetic that reflected her transition from a cosmopolitan Western identity to one immersed in indigenous spiritualities following her relocation to . Tichenor's personal philosophy positioned art as a revelatory practice, drawing on the imagination to reclaim lost magical realities and foster ecological harmony through interspecies encounters. Additionally, surrealist motifs like masks and veils served to unveil subconscious fears and desires, echoing the movement's emphasis on psychological depth. Over time, Tichenor's themes evolved from intimate personal in the —often processing individual loss and spiritual seeking—to a broader embrace of universal magical realism by the 1970s, incorporating cosmic harmony and transformative light as central forces. This progression mirrored her deepening immersion in Mexican cosmovision, shifting from autobiographical explorations to expansive visions of renewal and interconnectedness.

Major Works and Exhibitions

Key Paintings

Bridget Bate Tichenor produced approximately 200 paintings over the course of her career as a surrealist working in the magic realism style. Upon her death in 1990, her estate was divided among close associates and family, including the and the de Laborde-Noguez family, ensuring the preservation and distribution of her oeuvre. Among her most significant works is Domadora de quimeras (Tamer of Chimeras), created in 1953 as an measuring 50 x 75 cm. This painting features a chimera-taming motif centered on the face of actress , with facial details rendered by Antoine Tzapoff, and bears the artist's lower right. It achieved a realized price of $20,400 at New York in July 2007, far exceeding its estimate and highlighting its cultural resonance tied to mid-20th-century . Caja de cristal (Crystal Box), an of similar dimensions at 50 x 75 cm, exemplifies Tichenor's exploration of enclosure symbolism through crystalline forms, also incorporating María Félix's likeness detailed by Tzapoff and monogrammed by the artist. Auctioned at New York in July 2007, it sold for $18,000, demonstrating sustained market interest in her fantastical compositions. Other notable works include Enigma (1955), Los Surrealistas (1956), (1963), and Primos (Cousins) (1966), which blend influences from and with her unique symbolic language. In the 1960s, Tichenor created Los encarcelados (The Imprisoned), a sculptural painting constructed as four stacked wooden cages with barred fronts containing oil-on-masonite heads, measuring approximately 107 x 27 x 25 cm overall. This allegorical work on uses confined figures to evoke themes of captivity, reflecting her innovative blend of and installation. Tichenor's self-portrait series includes the undated Autorretrato, an oil on canvas approximately 50 x 50 cm (20 x 20 inches), held in the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Depicting clustered, ethereal heads in a surreal tableau, it captures her introspective style and was part of broader exhibitions showcasing female surrealists.

Significant Exhibitions

Bridget Bate Tichenor's early exhibitions in Mexico marked the beginning of her recognition within the local art scene. Her paintings were first presented and sold in 1954 at the Inés Amor Gallery in Mexico City, an influential venue that showcased emerging talents alongside established figures. Throughout the 1950s, she held solo shows at Galería Souza, where her patron Antonio Souza promoted her surrealist works, including pieces that highlighted her distinctive fantastical imagery. In the following decades, Tichenor's art gained broader visibility through key group exhibitions that contextualized her contributions to surrealism. Her works appeared in the 2008 exhibition Women: Twentieth Century Artists in Mexico at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey, underscoring her role among female artists reinterpreting surrealist traditions. She was also featured in the 2012 Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) presentation In Wonderland: The Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States, 1926–1976, which explored cross-border influences in women's surrealism and included selections from her oeuvre alongside contemporaries like Remedios Varo and Leonora Carrington. Following her death in 1990, Tichenor's legacy was honored through significant posthumous displays. A major retrospective at the Museo de la Ciudad de México in 2012 showcased over 100 of her paintings, offering a comprehensive survey of her career and drawing international attention to her esoteric surrealist style. In 2019, her pieces were included in the group exhibition Women Surrealists in at Mary-Anne Martin Fine Art in New York, which highlighted female surrealists from the region and featured works such as Los encarcelados to illustrate her thematic depth.

Death and Legacy

Final Years

In 1982, following the death of her son Jeremy Chisholm, Bridget Bate Tichenor relocated to a rented house in owned by Baron von Wuthenau, where she painted prolifically despite the emotional toll of the loss. Jeremy's passing exacerbated longstanding resentments from his childhood absence due to her artistic pursuits, though she reconciled with him shortly before his death in ; afterward, Tichenor severed ties with his family and channeled her affections toward her protégé, Zachary Jay Selig, which influenced her personal circle more than her creative output. During this period, she produced notable works such as Guía II (1983), an oil-on-canvas painting signed with her monogram and dated April–May on the reverse, reflecting her enduring surrealist style amid these personal upheavals. Her residence in from 1982 to 1987 allowed continued engagement with the local surrealist community, including friendships with figures like . In 1987, Tichenor moved to in , designed by Eric Noren, but her health deteriorated due to a poor diet, excessive consumption, and . Diagnosed with cancer in 1989 at the American Hospital in , she endured a year of treatments and surgeries, returning periodically to the city for care. Tichenor died on October 12, 1990, in at the age of 72, from natural causes associated with her illness, at the home of close friends Comte and Comtesse Carlos and de LaBorde Yturbe, surrounded by a small circle including Selig, Bachu, Jakki, Pedro, Eric, Jon, , and Carrington.

Posthumous Recognition

Tichenor's paintings entered prominent private collections, including those associated with the Churchill family, after Lady Sarah Churchill purchased works during visits to the artist's studio in the late 1970s. Recent auctions have underscored her market resurgence; her 1964 tempera on board Limpia sold at Bonhams in New York on November 21, 2024, for over 124% above its mid-estimate, reflecting growing collector interest in her female surrealist figures. Similarly, Guía II (1983), an oil on canvas, exceeded its $40,000–$60,000 estimate at Modern Day Auction on May 14, 2025, more than doubling the high figure and achieving over $120,000. In discourse, Tichenor's contributions to magic realism have received scholarly attention, particularly in studies of who blended European and Mesoamerican motifs for spiritual expression. This interest manifested in the 2019 exhibition "Women Surrealists in " at Mary-Anne Martin Fine Art in New York, which featured her alongside peers like , emphasizing her role in expanding surrealism's gender and cultural boundaries.

References

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