María Izquierdo

María Izquierdo (born October 30, 1902 in San Juan de los Lagos , Jalisco , † December 3, 1955 in Mexico City ) was a Mexican painter.

Life

Her name was María Cenobia Izquierdo Gutiérrez. Her father died when she was 5 years old. She then lived with her grandparents until her mother remarried and she moved to Coahuila . Village life with its customs and traditions shaped her life in childhood. She was forced to marry at the age of 14 and had three children. At 26 she was divorced.

She studied for a year at the Academia de San Carlos . Her teacher was Germán Gedovius , a portrait painter who was familiar with German romanticism. In 1929 Diego Rivera was appointed director of the academy. Diego Rivera was enthusiastic about her pictures at a school exhibition. He was the first to promote her. Later she had a close and personal relationship with Rufino Tamayo , who had a great influence on her personal work. At that time she turned to the Surrealistic style.

In 1938 she met the Chilean painter Raúl Uribe , with whom she moved in. Now she also frequented politicians and diplomats. As she painted on their behalf, her playful style became more realistic.

Work and meaning

At 28 she gave her first exhibition. She was also the first Mexican woman to have an exhibition in the United States . Later she was also in Tokyo , Paris and in several Latin American countries like Chile . So she helped to make the art of Mexico known worldwide.

Her style is known as "the other Mexican painting", which was greatly influenced by the Mexican muralists with whom she was close friends such as Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros . It is a mixture of primitivism and popular elements, often depicted in a dreamland or still life , with bold bright colors, mostly green, dark red and yellow.

Like many of the painters of her time, she wanted to capture Mexican customs and traditions. Her pictures of the altar of Saint Dolores, an altar that is set up on the Friday before Easter in many households, are known. B. in San Miguel de Allende , where it becomes a competition.

In 1943 she exhibited 60 of her pictures in the Salón Verde of the Palacio de Bellas Artes and she was named the best modern painter in Mexico.

In 2005 all of her pictures were officially declared a “national treasure” by the Mexican government.

An impact crater on Mercury was named after María Izquierdo in 2009.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://kuffner-sternwarte.at/im_brennp/archiv2009/Merkurkrater_Bennung.html Sixteen craters have been named on Mercury

Web links

• María Izquierdo (Spanish)