María Izquierdo
Encyclopedia
María Izquierdo was a Mexican
painter. She was born in San Juan de los Lagos
in the state of Jalisco
; her birth name was María Cenobia Izquierdo Gutiérrez. Her father died when she was five years old and she lived with grandparents afterward in small towns of Aguascalientes
, Torreón
, and Saltillo
. She received her first formal training in art at a school in Saltillo
at age thirteen. At age fourteen she was compelled to marry a senior army officer, Colonel Cándido Posadas, and she bore three children before her twentieth birthday.
After moving to Mexico City
1927, she divorced her husband and entered the Academy of San Carlos
where she studied for a year. Her instructors included Germán Gedovius
and Manuel Toussaint. Diego Rivera
also taught there and soon recognized Izquierdo's talent. She became the lover of Rufino Tamayo
, then an instructor at the academy, and Diego Rivera
. For a short time she and Tamayo shared a studio together. He taught her how to use gouache
and watercolor techniques. in 1944 she married again to diplomat and painter Raúl Uribe Castille. The pair divorced in 1953. After leaving the academy she relocated to Aguascalientes
and then to Saltillo
, the capital of Coahuila
in northern Mexico.
Her first solo exhibition took place on November 6, 1929, at La Galeria de Arte Moderno del Teatro Nacional, modern day Palacio de Bellas Artes
, in Mexico City. Also in 1929 she exhibited in New York City. In November 1930, Izquierdo's work was exhibited at the Art Center, 65 East Fifty-Sixth street, New York, where she became the first Mexican woman to have a solo art exhibition in the United States.
She died in Mexico City in 1955.
s. Izquierdo stayed true to her Mexican culture by using the landscape and traditions of Mexico as inspirations for her artwork. Her canvases have a primitivist provincial simplicity, inspired by folk devotional art and French painters such as Henri Matisse
and Manet
. In particularly, they exhibit a "masterly use of colour" and frequently include cupboards, altars, fruit, horses, portraits, and the circus.
Mexican people
Mexican people refers to all persons from Mexico, a multiethnic country in North America, and/or who identify with the Mexican cultural and/or national identity....
painter. She was born in San Juan de los Lagos
San Juan de los Lagos
San Juan de los Lagos is a town and municipality located in the northeast corner of the state of Jalisco, Mexico, in a region known as Los Altos...
in the state of Jalisco
Jalisco
Jalisco officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Jalisco is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is located in Western Mexico and divided in 125 municipalities and its capital city is Guadalajara.It is one of the more important states...
; her birth name was María Cenobia Izquierdo Gutiérrez. Her father died when she was five years old and she lived with grandparents afterward in small towns of Aguascalientes
Aguascalientes
Aguascalientes is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 11 municipalities and its capital city is Aguascalientes....
, Torreón
Torreón
Torreón is a city and seat of the surrounding municipality of the same name in the Mexican state of Coahuila. As of 2010, the city's population was 608,836 with 639,629 in the municipality. The metropolitan population, including Matamoros, Coahuila, and Gómez Palacio and Lerdo in adjacent Durango,...
, and Saltillo
Saltillo
Saltillo is the capital city of the northeastern Mexican state of Coahuila and the municipal seat of the municipality of the same name. The city is located about 400 km south of the U.S. state of Texas, and 90 km west of Monterrey, Nuevo León....
. She received her first formal training in art at a school in Saltillo
Saltillo
Saltillo is the capital city of the northeastern Mexican state of Coahuila and the municipal seat of the municipality of the same name. The city is located about 400 km south of the U.S. state of Texas, and 90 km west of Monterrey, Nuevo León....
at age thirteen. At age fourteen she was compelled to marry a senior army officer, Colonel Cándido Posadas, and she bore three children before her twentieth birthday.
After moving to Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
1927, she divorced her husband and entered the Academy of San Carlos
Academy of San Carlos
The Academy of San Carlos is located at 22 Academia Street in just northeast of the main plaza of Mexico City. It was the first major art academy and the first art museum in the Americas. It was founded in 1781 as the School of Engraving and moved to the Academia Street location about 10 years later...
where she studied for a year. Her instructors included Germán Gedovius
Germán Gedovius
Germán Gedovius was a Mexican painter....
and Manuel Toussaint. Diego Rivera
Diego Rivera
Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez was a prominent Mexican painter born in Guanajuato, Guanajuato, an active communist, and husband of Frida Kahlo . His large wall works in fresco helped establish the Mexican Mural Movement in...
also taught there and soon recognized Izquierdo's talent. She became the lover of Rufino Tamayo
Rufino Tamayo
Rufino Tamayo was a Mexican painter of Zapotec heritage, born in Oaxaca de Juárez, Mexico. Tamayo was active in the mid-20th century in Mexico and New York, painting figurative abstraction with surrealist influences....
, then an instructor at the academy, and Diego Rivera
Diego Rivera
Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez was a prominent Mexican painter born in Guanajuato, Guanajuato, an active communist, and husband of Frida Kahlo . His large wall works in fresco helped establish the Mexican Mural Movement in...
. For a short time she and Tamayo shared a studio together. He taught her how to use gouache
Gouache
Gouache[p], also spelled guache, the name of which derives from the Italian guazzo, water paint, splash or bodycolor is a type of paint consisting of pigment suspended in water. A binding agent, usually gum arabic, is also present, just as in watercolor...
and watercolor techniques. in 1944 she married again to diplomat and painter Raúl Uribe Castille. The pair divorced in 1953. After leaving the academy she relocated to Aguascalientes
Aguascalientes
Aguascalientes is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 11 municipalities and its capital city is Aguascalientes....
and then to Saltillo
Saltillo
Saltillo is the capital city of the northeastern Mexican state of Coahuila and the municipal seat of the municipality of the same name. The city is located about 400 km south of the U.S. state of Texas, and 90 km west of Monterrey, Nuevo León....
, the capital of Coahuila
Coahuila
Coahuila, formally Coahuila de Zaragoza , officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila de Zaragoza is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico...
in northern Mexico.
Her first solo exhibition took place on November 6, 1929, at La Galeria de Arte Moderno del Teatro Nacional, modern day Palacio de Bellas Artes
Palacio de Bellas Artes
The Palacio de Bellas Artes is the most important cultural center in Mexico City as well as the rest of the country of Mexico...
, in Mexico City. Also in 1929 she exhibited in New York City. In November 1930, Izquierdo's work was exhibited at the Art Center, 65 East Fifty-Sixth street, New York, where she became the first Mexican woman to have a solo art exhibition in the United States.
She died in Mexico City in 1955.
Artistic interests
After 1929 Izquierdo began working in woodcutWoodcut
Woodcut—occasionally known as xylography—is a relief printing artistic technique in printmaking in which an image is carved into the surface of a block of wood, with the printing parts remaining level with the surface while the non-printing parts are removed, typically with gouges...
s. Izquierdo stayed true to her Mexican culture by using the landscape and traditions of Mexico as inspirations for her artwork. Her canvases have a primitivist provincial simplicity, inspired by folk devotional art and French painters such as Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse was a French artist, known for his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter...
and Manet
Manet
-MANET as an abbreviation:*MANET is a mobile ad hoc network, a self-configuring mobile wireless network.*MANET database or Molecular Ancestry Network, bioinformatics database-People with the surname Manet:*Édouard Manet, a 19th-century French painter....
. In particularly, they exhibit a "masterly use of colour" and frequently include cupboards, altars, fruit, horses, portraits, and the circus.