María Izquierdo (artist) facts for kids

María Izquierdo (born October 30, 1902 – died December 2, 1955) was an important Mexican painter. She is famous for being the first Mexican woman to have her art shown in the United States. María dedicated her life to creating art that celebrated her Mexican heritage. She became a respected artist alongside well-known male Mexican painters like Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco.

Early life

María Cenobia Izquierdo Gutiérrez was born in San Juan de los Lagos, Jalisco, Mexico. When she was five, her father died, and she moved with her mother to Torreón. Her mother later remarried. María was then raised by her grandparents and other relatives in small towns in Northern Mexico. Her grandmother and aunt were very religious Catholics. So, María's childhood included many daily Catholic traditions.

María was always interested in art. She spent a lot of time alone, teaching herself new art skills. In 1923, she and her family moved to Mexico City. There, she could finally go to school to study art and become a professional artist.

Art Training

Izquierdo started studying art in January 1928 at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes (Academy of Fine Arts). Her move to Mexico City in the 1920s happened during a big change in Mexico. The Mexican Revolution had just ended. This brought new ideas about Mexican culture and values.

President Álvaro Obregón pushed for new schools and institutions. These places would support traditional Mexican beliefs and culture. These ideas matched what Izquierdo believed. This made her want to attend the art academy. Before these changes, European art was the main style taught in Mexico. The new reforms encouraged Mexican artists to create murals. These murals showed the importance of Mexican values on schools and government buildings.

At the Academy of Fine Arts, Izquierdo learned from artists like Rufino Tamayo and Manuel Rodríguez Lozano. She was also greatly influenced by Diego Rivera. He was the director of the Academy in 1929. Rivera later helped Izquierdo start her career. He often called her "one of the best at the academy."

Izquierdo was known as one of Rivera's favorite students. This praise sometimes caused problems with her classmates. In February 1931, Izquierdo left the Academy. She was tired of the unfriendly atmosphere and the school's focus on art only for political messages.

In the early 1920s, María Izquierdo joined a group of young writers and artists. They published a magazine called the Contemporáneos. This group believed that Mexican culture should be open to ideas from around the world. They thought that art could be more than just political messages. Rufino Tamayo was an instructor who continued to guide her after she left the Academy. He and Izquierdo shared a studio for four years. Tamayo greatly influenced her early art. He taught her about watercolor. They both believed art should be a way to express feelings, not just politics.

First Exhibitions

In the early 1920s, Izquierdo became involved with art groups like the Movimiento Pro-Arte Mexicano and the Contemporáneos. Her friend, Lola Álvarez Bravo, described her as a "cheerful woman with a folk spirit." She said María seemed like "one more folk element" because she understood Mexican traditions so well.

Within her first year at the Academy, Izquierdo showed her art in four exhibitions. Her first art show opened in November 1928. It displayed three of her paintings: "Marina" (Seascape), "El juicio de Toral" (The Trial of Toral), and "Cámara con gallo" (Camera with Rooster). Important people from the Academy attended the exhibition. They were very impressed by her talent. Diego Rivera called her "one of the most appealing figures in the art scene in Mexico."

Izquierdo's art became known internationally in 1930. She was the first Mexican woman to have a solo art show in the United States. This exhibition was held at the Art Center in New York. At the same time, two of her other paintings were part of a traveling exhibition by Rene d'Harnoncourt. Her art was also shown at New York's Museum of Modern Art in 1940. That same year, her work was exhibited in Paris.

María Izquierdo became an internationally recognized artist. Her career reached its peak in the early 1940s. In May 1944, she became a cultural ambassador for Mexico. She traveled to several South American countries. However, her career faced challenges in the mid-1940s. She had her first stroke, which affected her health.

That same year, she lost a big project to paint murals in Mexico City. Famous Mexican muralists, known as "Los Tres Grandes" (The Three Great Ones), took the job. These were Diego Rivera, Jose Orozco, and David Siqueiros. They claimed she lacked the talent and experience for such a large project. Diego Rivera, who once supported her, now stood in her way. Izquierdo famously responded to this unfairness by saying: "it is a crime to be born a woman and have talent."

Artistic Style

Some people called María Izquierdo a surrealist painter. But she never called herself one. Instead, Izquierdo identified with the Contemporáneos. This group believed that Mexican culture was important and should be seen as a key part of Western culture. She was brave enough to follow her own painting style. She did not always follow the popular Mexican art movements of her time.

Her background as a mestiza (a person of mixed European and Indigenous heritage) was a big part of her art. Izquierdo was praised for truly understanding native and rural traditions. Her altar paintings were known for their "delightful indigenous ingenuousness." She used a simple painting style that reminded people of folk art made by local artisans.

Many of her paintings show unusual subjects and interesting combinations of things. Izquierdo often used bold, rich, and bright colors. Most of her paintings were done with oil paints or watercolor. She is often compared to Frida Kahlo because they both started their careers around the same time. However, they each had very different and unique styles. Early in her career, Izquierdo painted still lifes and portraits. She tried many different styles and techniques.

Diego Rivera once described her artwork as "proud yet modest." Izquierdo's portraits showed deep understanding. They were very feminine and clearly Mexican in style. She painted many works with religious themes. These often showed popular Catholic traditions or honored Mexican folk art. An example is her painting Calvario (Calvary) from 1933.

Izquierdo often painted from memory. Her friend, the poet Margarita Michelena, said they would go to the countryside. Izquierdo would just spend time looking and observing. She created a sense of past time in her paintings. Before 1940, she used loose brushstrokes and avoided small details. She also painted scenes that did not show a specific time of day. After 1940, she painted traditional Mexican things that were disappearing. These included coscomates (granaries) and altars to the Virgin of Sorrows.

Subject Matter

Early in her career, Izquierdo became known for painting still lifes, altars, circus scenes, and portraits of women. She made sure her art connected with Mexican popular traditions. She chose to paint images that had personal meaning and were rooted in Mexican culture. This was different from many of her peers at the Academy of Fine Arts, who painted political messages.

Common subjects in her paintings included images of Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), the Mexican countryside, and Catholic saints. She believed art was a way to communicate with the soul. Her frequent paintings of the circus came from her childhood memories. She remembered visiting the circus with her aunt and grandmother in San Juan de los Lagos, Jalisco. Her self-portraits often showed her wearing traditional Mexican clothes. An example is her Autorretrato (Self-portrait) from 1940.

She often showed women in different social settings. But she only painted herself with her family or alone. Izquierdo's paintings have a simple, country feel. They were inspired by folk religious art and French painters like Henri Matisse. Her works often show a "masterly use of color." They frequently include cupboards, altars, fruit, horses, and circus scenes.

Views on Women's Roles

Roundabout of Illustrious Persons (México)

In 1945, Izquierdo was chosen for a major government mural project. It was for the central stairwell of a government building in Mexico City. However, the city's governor canceled the project. This happened because Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros interfered. They claimed Izquierdo did not have enough experience for such a big project.

Izquierdo received a lot of criticism in the news for speaking out. She argued against the idea that women are treated unfairly in the workplace. She never gave up insisting that she deserved the mural commission. Izquierdo strongly debated how men treated women as less important. She believed women did not get proper recognition for their skills, especially in art. She once said, "it is a crime to be born a woman and have talent."

Even though she was a female Mexican artist painting at the same time as other Latin American women artists, Izquierdo did not call herself a feminist. She believed women should be able to work in many different jobs. But she also valued the traditional family roles taught to her by her aunt and grandmother.

She often showed women in various social settings. But she only painted herself with her family or alone. Izquierdo was part of the Contemporáneos group. This group offered new ways of showing men and women in modern Mexico. They supported a new image of the "modern girl" in Mexico. Izquierdo embraced this new image. She was often seen wearing modern clothes, with a lit cigarette.

In 1935, Izquierdo spoke about women's rights during a trip to Guadalajara. A journalist asked her about women's role in the revolutionary struggle. She replied: "Above all women must unite and fight together strongly to improve their condition. Women have to cease being luxury objects and transform themselves into a factor within the class struggle; they ought to evolve socially and participate directly in the revolutionary struggle." This was one of the few times Izquierdo called for women to act together.

Later Works

Izquierdo painted at least twelve ofrendas (offerings) between 1940 and 1948. Some of these paintings show toys, sweets, and crafts. These items are linked to popular Mexican heritage and Catholic events. Viernes de Dolores (Friday of Sorrows), like her other paintings in this series, accurately shows the typical items found on Mexican Catholic home altars. The altar is built on rising levels. The shelves are decorated with papel picado, which is traditional Mexican paper cutouts. Local pottery, goods, fruits, and flowers represent the products of the land and people of Mexico.

Her painting "Trigo crecido" (Growing Wheat) from 1940 shows traditional Mexican items. It uses a modern art style. This was the first home altar she painted. A later painting from 1952, La alacena (Viernes de jugueteria), connects back to her earlier home altars. By calling it Viernes de jugueteria (Toy Store Friday), Izquierdo playfully linked it to her Viernes de Dolores altar series. This painting includes elements often found in her altars. These include lace curtains, candles, toy figures, and papel picado.

Impact

María Izquierdo's career helped open doors for many female artists. Her reputation is often compared to that of Marie Laurencin from the School of Paris. While she may not be as widely known as Frida Kahlo, Izquierdo helped create a strong foundation for female artists. She valued art rooted in traditional Mexican values. Her art stood out for its clever portrayals of Mexico. This was especially true in an era where much art was focused on politics.

Personal Life and Demise

At age fourteen, María had an arranged marriage to a senior army officer, Colonel Cándido Posadas. She had three children (two boys and a girl) by the time she was 17. Her daughter is said to have influenced some of Izquierdo's work, like "Niñas Durmiendo" (Sleeping Girls). She divorced around 1928. Izquierdo had a second marriage, which also did not last long, to Chilean painter Raul Uribe.

She suffered a stroke in the mid-1940s. This greatly affected her health, her work, and her ability to paint. But she kept going. Even though her last years were very painful, she did not stop painting until she was physically unable to. In December 1955, she died from a second stroke in Mexico City.

See also

In Spanish: María Izquierdo (pintora) para niños