Tosia Malamud facts for kids
Tosia Malamud (born March 17, 1923 – died July 16, 2008) was a talented Mexican sculptor. She was born in Ukraine and became one of the first women to graduate from Mexico's top art school, the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas. Her family moved to Mexico when she was four years old. Tosia showed a gift for art very early on. She decided to study art in college even though her parents didn't want her to. She finished her studies in 1943.
Because she had family duties, her art career didn't fully start until the mid-1950s. She had two important art shows that made critics notice her unique style. From then until she passed away, she displayed her art in Mexico and other countries. She also created many large and small sculptures for public places. Many people thought she was the best at making busts (sculptures of a person's head and shoulders) in Mexico during her time. Besides famous people, she often sculpted themes like mothers, families, and children. You can find her works in places like the Museo de Arte Moderno and the Hospital Siglo XXI in Mexico City. Her sculpture La familia (The Family) is a famous symbol for Mexico's Instituto Mexicano de Seguro Social, and Viento (Wind) is a symbol for the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo in Morelia.
About Her Life
Tosia Malamud was born on March 17, 1923, in Vinnytsia, Ukraine. Her family, including her parents Isaac Malamud and Liza Bakal, left Ukraine in 1927 when she was four. They were escaping the Soviet government. They arrived in Mexico that same year. Her father started the first newspaper and print shop there in Yiddish, a Jewish language.
Tosia went to primary and middle school in Mexico. She showed a strong interest and talent in art from a young age. In middle school, she worked with ceramics and surprised her teacher with how well she could sculpt human figures.
In 1940, Tosia entered the Escuela Nacional de Arte Plasticas. This was against her parents' wishes. At that time, it was not seen as proper for a young woman to study art professionally. She learned from famous painters like Francisco Goitia and sculptors like Luis Ortiz Monasterio. Ortiz Monasterio gave his students a lot of freedom to create what they wanted. Tosia finished the five-year program in just three years. She became one of the first female graduates from the school, along with artists like Helen Escobedo and Ángela Gurría.
In 1944, she married Samuel Rubinstein. They had two children, Ethel and Mauricio. When her children were young, she mostly paused her art. She only worked sometimes in a hallway where there was good light. She didn't have her own art studio until 1952. She shared it with another artist, which helped her separate her work from her family life. Her art career truly began in 1954.
In 1967, she divorced her first husband. In 1979, she married writer and journalist Sergio Nudelstejer. They supported each other's work, going to events together. They even shared a workspace, which was half sculpture studio and half office.
Tosia Malamud passed away on July 16, 2008, in Mexico City.
Her Art Career
Even though Tosia graduated from art school in 1943, her career really took off in 1954. That year, she had two important art shows. One was with the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana, and the other was at the Havre Gallery. These shows made art critics notice her work. Her sculptures were different from others in Mexico because they focused on showing movement.
Her career continued until she died. During this time, she had over forty solo art shows in Mexico, the United States, Canada, Spain, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, and Israel. She also took part in many group shows. Some of her early big exhibitions included one at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in 1959. She also had a sculpture exhibition at the Olympic Village for the 1968 Summer Olympics. During that event, one of her pieces, La maternidad (Maternity), was stolen but later found. Today, you can see it at the Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City.
Her last major exhibition happened from November 2007 to March 2008. It was at the Instituto Mexicano de Seguro Social building in Mexico City. This show looked back at her life's work and was held with the release of her autobiography. Sadly, Tosia couldn't attend because of her health.
You can find Tosia Malamud's art in both private and public collections in Mexico and other countries. The Mexican government sometimes supported her work. She created thirty-eight large sculptures made of bronze and stone. These are on permanent display in public places and buildings in Mexico. Another fourteen of her large works are in other countries.
She made busts of many famous people. These include writer I. L. Peretz and several of Albert Einstein. You can find Einstein's busts in Parque México and at Tel Aviv University. She also sculpted Rosario Catellanos at UNAM and Franz Kafka at the National Library of Mexico. Other busts include those of Mexican heroes like Miguel Hidalgo, José María Morelos, Benito Juárez, and Venustiano Carranza. These are located at the Mexico Building of Tel Aviv University.
Other types of her sculptures include La maternidad at the Museo de Arte Moderno. La familia is in front of the Hospital Siglo XXI in Mexico City. Pareja Amorosa (Loving Couple) is in the city of Monterrey. La madre, primera maestro (The Mother, First Teacher) is at the Centro Deportivo Israelita. Penélope is located on Paseo de la Reforma. Some of her works have become famous symbols, like La familia at the Hospital Siglo XXI and Viento (Wind), which is now the symbol of the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo in Morelia.
In 2008, her biography called Tosia Malamud-La material tras la forma was published by CONACULTA. In 2009, the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana held a special event to honor her after her death.
Her Artistic Style
When Tosia Malamud was in art school and right after, her teachers influenced her work. Her professors, especially Fernando Ortiz Monasterio and Ignacio Asúnsolo, taught her both traditional and modern ideas. After she graduated, she wasn't interested in the Mexican muralism movement. This style was very popular and focused on Mexican nationalism at the time. Instead, Tosia preferred a more international way of looking at art.
Her art was different from much of the art in Mexico for several reasons. First, men mostly created Mexican art, especially large sculptures. Also, sculpture was generally less valued than painting, especially mural painting, at that time. During her career, she focused on sculpture, mainly working with bronze and marble. But she also tried other materials like acrylics, stone, and ceramics. She made sculptures in small, medium, and very large sizes.
She mainly created two kinds of sculptures. Many people thought she was the best bust sculptor in Mexico during her time. These busts often showed a classic style. Her other works mostly focused on themes like mothers, children, female bodies, bodies in motion, and poses that showed deep thought. She said shortly before she died that her main theme was always love in its different forms. She believed love was the basis of life.
These non-bust works are described as abstract figurativism. She made them from bronze, stone, and wood. However, they also show influences from neo figurativism, impressionism, cubism, fantasy art, and semi-abstract art. Even though she wasn't part of the Mexican muralism movement, Mexican culture also influenced her art, especially its ancient pre-Hispanic elements.
See also
In Spanish: Tosia Malamud para niños
