Elena Izcue was an educator, illustrator, artist, textile designer, and a pioneer in the arts related to modern indigenous and Peruvian decorative arts from the 1920s onwards, attracting great interest in Europe and the United States. European interest in the work of Izcue coincided with the circulation of exhibitions showcasing the work of Latin American artists and that placed the indigenous inhabitant as a problem for artistic representation. Such exhibitions enabled these artists to create distinct visual languages while also questioning the canon, power relations, and the formation of a modern artistic language. Among such artists we also find Laura Rodig, Lola Cueto, Carmen Sacco, Julia Codesido, Tarsila do Amaral, and Izcue herself, who addressed these issues from their triple condition of gender (women), racial and cultural identity (Latin Americans), as well as social subjects (non-citizens). In particular, these artists explored body themes and the cultural construction of an “other” female identity. However, the feminisation of the disciplines carried out by Izcue (design, textile, popular, and decorative arts) marginalised her incorporation into Latin American historiographical accounts. She has only recently been researched, thus compensating for her absence and highlighting her importance in the formation of the visual arts of the region.
This is the first time the work of Elena Izcue is presented at Biennale Arte.
—Gloria Cortés Aliaga
