María Izquierdo was the first Mexican woman to exhibit work in the United States. Izquierdo’s Autorretrato (1947) is part of a series of self-portraits she painted in the 1940s. A ruminative María wearing an ochre yellow dress is contrasted with a blue and grey background of sky and clouds. Unlike other exuberant portraits of herself with extravagant jewellery and clothes, in Autorretrato she is only crowned with a braid and matching robe, presenting an austere image that gives great prominence to her face and her possible thoughts on that gloomy day. It is considered that self-portraits might have been a counterresponse to the Muralist movement as a way of showing other narratives beyond the nationalistic displays of state propaganda. In 1947, curator Fernando Gamboa organised the exhibition 45 Autorretratos de Pintores Mexicanos at the Palacio de Bellas Artes, where Izquierdo showed this canvas, affirming a style that captured the complexity of the role of the modern Mexican woman.
This is the first time the work of María Izquierdo is presented at Biennale Arte.
—Eva Posas
