Introduction and interview by Hans Ulrich Obrist. Afterword by Manuela Wirth. Edited by Karen Marta.
An oral autobiography and scrapbook of the amazing life of American painter Luchita Hurtado, from Venezuela to Los Angeles via Surrealism, magical realism and countless key art scenes of the 20th century in between
Over the course of her long and rich life, Venezuelan-born American painter Luchita Hurtado created a stunning body of work that only received the widespread attention it deserves toward the end of her life. In her paintings, Hurtado moved seamlessly between modernism and Surrealism, taking inspiration from South American weavings and her passion for environmentalism.
This handsome volume celebrates Hurtado’s life and work in her own words through a conversation with Hans Ulrich Obrist, along with an abundance of never-before-seen photographs and artworks, such as self-portraits and erotic drawings. Along the way we learn of her early life in New York City, her emergence as a painter, her life with her husbands Daniel de Solar, Wolfgang Paalen and Lee Mullican, and a whole cast of artists from Leonora Carrington and Isamu Noguchi to her son Matt Mullican.
Luchita Hurtado (1920–2020) was a lifelong artist, having studied fine art at the Washington Irving Campus in New York and later working as an illustrator and muralist for multiple commercial outlets. She was ingratiated into the art world from a young age and enjoyed the company of many significant 20th-century artists, painting all the while but achieving little success. Her paintings were “discovered” upon the death of her third husband, painter Lee Mullican. In 2016, her works were displayed publicly for the first time since the 1970s at Park View in Los Angeles. In 2019, she was included in the Time 100 list of influential people.
Featured image is a detail of a spread from ‘Luchita Hurtado.'
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
LA Weekly
Shana Nys Dambrot
Honoring the fascinating life of painter Luchita Hurtado, this is an intimate portrait in her own words and extensive material from her studio’s archive. Hurtado’s story spans from Venezuela to New York, California to New Mexico and follows her friendships with renowned artists and intellectuals – from the Mexican muralists, Marcel Duchamp, and Man Ray.
Numero
Mathieu Jacquet
From her abstract and colorful canvases from the 1950s and 1960s to more recent and engaged ones mixing words with landscapes, through her self-portraits which feature numerous views of her own body, Luchita Hurtado's universe is rich, and pays homage to nature as well as to the place of women in society.
Paris Review
[A] concise summary of her peripatetic art practice (which included self-portraits, botanical drawings, and numinous paintings of the sky), and a beautifully designed object (the pressed flowers on transparent inserts feel, in particular, like a gift to the reader).
Elephant
Emily Gosling
An extensive collection of never-before-seen archival images—including self-portraits, drawings, personal photographs and more—which work together to trace the artist’s life from its beginnings in Venezuela to New York, Mexico, and finally to California and New Mexico.
Financial Times
Baya Simons
This new title – a “pictorial biography” – honours and celebrates Hurtado’s long life, which saw her create work about the female body, the natural world, mysticism and transcendentalism. The book gathers together self-portraits, drawings and photographs and a conversation with Hurtado and Hans Ulrich Obrist.
Los Angeles Review of Books
Yxta Maya Murray
A beautifully produced tome … We must thank Obrist (and editor Marta) for the gift of these interviews, which chronicle the journey of a complex, suffering, and resilient Latinx artist.
New York Times
Maira Garcia
Before she died last year, the Venezuelan-American artist — a contemporary of Noguchi, Duchamp, Kahlo — spoke to the Serpentine Galleries director Hans Ulrich Obrist about her life and work.
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Featured spreads are from Hauser & Wirth's superb new scrapbook-like oral autobiography of Venezuelan-born American painter Luchita Hurtado, who died in 2020 at the age of ninety-nine, having achieved widespread fame only in the very last years of her life. This extraordinary document collects a series of deep conversations between Hurtado and longtime champion Hans Ulrich Obrist, along with an abundance of never-before-seen photographs and artworks, such as self-portraits and erotic drawings. "To have known Luchita Hurtado is to have known a miracle," Obrist writes in his Introduction. "An extraordinary artist with an innate sensitivity to the ever-changing world around her, Luchita—who was also a poet, ecological activist, world traveler, mother and fierce friend—possessed a kind of magic that extended to everything she touched, from her expansive, uncategorizable art work to the pinecones she would collect on walks in her Los Angeles neighborhood. Always responding to the world around her, Luchita mapped a visceral connective tissue between all of us, bridging the gap between self and others, between the future, the present, and the past." continue to blog
FORMAT: Hbk, 6.5 x 9 in. / 288 pgs / 300 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $55.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $77 ISBN: 9783906915609 PUBLISHER: Hauser & Wirth Publishers AVAILABLE: 2/23/2021 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: NA LA ASIA AU/NZ AFR ME
Published by Hauser & Wirth Publishers. Introduction and interview by Hans Ulrich Obrist. Afterword by Manuela Wirth. Edited by Karen Marta.
An oral autobiography and scrapbook of the amazing life of American painter Luchita Hurtado, from Venezuela to Los Angeles via Surrealism, magical realism and countless key art scenes of the 20th century in between
Over the course of her long and rich life, Venezuelan-born American painter Luchita Hurtado created a stunning body of work that only received the widespread attention it deserves toward the end of her life. In her paintings, Hurtado moved seamlessly between modernism and Surrealism, taking inspiration from South American weavings and her passion for environmentalism.
This handsome volume celebrates Hurtado’s life and work in her own words through a conversation with Hans Ulrich Obrist, along with an abundance of never-before-seen photographs and artworks, such as self-portraits and erotic drawings. Along the way we learn of her early life in New York City, her emergence as a painter, her life with her husbands Daniel de Solar, Wolfgang Paalen and Lee Mullican, and a whole cast of artists from Leonora Carrington and Isamu Noguchi to her son Matt Mullican.
Luchita Hurtado (1920–2020) was a lifelong artist, having studied fine art at the Washington Irving Campus in New York and later working as an illustrator and muralist for multiple commercial outlets. She was ingratiated into the art world from a young age and enjoyed the company of many significant 20th-century artists, painting all the while but achieving little success. Her paintings were “discovered” upon the death of her third husband, painter Lee Mullican. In 2016, her works were displayed publicly for the first time since the 1970s at Park View in Los Angeles. In 2019, she was included in the Time 100 list of influential people.
