Luchita Hurtado | Mother of the Art World

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Great art moves and captivates. It enhances the viewer and it takes them on a quick journey inside the walls of their mind. For more than 7 decades the magical and illustrious Luchita Hurtado has captured and entranced audiences around the globe with her art. However, it wasn’t until this, her 98th year, that the artist’s many years of work emerged definitively into the limelight with an upcoming museum retrospective.

A recent New York Times feature on this inspiring artist

Luchita Hurtado has a soulful life and career – and is an inspiration as an artist, woman and mother. From her days of creating fashion illustrations for Vogue to her own art that captures the spiritual surrealism of the world around us, Hurtado has created through all phases of her life.

With passion and vibrancy, her works are a beautiful story of the interconnectedness of all beings. It is as if the contemporary style of today is combined with the crispness and whole-hearted nature of past artistry. Hurtado has clearly been a freethinker and ingenious pioneer for womanhood long. Often, Hurtado was creating and jumping on trends before they came to be just that – trends.

Luchita Hurtado, Untitled, 1975, Oil on canvas, 50.8 x 40.6 cm, Courtesy of artist, Photo Credit: Jeff McLane

Long before the environmental and feminism wave of the ‘70s, Hurtado was incorporating the strength of femininity in her art. Often, highlighting the womb, alongside the strength Mother Nature with beautifully rich colors and detailing.

Luchita Hurtado, Encounter, 1971, Oil on canvas, 127 x 243.2 cm, Courtesy of artist, Photo Credit: Jeff McLane

Just hearing all the stories that have made up Hurtado’s intense life, it is hard not to think of her as the “mother” of the art world. She is generous – notably giving away her artwork. Her story of an artist’s life, textured with the challenges of motherhood, lost loves, and great friendships, collaborations and creativity – transcends the usual trajectory of an art school to art world darling.

This is a factor I believe adds to the authenticity of Hurtado’s work. Long before she knew the beauty she possessed, she simply wanted to create. Create beautiful works for any and everyone, so long as she was making.

So, whether it is for her beauty on the page or the inspirational told beyond, Hurtado is a woman to behold.