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The Reina Sofía Museum is hosting  the first European retrospective devoted to the artist from Guatemala, Margarita Azurdia,  from 24 November to 17 April on the 3rd Floor of the Sabatini Building.

Curated by Rossina Cazali, the exhibition includes a selection of paintings, sculptures and non-objectual art, as well as artist’s books with drawings, collages and poems that sum up her long and prolific career.  The exhibition opens an in-depth view of the modern and contemporary art scene in Guatemala and Azurdia’s creative metamorphosis from the 1960s to her last compositions, which is reflected in the numerous name changes with which she signed her works.

Born in Antigua Guatemala (Guatemala) in 1931, Margarita Azurdia, also known as Margot Fanjul, Margarita Rita Rica Dinamita and Anastasia Margarita, was a sculptor, painter, poet and performer who studied at academies in Canada and the United States.  On returning to Guatemala, her anti-system and feminist ideals clashed with the conservative society at that time.  She was also opposed publicly to neo-figurativism, an art movement promoted by the Vértebra Group.

She was initially influenced by geometric forms inspired by Indigenous textile designs from Guatemala, which she mainly applied to painting.  Later, she moved to Paris (France), where she developed her drawing techniques and poetry, publishing two books: Margarita Rita Rica Dinamita and El encuentro de una soledad. In 1982, she returned to Guatemala and started a campaign for the defence of animal rights and se set up the Creativity Laboratory, which organised classes, workshops and performances in public spaces, theatres, art galleries and museums.

Margarita Azurdia died in 1998 in Guatemala City (Guatemala) and today, her house is the Margarita Azurdia Museum, founded in 1999,​ where many of her paintings, sculptures and photographs are on display.

Image Credit:

• Margarita Azurdia, Women Transporting Yellow Bananas, 1971-1974.  Courtesy of Milagro de Amor, legacy of the artist