GOLDEN HOUR
After a lifetime of painting for personal pleasure, Luchita Hurtado is finally stepping into the spotlight
‘My art is a diary of my life,’ says the 98-yearold artist Luchita Hurtado. ‘The work I do now is completely different from anything I’ve done before.’ No wonder the selection of pieces on display in her longoverdue retrospective is so diverse, ranging from geometric abstractions to voluptuous depictions of the female form, sometimes transfigured into strange, undulating landscapes.
While Hurtado has crossed many a border in search of adventure (born in Venezuela, she was brought up in New York, lived in Mexico and is now based in Los Angeles), her nomadic existence has never been a barrier to her artistic vocation. She has painted constantly and prolifically throughout her life, yet for a long time she kept her work to herself. ‘It was just the fact that everybody around me was an artist,’ she recalls, referring to a social circle that included Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray, Leonora Carrington and Frida Kahlo. ‘Nobody had really seen my stuff – painting was simply a daily thing I enjoyed doing.’
It was only when Ryan Good, now Hurtado’s studio director, came across a vast archive of her signed works in 2015 that the true significance of her contribution to modern art came to light. Now rightly fêted for her sensitive interpretation of colour, light and movement, as well as for her ingenious command of perspective, she eschews membership of any artistic school in favour of a bravely independent vision. ‘It’s my voice I’m concerned with, and not what other people are thinking,’ she says. ‘I never could work with anyone else.’ ‘Luchita Hurtado’ is at the Serpentine Galleries (www.serpentinegalleries.org) from 23 May to 8 September.