Marina Núñez del Prado
Encyclopedia
Marina Núñez del Prado was a celebrated Bolivia
n sculptor.
Marina Núñez del Prado was one of the most respected sculptors from Latin America. Her work is highly sensuous, with rolling curves. She carved from native Bolivian woods, as well as black granite, alabaster, basalt and white onyx. Perhaps one of her most famous works is "White Venus" (1960), a stylized female body in white onyx. Another celebrated work is "Mother and Child," sculpted in white onyx. Indigenous Bolivian cultures inspired much of her work.
, Bolivia on 17.October.1912.Casa Museo Marina Nuñez del Prado. (retrieved 11 Sept 2009) From early on, Marina studied the plastic arts. She admired the work of Michelangelo
and that encouraged her to pursue a career as a sculptor. She studied at the Fine Arts Academy in La Paz (Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes) where she graduated in 1930. Between 1931 and 1938, she taught sculpture and artistic anatomy at the Academy. During that period, she won the post of chair of sculpture and artistic anatomy at the Academy, becoming the first woman to be appointed to that position.
, Argentina
, Uruguay
, the United States
, Europe, and Egypt
. From 1940 to 1948, she worked and organized exhibitions of her work in the United States while on a scholarship. In 1946 "Miners in Revolt," inspired by the miners in Bolivia's Potosí Department
, won a gold medal in a New York exhibition. In 1948 she returned to Bolivia, finally settling down in La Paz in 1958. By 1972 she moved to Peru where she lived with her husband, a Peruvian writer.
Along her successful career she met outstanding artists such as Pablo Picasso
, Constantin Brâncuşi
, poets Gabriela Mistral
, Alfonsina Storni
and Juana de Ibarbourou
. She was also a friend of the Bolivian writer Franz Tamayo
.
.
Marina Núñez del Prado died in 9.September.1995. She left not only a great collection of works but also the example of perseverance and dedicated work that made her one of the most acclaimed sculptors of Latin America.
For additional information on Marina Núñez del Prado and to see samples of her work, please visit the Casa Museo Nuñez del Prado.
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
n sculptor.
Marina Núñez del Prado was one of the most respected sculptors from Latin America. Her work is highly sensuous, with rolling curves. She carved from native Bolivian woods, as well as black granite, alabaster, basalt and white onyx. Perhaps one of her most famous works is "White Venus" (1960), a stylized female body in white onyx. Another celebrated work is "Mother and Child," sculpted in white onyx. Indigenous Bolivian cultures inspired much of her work.
Background and academic career
Marina Núñez del Prado was born in La PazLa Paz
Nuestra Señora de La Paz is the administrative capital of Bolivia, as well as the departmental capital of the La Paz Department, and the second largest city in the country after Santa Cruz de la Sierra...
, Bolivia on 17.October.1912.
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art...
and that encouraged her to pursue a career as a sculptor. She studied at the Fine Arts Academy in La Paz (Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes) where she graduated in 1930. Between 1931 and 1938, she taught sculpture and artistic anatomy at the Academy. During that period, she won the post of chair of sculpture and artistic anatomy at the Academy, becoming the first woman to be appointed to that position.
Art career
In 1938 she left her post and traveled through Bolivia, PeruPeru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Europe, and Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. From 1940 to 1948, she worked and organized exhibitions of her work in the United States while on a scholarship. In 1946 "Miners in Revolt," inspired by the miners in Bolivia's Potosí Department
Potosí Department
Potosí Department is a department in southwestern Bolivia. It comprises 118,218 km² with 709,013 inhabitants . The capital is the city of Potosí....
, won a gold medal in a New York exhibition. In 1948 she returned to Bolivia, finally settling down in La Paz in 1958. By 1972 she moved to Peru where she lived with her husband, a Peruvian writer.
Along her successful career she met outstanding artists such as Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
, Constantin Brâncuşi
Constantin Brancusi
Constantin Brâncuşi was a Romanian-born sculptor who made his career in France. As a child he displayed an aptitude for carving wooden farm tools. Formal studies took him first to Bucharest, then to Munich, then to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris...
, poets Gabriela Mistral
Gabriela Mistral
Gabriela Mistral was the pseudonym of Lucila de María del Perpetuo Socorro Godoy Alcayaga, a Chilean poet, educator, diplomat, and feminist who was the first Latin American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1945...
, Alfonsina Storni
Alfonsina Storni
Alfonsina Storni was one of the most important Latin-American poets of the modernist period.-Life:Storni was born in Sala Capriasca, Switzerland to an Argentine beer industrialist living in Switzerland for a few years. There, Storni learned to speak Italian...
and Juana de Ibarbourou
Juana de Ibarbourou
Juana Fernández Morales Vd.ª De Ibarbourou, also known as Juana de América, was a Uruguayan poet of Galician origin. She was one of the most popular poets of Spanish America...
. She was also a friend of the Bolivian writer Franz Tamayo
Franz Tamayo
Franz Tamayo Solares was a Bolivian intellectual, writer, and politician. The Franz Tamayo Province is named after him. He was renowned for his oratory. A prominent Bolivian poet and philosopher, he wrote a number of educational treatises and also practiced law, journalism, and diplomacy...
.
Legacy and death
In 1984 the house-museum of the Núñez del Prado Foundation was officially inaugurated in La Paz in honor of Marina Núñez del Prado's parents. SOme of her works are also located in Museo de Arte Antonio Paredes CandiaMuseo de Arte Antonio Paredes Candia
The Museo de Arte Antonio Paredes Candia is an art museum in El Alto, Bolivia.Inaugurated in 2002, as of 2011 the museum contains 503 works of art and 11,931 books. It includes works by Pérez Alcalá, Darío Antezana, Gil Imana, Alfredo Laplaca, Marina Núñez del Prado, Víctor Zapana, Gonzalo...
.
Marina Núñez del Prado died in 9.September.1995. She left not only a great collection of works but also the example of perseverance and dedicated work that made her one of the most acclaimed sculptors of Latin America.
For additional information on Marina Núñez del Prado and to see samples of her work, please visit the Casa Museo Nuñez del Prado.
External links
- Marina Núñez del Prado biography, Casa Museo Marina Nuñez del Prado, English-language version
- Marina Núñez del Prado, Hall of Fame, Bolivia Web