Ángela Gurría Davó is a Mexican sculptor. In 1974, she became the first female member of the Academia de Artes. She is best known for her monumental sculptures such as Señal, an eighteen-meter tall work created for the 1968 Summer Olympics.
Gurría was born in Mexico City to a very traditional family. Her father was very strict, not even allowing his wife to leave the house in Coyoacán without him. He had one boy and four girls with his wife, a situation he wanted to change with more boys. However, Angela was the last of their children.
As a child, she was attracted to the work done by stonemasons near her home and she wanted to become an artist. However, in 1940s Mexico it was nearly impossible for a woman to become a professional sculptor. She began by teaching herself.
As a young woman, she entered the School of Philosophy and Literature at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México as she had thoughts of becoming a writer. However, she decided to return to art after taking a class in modern art given by Justino Fernández.
Despite prejudices against women at the time, she began her art career. In the early 1960s, she traveled to Europe to study and do research in art, spending time in England, Italy, and France. Later she spent time in Greece and New York.
In 1952, she began to work as an apprentice to sculptor Germán Cueto at Mexico City College, learning from him for six years. Later she worked under Mario Zamora at the foundry of Abraham González and at the workshop of Montiel Blancas. However, it was still difficult for women to be taken seriously as sculptors, so she signed her works with male pseudonyms, Alberto Urría or Angel Urría. This included her bid for her first monumental piece, called La Familia Obrera, which was done in 1965. When the organizers of the bid found out she was a woman, they were surprised and disgusted, as at the time it will still unthinkable for a woman to do such pieces.
Her other professional activities include teaching sculpture at the Universidad Iberoamericana and the Universidad de las Américas in Mexico City. In 1969, she worked in industrial design, focusing on carpets with the backing of the Banco de México, since she was interested in creating sources of work for the country’s weavers.
Although she came to prominence in the latter 20th century, Gurría is not a member of the Generación de la Ruptura, which rebelled against the artistic precepts of its predecessor, Mexican muralism. The main reason for this was that she spent much of the 1960s working on monumental sculptures with more traditional designs. However, she did become one of the pioneers of abstract sculpture in Mexico.
Her later works have not been signed because Gurría says that she is her work.
© 2020. All content on this blog is protected by international copyright laws All images are copyrighted © by Ángela Gurría Davó or assignee. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only
Gurría was born in Mexico City to a very traditional family. Her father was very strict, not even allowing his wife to leave the house in Coyoacán without him. He had one boy and four girls with his wife, a situation he wanted to change with more boys. However, Angela was the last of their children.
As a child, she was attracted to the work done by stonemasons near her home and she wanted to become an artist. However, in 1940s Mexico it was nearly impossible for a woman to become a professional sculptor. She began by teaching herself.
As a young woman, she entered the School of Philosophy and Literature at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México as she had thoughts of becoming a writer. However, she decided to return to art after taking a class in modern art given by Justino Fernández.
Despite prejudices against women at the time, she began her art career. In the early 1960s, she traveled to Europe to study and do research in art, spending time in England, Italy, and France. Later she spent time in Greece and New York.
In 1952, she began to work as an apprentice to sculptor Germán Cueto at Mexico City College, learning from him for six years. Later she worked under Mario Zamora at the foundry of Abraham González and at the workshop of Montiel Blancas. However, it was still difficult for women to be taken seriously as sculptors, so she signed her works with male pseudonyms, Alberto Urría or Angel Urría. This included her bid for her first monumental piece, called La Familia Obrera, which was done in 1965. When the organizers of the bid found out she was a woman, they were surprised and disgusted, as at the time it will still unthinkable for a woman to do such pieces.
Her other professional activities include teaching sculpture at the Universidad Iberoamericana and the Universidad de las Américas in Mexico City. In 1969, she worked in industrial design, focusing on carpets with the backing of the Banco de México, since she was interested in creating sources of work for the country’s weavers.
Although she came to prominence in the latter 20th century, Gurría is not a member of the Generación de la Ruptura, which rebelled against the artistic precepts of its predecessor, Mexican muralism. The main reason for this was that she spent much of the 1960s working on monumental sculptures with more traditional designs. However, she did become one of the pioneers of abstract sculpture in Mexico.
Her later works have not been signed because Gurría says that she is her work.
© 2020. All content on this blog is protected by international copyright laws All images are copyrighted © by Ángela Gurría Davó or assignee. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only
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| Ms. Ángela Gurría Davó |
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| 1965, Módulo de vuelo |
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| 1966, Celosía de mariposas |
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| 1970, Estrella roja |
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| 1973, Tzompantli |
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| 1976, Libertad de expresión |
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| 1980, Círculo de mariposas |
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| 1982, Caracol IV |
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| 1983, Caracol III |
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| 1983, Caracol II |
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| 1992, Eclipse |
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| 1993, Calavera |
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| 1993, El vuelo de la mariposa |
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| 1993, Flor de cactus |
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| 1993, Jarrón con flores |
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| 1993, Mural de mariposas |
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| 1995, Tortuga |
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| 1997, Muerte en Chiapas |
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| 2000-01, Dialectica Mariposa Rosa |
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| 2001-02, Mariposa Roja |
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| 2011, Positive and negative diptych skull |
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| 2012, Ofrenda al inframundo |
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| 2012, Sirena de frente |
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| 2013, La primera mujer |
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| 2016, Paloma |
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| 2018, Caracol |
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| 2019, Aries |
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| 2019, Carmen |
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| Maqueta para Supernova |
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| Montaña |
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| Palomas |
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| Pareja |
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| Signos |
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| Signos |
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| Unknown title |
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