Hena Rodríguez
Hena Rodríguez | |
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Born | Hena Rodríguez Parra 20 May 1915 |
Died | 17 April 1997 Bogotá, Colombia | (aged 81)
Nationality | Colombian |
Occupation | artist, sculptor |
Years active | 1930-1968 |
Known for | founding dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Los Andes |
Hena Rodríguez (20 May 1915 – 17 April 1997)[1] was one of the first Colombian women to become a sculptor. She taught at the National University of Colombia and University of Los Andes, before becoming the founding dean of the Faculty of Arts at the latter institution. Her sculpture Cabeza de Negra is in the collection of the Colombian National Museum and the painting Espalda is part of the Art Collection of the Bank of the Republic.
Early life and education[]
Hena Rodríguez Parra was born on 20 May 1915 in Bogotá, Colombia.[2] She became interested in art at a very young age, as her family lived across the street from the Spanish sculptor . Barba Guichard began teaching her.[3]
Between 1930 and 1935, Rodríguez studied at the School of Fine Arts of Bogotá (Spanish: Escuela de Bellas Artes de Bogotá) with Barba Guichard, Francisco Antonio Cano, Coriolano Leudo, Eugenio Peña, and Roberto Pizano. While in school, in 1930, she joined Dario Achury Valenzuela, Rafael Azula Barrera, Tulio González, Darío Samper and Juan P. Varela in founding the Bachué Movement, an avant-garde art of the Americas, with indigenous roots and influences.[2][4] She was the only woman in the group,[4] that created the first modernist art movement in the country.[5]
In the 1930s, Rodríguez collaborated with other artists on the façade of the Cathedral of Bogotá.[6] In 1935, she enrolled at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid. Earning a government scholarship in 1936, she participated in the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne; in 1937, winning a gold medal for her exhibit in the Uruguayan Pavilion and an honorable mention at the Salon d'Automne that same year.[2][7]
Career[]
Returning to Colombia in 1938, she began working as an art teacher at the School of Fine Arts of the National University of Colombia.[5] She completed a bust of , which was installed on Calle 26. The following year, her bust of was installed at Titiribí. In 1940 she exhibited three pieces in the First Annual Salon of Colombian Artists and in 1942 received an honorable mention in New York City at the Macy's Latin American Fair.[2]
In 1944 Rodríguez joined the faculty as a professor at the School of Fine Arts at the University of Los Andes. That same year, she held a solo exhibition at Bogotá's Hotel Granada. In 1945, she won the bronze medal for her wood carving Cabeza de Negra (Black woman's head) at the 4th Salon of Colombian Artists.[2] The sculpture, owned by the Colombian National Museum, depicts a strong, proud negress, with sensual, fleshy lips.[5] She founded the Museum of Impressions and Reproductions (Spanish: Museo de Impresiones y Reproducciones) in the Teatro de Cristóbal Colón that same year. The museum featured portraits and sculptures of great artists and her own works housed here included Manos de Nicanor Zabaleta (Hands of Nicanor Zabaleta), Manos de (niño) Roberto Benzi (Hands of the child Roberto Benzi, and Manos de Andrés Segovia (Hands of Andrés Segovia), among others.[2]
In 1954, she was one of the founders of the Women's University and became the director of the art section. The director of the University itself was the pianist .[8] The idea of the Arts Workshops were to give upper-class women instruction in the fine arts to free them from the strict social customs which required that must be chaperoned, were barred from university, and incapable of intellectual conversation. The courses, first held in the laundry of a former women's prison and a women's mental asylum, followed a curricula of three years of fine arts academic work with an additional two years of independent study and practical application.[4] Rodríguez was the first dean of the Faculty of Arts when the program was incorporated into the University of Los Andes.[6] In 1968, Rodríguez was forced to retire and was awarded the university's highest honor, the Chivo de Oro.[4]
Rodríguez primarily worked as a sculptor, in wood, marble and stone;[6] She also painted: Espalda (Back, 1945) that forms part of the Art Collection of the Bank of the Republic. The painting features the back of a female nude figure, which utilizes a dramatic lighting effect to highlight the contours of her shape and pull it into the foreground. The pale pinks, reds and greens used in the oil painting, red drape and short hair, emphasize the appreciation of the female .[9] Her female sculptures, moved away from the Art Nouveau portrayals of femininity and motherhood and tried to capture the essence of women's power .[5]
After her forced retirement, Rodríguez and her work were long forgotten. Acquisitions by the Bank of the Republic begin until the 1980s. The National Museum lagged far behind other museums.[5]
In 1982, she was among the group which accompanied Gabriel García Márquez to Stockholm to accept the Nobel Prize for literature.[6]
Personal life[]
Rodríguez lived openly as a lesbian.[1][10] She was a friend of many artists and ceramicists, such as Elvira Martínez, Elisa Mujica and .[5][11]
Death and legacy[]
Rodríguez died 17 April 1997 in Bogotá[1] and was interred in the Central Cemetery of Bogotá.[6] Rodríguez's significance and that of the Bachué Movement has been re-evaluated and is recognized as a significant contribution to the development of modern art in Colombia.[12]
References[]
- ^ a b c "Hena Rodríguez Parra". Banrepcultural. Banco de la República, Colombia. 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f Ortega Ricaurte 1965.
- ^ Valencia de Castaño 1954, p. 2.
- ^ a b c d Ospina 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f Badawi 2014.
- ^ a b c d e El Tiempo 1997.
- ^ Valencia de Castaño 1954, p. 4.
- ^ Valencia de Castaño 1954, p. 6.
- ^ Banco de la República 2013.
- ^ Restrepo, Carlos (16 December 2013). "La artista plástica que obsesionó a la Bogotá de 1930" [The plastic artist that obsessed Bogotá in 1930]. El Tiempo (in Spanish).
- ^ Valencia de Castaño 1954, pp. 2–3.
- ^ Salamanca 2016.
Parenthetical sources[]
- Badawi, Halim (20 June 2014). "Una mujer llamada Hena Rodríguéz" [A Woman named Hena Rodríguéz]. Revista Arcadia (in Spanish). Bogotá, Colombia: Publicaciones Semana SA. ISSN 1900-589X. Archived from the original on 30 March 2016. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
- Ortega Ricaurte, Carmen (1965). "Hena Rodríguez Parra". Diccionario de Artistas en Colombia. Bogotá, Colombia: Editorial Tercer Mundo. Archived from the original on 7 December 2014.
- Ospina, Lucas (16 November 2015). "Pedro Manrique Figueroa: the last art student of Universidad de los Andes (a college)". Terremoto (in Spanish and English). Cuauhtemoc, Mexico City, Mexico: Temblores Publicaciones SA de CV (4). Retrieved 22 June 2017.
- Salamanca, Daniel (28 February 2016). "El Proyecto Bachué: los modernistas relegados" [The Bachué Project: Relegated Modernists]. Revista Arcadia (in Spanish). Bogotá, Colombia: Publicaciones Semana SA. ISSN 1900-589X. Archived from the original on 11 June 2017. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
- Valencia de Castaño, Gloria (1954). "Trascripción de la Entrevista de la Hjck a la Escultora Hena Rodríguez" [Transcript of the Hjck Interview with the sculptor Hena Rodríguez]. Cosas de Mujeres (Women's Things) (in Spanish). Bogotá, Colombia. H.J.C.K. F.M. Estérero. Archived from the original on 27 October 2015. Retrieved 22 June 2017 – via International Center for the Arts of the Americas at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
- "Desnudo femenino: Hena Rodríguez" [Female Nude: Hena Rodríguez]. Banrepcultural (in Spanish). Bogotá, Colombia: Banco de la República, Colombia. 2013. AP3877. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
- "Murió la Escultora Hena Rodríguez" [Death of Sculptor Hena Rodríguez] (in Spanish). Bogotá, Colombia: El Tiempo. 18 April 1997. Archived from the original on 22 June 2017. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
- 1915 births
- 1997 deaths
- 20th-century Colombian women artists
- Colombian educators
- Colombian women sculptors
- Lesbian artists
- LGBT people from Colombia
- National University of Colombia faculty
- University of Los Andes (Colombia) faculty
- 20th-century women educators
- 20th-century LGBT people