Raquel Forner (1902–1988) was an Argentine painter known for her

expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

works.

Life

Forner was born in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

in 1902. Her father was

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

by nationality and her mother was an Argentine of Spanish descent. As a result of frequent family travel to Europe, Forner spent part of her childhood in Spain, and later developed an artistic interest in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...

. Forner completed studies at the National Academy of Fine Arts (today part of the National University Art Institute) in Buenos Aires in 1923. A year before graduation she received an appointment to teach drawing at the same academy. In 1924 she received a third place award from the Argentine National Salon of Fine arts, and in 1928 she had her first solo exhibition in Buenos Aires. Afterward she relocated to Paris and studied with

Othon Friesz Achille-Émile Othon Friesz (6 February 1879 – 10 January 1949), who later called himself Othon Friesz, a native of Le Havre, was a French artist of the Fauvist movement. Biography Othon Friesz was born in Le Havre, the son of a long line of ...

. In 1936 she married the Argentine sculptor

Alfredo Bigatti Alfredo Bigatti (1898–1964) was an Argentine sculptor, medalist, and visual artist. Born in Buenos Aires, Bigatti studied and then taught at the Academy of Fine Arts, and then toured numerous countries in Europe from 1924 through 1928, includin ...

Artistic themes

Forner's work demonstrated an interest in current events, and from the beginning of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 this took a dramatic and tragic tone. She borrowed ideas from surrealism during the 1940s, adapting its esthetic of distortion without seeking to reproduce a dream state. In 1942 she took first place at the Argentine National Salon competition. During the 1940s through most of the 1950s she produced several series on similar tragic themes in a primarily

mode. Forner often portrayed strong female figures, but not as specific explorations into gender norms. Beginning in 1957, coinciding with the

space race The Space Race was a 20th-century competition between two Cold War rivals, the United States and the Soviet Union, to achieve superior spaceflight capability. It had its origins in the ballistic missile-based nuclear arms race between the t ...

, Forner's attention turned to imagined scenes of interplanetary travel. With her ''Space Series'', which exhibited in Europe and earned recognition, she became one of the earliest fine artists to portray scenes of outer space. This period is characterized by a more vibrant use of color and a personal cosmic mythology of her own creation. Forner's artistic portrayals of space travel continued until the 1970s. The United States National Air and Space Museum,

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

has several examples of her late period work in its collection including ''Return of the Astronaut,'' 1969. Her work was exhibited widely throughout Argentina, and she was given two

Konex Award Konex Foundation Awards, or simply Konex Awards, are cultural awards from the Konex Foundation honouring Argentine cultural personalities. History and purpose Konex Awards are granted by the Konex Foundation, created in 1980 in Argentina. The pur ...

s (the highest in the Argentine cultural realm) in 1982. Forner died in Buenos Aires in 1988. That year, the

Buenos Aires Museum of Modern Art The Buenos Aires Museum of Modern Art known locally as the Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires or MAMBA is a modern art museum located in Buenos Aires, Argentina. History The museum opened on April 11, 1956, and resulted from an initiative b ...

organized a retrospective in her honor. Her work is included in the collection of the

Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec The Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec ( en, National Museum of Fine Arts of Quebec), abbreviated as MNBAQ, is an art museum in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The museum is situated in Battlefield Park and is a complex consisting of four bui ...

, the Art Museum of the Americas, the Museum of Modern Art and others.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forner, Raquel 1902 births 1988 deaths 20th-century Argentine painters 20th-century Argentine women artists Artists from Buenos Aires Argentine people of Catalan descent Argentine women painters Expressionist painters Argentine expatriates in Spain