An Old Fashioned Artist

Last week, I visited the San Carlos Art Museum once again.  The museum is not that large, and its collection is not that impressive.  However, I keep returning because they frequently have interesting special exhibits.  This latest visit was to see an exhibit of paintings by Pilar Calvo.

Pilar Calvo (1913 -1986) was an artist who painted in a realistic style and who distanced herself from the avant-garde trends of the 20th century.  (With my rather old-fashioned tastes in art, that is fine with me.)  As with many women artists, she has been largely ignored in the history of Mexican art.  However, she did have success during her lifetime with solo exhibitions in New York City in 1941 and in Mexico City's Palace of Fine Arts in 1944.  After that she was largely forgotten, and this is the first exhibit of her art since then.  Most of the paintings are from the private collection of her brother Angel Calvo.

Calvo's favorite genre was portraiture.  The exhibition begins with several self portraits.

"Self Portrait with a Blue Dress"

1930

"Self Portrait"

1932

"Outdoor Self Portrait"

1944

More examples of portraiture by Pilar Calvo...

"Portrait of Carmen de la Borbolla Haghenbeck"

1940

"Portrait of Elena Martino"

1947

"The Little Girl Tatiana Blago"

1932

"Boy Dressed as a Sailor"

1942

"Shepherd"

1936

"Old Spaniard"

1930

She also did occasional landscapes...

"Ex-Convent of Actopan"

1927

"Landscape with Burro"

1927

"Landscape of the Volcanoes"

1944

Finally, a couple of floral still life paintings...

"Jar of Marigolds"

1932

"Still Life of Roses"

undated

I found it interesting that none of the paintings are from the last 40 years of her life.  Did she stop painting altogether?  If so, why?  I was not able to find any additional biographical information about her on the internet.  It's something of a mystery.