González, Beatriz (1938–)

Beatriz González (b. 1938), Colombian artist, historian, and critic. González studied fine arts at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá (1959–1962) and printmaking at the Academia van Beeldende Kunsten in Rotterdam (1966). Her first individual exhibition was held at the Museo de Arte Moderno in Bogotá in 1964. González employs both popular imagery and well-known artworks as departure points, taking images from such European masterpieces as Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa and Jan Vermeer's The Lacemaker and placing them within the context of Colombian daily life. She is also known for her satirical portraits of prominent Colombian figures. Her works of the 1960s and 1970s are generally characterized by strong colors and a sense of irony, thus bearing a relationship to pop art. González later explored social themes: questions of identity, the history of her culture, and the impact of these issues on the lives of contemporary Colombians. González was included in the Bienal de São Paulo (1971) and the Biennale di Venezia (1978). Retrospectives were held at the Museo de Arte Moderno La Tertulia in Cali (1976 and 1995), the Museo de Arte Moderno in Bogotá (1984), and the Museo de Bellas Artes in Caracas (1994). The retrospective 30 años en la obra gráfica de Beatriz González was held at the Banco de República, Colombia, in 1996. In addition to painting, González has also written historical works on Colombian art, including El arte colombiano en el siglo XX: Colección Bancafé (2004).

See alsoArt: The Twentieth Century .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Additional Bibliography

Botero, Fernando, et al. Botero in the Museo Nacional de Colombia: New Donation, 2004. Bogotá: Villegas Editores, Museo Nacional de Colombia, 2004.

Cobo Borda, J. G. La mirada cómplice: 8 artistas colombianos. Cali, Colombia: Ediciones Universidad del Valle, 1994.

                                 Judith Gluck Steinberg