Leonor Cecotto Explained

Leonor Cecotto
Birth Date:1918, 1920 or 1922
Birth Place:Formosa, Argentina
Death Date:8 May 1982
Death Place:Asunción, Paraguay
Known For:Engraving, painting

Leonor Cecotto (died 8 May 1982, Asunción, Paraguay) was a 20th-century Latin American painter and engraver. Born in Argentina, she resided in Paraguay for the majority of her life, eventually becoming a prominent artist in the latter country. She was known for both her paintings and her xylographs.

Biography

Cecotto was born in Formosa, Argentina, in 1918, 1920 or 1922.[1] Her parents were Vicente González Leiva (Spanish) and Catalina Cecotto (Argentinian). Her father was a piano tuner, and she initially studied piano, and taught piano to earn money.From a young age, Leonor Cecotto resided in Paraguay.[2] [3]

Cecotto was largely self-educated, in part because her father forbade her to attend El Ateneo Paraguayo (the Paraguayan Athenaeum). She was taught drawing and painting privately at home, by a French artist, Francis Eugene Charles.[4] [5] In the 1950s she approached João Rossi, a Brazilian professor at a YMCA-hosted arts workshop. Rossi—known as a driving force for a "modernization" of the contemporary Paraguayan plastic arts—introduced Cecotto to professional art. Cecotto was also influenced by Livio Abramo, a Brazilian-born engraver who also resided in Paraguay and taught woodcut courses.[6]

As a result of her contributions, Cecotto is considered part of the Grupo Arte Nuevo, a school of influential 20th-century Paraguayan artists.[7] [8] [9] Ceocotto was a founder of the Center de Artistas Plasticos del Paraguay, and taught drawing and painting at the Female Institute of Integrated Culture in Asuncion. Her students included Bernardo Krasniansky.

She died in Asuncion in 1982.[10]

Reception

In Paraguay, Cecotto earned several awards, most notably the First Prize for Painting in the Second Salon d'Automne and the first prize in an engraving contest organized by the Centro Cultural Paraguayo Americano in 1966.

In his 1984 book Una interpretación de las artes visuales en el Paraguay, Paraguayan art critic (and future Paraguayan minister of culture) Ticio Escobar noted of the artist;

Cecotto's work can be found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Library of France, the Art Museum of the Americas, in the collection of the University of Sydney, the Centro de Artes Visuales de Asunción, and in private collections.

Exhibitions

Year Exhibition
1951Exhibited her work for the first time in Asunción.
1953Participated in International Exhibitions, most notably of which was the International Exhibition of Painters in Chicago (United States of America)[11]
1960Participated in the First Latin American Competition of Xylography in Buenos Aires.
1963VII São Paulo Biennial Exhibition (Brazil).[12]
1963La Primera Bienal Internacional del Grabado en Santiago de Chile.
1964IV Bienal de grabado en Tokio, Japón.
1965La Exposición de Arte Sudamericano en Braniff Internacional, en la Universidad de Texas (E.E.U.U.).
1965La Segunda Bienal Internacional del Grabado en Santiago de Chile.
1966La Cuarta Muestra Internacional de Bianco e Nero en Lugano (Switzerland).
1967La Exposición de Grabado Latinoamericano en la Galería Cegrí de Nueva York (EE UU).
1967La Exposición de Pintura Paraguaya Contemporánea en la Unión Panamericana en Washington (EE UU).
1968La Primera Bienal Iberoamericana de Pintura organizada por la Fábrica Coltejer de Medellín (Colombia).
1968la Exposición de la Muestra Internacionale della Grafica en la Unión Florentina de Florencia (Italia).
1969X Bienal de São Paulo.[13]
1971XI Bienal de São Paulo.[14]
1971Museo de arte moderno de Nueva York
1972La III Bienal de Arte Latinoamericano organizado por la Fábrica Coltejer de Medellín.
2009Retrospective show, El Centro Cultural Paraguayo Americano y Amigos del Arte.[15]

Notes and References

  1. Book: The Power survey of contemporary art, 1972 . Dixon . 1972 . The Power Institute of Fine Arts. National Gallery of Victoria. Art Gallery of New South Wales. Art Gallery of South Australia . Melbourne . National Gallery of Victoria . 24 .
  2. Web site: Leonor Cecotto. Portal Guarani . 2015.
  3. Encyclopedia: Rivarola . Milda . Escobar . Ticio . Chase . Beatriz . Corcuera . Ruth . Blinder . Olga . Paraguay, Republic of [República del Paraguay] . Grove Art Online . Oxford University Press. 1999. 10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T065292 .
  4. An issue devoted to the contemporary painting in South America . The Texas Quarterly . 1965. University of Texas . 8 . 2 . 65, 186 .
  5. Web site: Leonor Cecotto : SWALLOWS, 1960 - Obra de LEONOR CECOTTO . Portal Guarani. 2015 . 3 March 2019.
  6. Book: Rivarola . Tessa . Consultoría de investigación sobre Panorama de las artes en Paraguay . 2012 . Secretaría Nacional de Cultura Centro de Investigaciones en Filosofía y Ciencias Humanas (CIF) .
  7. Book: Telesca, Ignacio . Historia del Paraguay . Taurus . Asunción . 2010 . 978-99953-907-7-8 . 907950646 .
  8. News: Marisol . F. R. . Década del 50 y las nuevas . 3 March 2019 . Artedivague . 5 May 2016.
  9. Book: Turner . Jane . The Dictionary of Art. 24 . 2003 . Oxford University Press, Incorporated . 98–99.
  10. Book: Plá . Josefina . Blinder . Olga . Escobar . Ticio . Arte actual en el Paraguay, 1900-1995: antecedentes y desarrollo del proceso en las artes plásticas . 1997 . Ediciones IDAP. Paraguay . 37–39.
  11. Web site: Ortellado . Sofia . Leonor Cecotto . Arte&Company . 3 March 2019. May 3, 2017.
  12. Gómez Sicre . José . Contrast in São Paulo . Americas . 1963 . 15 . 12 . 18–22.
  13. Book: X Bienal de São Paulo Catálogo fundacao Bienal de Sao Paulo . 1969 . Bienal de Sao Paulo . Sao Paulo, Brasil . 139–141 . 3 March 2019.
  14. Book: XI Bienal de São Paulo Catálogo fundacao Bienal de Sao Paulo . 1971 . Bienal de Sao Paulo . Sao Paulo, Brasil . 144 . 3 March 2019.
  15. News: ARTE Tributo a Leonor . 3 March 2019 . ABC Color . 26 April 2009.