Author Description

"Accompanying the first major museum retrospective exhibition of Gego's work in the U.S. in more than 15 years, this definitive illustrated catalog charts the evolution of the German-Venezuelan artist's singular approach to abstraction through organic forms, linear structures, and systematic spatial investigations. Featuring over 300 images, including more than 160 sculptures, drawings, prints, artist's books, textiles, and installations made between the early 1950s and the early 1990s, this volume also presents 11 illustrated essays by experts in the field of modern and contemporary Latin American art. The texts trace Gego's artistic development across various mediums and disciplines, including her significant contributions to architecture and design; situate her practice in relation to art movements that materialized in Latin America, Europe, and the U.S. during her lifetime; and consider the pedagogical influence she exerted through her two-decade teaching career in Caracas. An illustrated chronology traces Gego's life, artistic development, and exhibition history--all contextualized within the rich cultural milieus in which she lived and worked. Also featured are images of Gego's Reticulâarea, an environmental installation widely considered to be her magnum opus, and a series of photographs taken by the artist's partner at their shared home and studio in Caracas. Despite her unique contributions, Gego remains lesser known in the U.S. today; this essential publication advances a more expansive understanding and appreciation of her oeuvre within the context of 20th-century modernism. Gego came into her own as a multidisciplinary practitioner in the midst of Venezuela's rapid development into a modern state. Born in Hamburg in 1912, she trained as an architect and engineer in Germany before fleeing Nazi persecution in 1939, when she immigrated to Venezuela. There Gego worked as an architect and a designer before embarking on an artistic career that she pursued over