Ángela Gurría

Ángela Gurría Davó (24 March 1929 – 17 February 2023) was a Mexican sculptor. In 1974, she became the first female member of the Academia de Artes. She is best known for her monumental sculptures such as Señal, an eighteen-meter tall work created for the 1968 Summer Olympics. She lived and worked in Mexico City. Her father, José María Gurría was very strict, not even allowing his wife to leave the house in Coyoacán without him. He had one boy and four girls with his wife, a situation he wanted to change with more boys. However, Angela was the last of their children. As a child, she was attracted to the work done by stonemasons near her family home and she wanted to become a visual artist. However, in 1940s Mexico it was nearly impossible for a woman to become a professional sculptor. She began by teaching herself.

Career Gurría was one of Mexico's most prolific sculptors. She began her career in the 1960s, achieving success and recognition when she dedicated herself to monumental public works in various parts of Mexico.

In 1975 she joined the Gucadigose Group to create a monumental work in Tabasco, working with Mathias Goeritz, Juan Luis Díaz, Sebastián, and Geles Cabrera. and in 1974 became the first woman to be accepted to the Academia de Artes.

Artistry

Although she came to prominence in the latter part of the 20th century, Gurría was not a member of the Generación de la Ruptura, which rebelled against the artistic precepts of its predecessor, Mexican muralism. The main reason for this was that she spent much of the 1960s working on monumental sculptures with more traditional designs. However, she did become one of the pioneers of abstract sculpture in Mexico.

Gurría's early works were figurative, mystical, and even religious in nature. Over time, her work evolved to become more abstract. However she never completely left figurative art as natural forms such as the human figure, animals, plants, and landscapes continued to be the starting points for her forms. She is quoted as having said ..."I define sculpture as an idea that uses form as a point of departure for its own development and space as the element within which the geometry of that idea is expressed." Concepts present in her work include time, mythology, life/death, Mexican folk art and references to Pre-Columbian cosmology can be found in her work. She also worked to make her pieces fit harmoniously with the backdrops they were destined for, be it architectural or natural scenery.

Her creations are made from a wide variety of materials including bronze, steel, marble, sandstone, ceramics, iron, volcanic stone, and obsidian. She is best known for her large and monumental pieces which have reached heights of between thirty and 100 meters, with HER smaller pieces generally being between thirteen and fifteen meters. However, she created works as small as thirty centimeters high.

Her later works are not been signed, because, Gurría said that she is her work.