Antonia Matos

Antonia Matos (21 November 1902 – 22 June 1994) was a Guatemalan painter. Her work was part of the painting event in the art competition at the 1932 Summer Olympics in which she submitted the oil painting "La Carrera de Piraguas". She is most well known for her nude paintings.

She studied painting at the private academy of Justo de Gandarias and Agustin Iriarte between 1916 and 1917, and was among the first registered to the National Academy of Painting, founded in 1920.

Career Antonia would travel to Paris between the years 1927 and 1928, and during her time spent in Paris she experienced the intense cultural difference between that of Guatemala and France. Juxtaposed to the extreme conservatism she knew in her home country, Parisian society instead celebrated a certain level of moral and religious freedom, often expressed in the surrealist and Dadaist art styles of the time.

It would be through this comparative freedom that Antonia Mato's style and vision would fully develop, since it was in France she would develop her signature style and skill in oil painting through nude studies. She was admitted to the School of Fine Arts of Paris as the first Latin American woman and studied under her teacher Lucien Simon. Although her life as a painter was criticized by her parents, her time in France would see her experience an unusual amount of success and allowed her a rich social life amongst peers like Pablo Picasso and Carlos Mérida, the latter of whom would prove to be a great influence on her art.

The exhibition was brief, and with no one in the arts scene of Guatemala defending her, Antonia Matos was ostracized from both the artistic and social world. In the aftermath, Antonia disappeared into her home and painted only for herself. Although her paintings would occasionally travel throughout Europe and the US in mobile exhibitions, it would take fifty years before any of her paintings to be exhibited in Guatemala.

Accomplishments Paintings La Carerra de Piraguas, oil painting on canvas, 1932. Exhibited at the 1932 Olympics. Los Desnudos, series of unnamed oil paintings on canvas. El Mulato, oil painting on cavas, date unknown. Indigenous Paintings, series of unnamed oil paintings. Still Lifes, series of unnamed oil paintings. Paisaje de Los Altos (Landscape of the Highlands), oil painting, 1933. Exhibited at the Zak Gallery. Retratos Familiares, series of unnamed oil paintings regarding Antonia's family.

Awards In 1931 she placed third in Oil Painting. In 1932 she placed first in Oil painting, and gains an honorable mention in the Olympics for her painting "La Carrrera de Piraguas" which was inspired by jungles she'd seen at Covadonga Hacienda in Guatemala. In 1933 she placed second place in Oil Painting and second place in Drawing.

Exhibitions Participated in the collective exhibitions of the Autumn Salon and Salon des Indépendants. Exhibited in the Zak Gallery in 1933. Solo exhibit in Guatemala, National Academy of Fine Arts, June 9 to the 23rd of 1934.