Édgar Negret

Édgar Negret Dueñas (October 11, 1920 – October 11, 2012 ) was a Colombian abstract sculptor.

Life Negret was born in Popayán, Colombia. He attended the School of Fine Arts in Cali, Colombia, where he started his first studies in the year 1938 with the founder and teacher Jesus Maria Espinosa. Initially working in stone in styles reminiscent of European modernists like Jean Arp and Constantin Brâncuși. By the early 1950s, he began working in metal in constructivist tradition.

In 1955, his art was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art. In 1963, he won the Salón de Artistas Colombianos, and therein became one of the most prominent Colombian sculptors of the 20th century. In 1968, he was awarded the David E. Bright Sculpture Prize, at the Thirty-fourth Venice Biennial. In 1985, the Museum Negret opened. In 2010, he was awarded “Grado de Oficial” by order of the Congress of Colombia. Negret died, on his 92nd birthday, in Bogotá, Colombia.

In 2016, Google Doodle commemorated his 96th birthday.

Recognitions and awards 1963 – XV Salón de Artistas Colombianos 1975 – Guggenheim Fellowship 1997 – Best International Artist at ARCO 1998 – Andrés Bello Order Aparato Mágico (1959), painted aluminium and wood, Art Museum of the Americas, Washington D.C. Acoplamiento (1966), bolted and painted aluminium, Bogotá Museum of Modern Art, Bogotá D.C. Edificio (1967), painted aluminium, Miguel Urrutia Art Museum, Bogotá The Bridge (Homage to Paul Foster) (1968), painted aluminum, Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence Escalera (1972), painted aluminium, La Tertulia Museum, Cali Navegante (1972), painted metal, Museum of Contemporary Art of Bogotá, Bogotá Máscara (1974), painted aluminium and wood construction, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro Sol (1985), painted aluminium, Inter-American Development Bank, Washington D.C. Cascada (1988), painted bronze, Bank of Spain, Madrid Anudamiento (1990), bolted sheet metal and paint, Casa de Nariño, Bogotá Navegantes (1990), painted aluminum, Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach Serpiente Emplumada (1993), bolted sheet metal and paint, La Tertulia Museum, Cali Lake-Direction (1995), bolted sheet metal and paint, Museum of Contemporary Art of Lima, Lima Casa de la Serpiente (1996), painted aluminium, Grupo Sura, Medellín Espacio Ritual (1996-2019), painted iron, Atchugarry Museum of Contemporary Art, Manantiales