María Simón, 1982 Argentine Metal Sculpture "Serie De Los Sobres" Maria Simon, 1982

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María Simón Argentinian (1922-2009) Untitled (from Serie de los Sobres) 1982 welded and enameled black sheetmetal sculpture Escultura en metal, … Read more María Simón Argentinian (1922-2009) Untitled (from Serie de los Sobres) 1982 welded and enameled black sheetmetal sculpture Escultura en metal, moldeado, soldado, esmaltado 18 1/4 x 11 1/4 x 8 1/2 inches Provenance: The Graciela Kartofel Collection María Simón Padrós (1922 – 5 July 2009) was an Argentine sculptor. Simón was born in Aguilares, Tucumán in 1922. Her father, John Simon Padrós, was an engineer, a prominent politician and industrialist; her mother was Emilia Dublé. Today she is represented in the collections of the Museo Moderno and the Museo de Bellas Artes, where one of her sculptures is on display until the end of July, along with others by Noemí Gerstein and Juana Heras Velasco. At the age of 20, Simón studied sculpture with Jean Labourdette and five years later, with Libero Badíi. In 1964, she obtained a grant awarded by the British Council and moved to London, where she exhibited at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA). Two years later, she received the Georges Braque Prize, and decided to move to Paris, where she remained for thirty-five years. There, she participated in various exhibitions at the Galería Rioboo, Salones de Mayo, Réalités Nouvelles, and the Museo de Bellas Artes. “The successful Groupe de Recherche d'Art Visuel, with Vasarely and Julio Le Parc –recalls Petrushansky in the catalogue-, was inaugurated at that time at the Denise Rene Gallery, a reference point for the artistic trend of the new op art and kinetic art in the 60s; long talks and discussions about the future of art created the new Parisian bohemian culture that took hold of the young beatniks and their confrontations with the existentialism of Albert Camus. The Argentines had a presence and founding ideas, forming a noisy front of innovations. In 1970 she married Jacques Lassaigne , who was appointed director of the Museum of Modern Art in Paris that same year. One of the photos included in the book shows her three years later in a bar, embraced by Julio Le Parc and two glasses of wine. They had reason to toast: that evening, Maria had opened two exhibitions simultaneously. One at the Galerie de Varenne, where she presented engravings, drawings, tapestry works and sculpture in bronze and aluminium, and another with her sculptures in black sheet metal at the aforementioned Denise René gallery. “She was a friend of all the artists of the time,” says Pellegrini. This is confirmed by other photos showing her with Luis Tomasello, Francis Bacon, Alicia Penalba – with whom she is said to have had a certain rivalry – Marc Chagall, Sonia Delaunay and the sculptor César Baldaccini. She also participated in the Venice Biennale (1972), Biennale of Tapestry in Lausanne, Biennials of Engraving at Ljubljana and in Puerto Rico, the First International Sculpture Street Exhibition in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and the Basel Fail. In 1975, she won the Second Prize in Sculpture at the Biennial of São Paulo, and the First Prize at the Biennale Gravure Gibet in France. In 1981, she was awarded the Bronze Medal by the European Academy of Fine Arts. Simón worked predominantly in bronze, fas well as iron and aluminum. She used lead, resin, acrylic, textiles, cardboard or wood in her works. In Paris, she experimented with cardboard boxes collected from the street. The box becomes a symbol of the human being discarded after use. Simón moved to Buenos Aires in 2001, where she lived and worked until her death in 2009. She had a recent show Maria Simon: Juego De Cajas at Galeria Vasari. Graciela Kartofel was an influential art historian, graduate of the Liberal Arts College at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1976. She created the Latin American Modern and Contemporary Art History Program for UNAM -Mexican National Autonomous University, Mexico City, where she was part of the Faculty for more than a decade before coming to New York. She is lecturer and visiting professor in different universities, among them Cristobal Colón University, Veracruz, Mex.; Universidad Michoacana, Morelia, Michoacán, the Hochschule für Künstlerische und Industrielle Gestaltung in Linz, Austria; and Hunter College, New York City. She works as critic and independent curator specializing in Contemporary Art, and Latin American Art.Even during a time when the art market largely ignored and marginalized Latin American artists and woman artists, Dr. Kartofel championed them. Not only did she give her academic attention to young emerging artists in particular, but she also made their work a part of her personal collection. Marysole Wörner Baz, Mathias Goeritz, Pedro Friedeberg, Pál Kepenyes Naomi Siegmann, Jose Luis Cuevas, Juan Carlos Lasser , Rodolfo Morales and many more. See less