Maria Izquierdo left an impression on me for her surreal impressionist paintings. One student mentioned her last piece Sueño y Presentimiento (1947) being reminiscent of Salvador Dali’s artwork. I felt the same, plus I could not forget her tragic story when she suffered from a stroke and prior lack of support from her mentors and contemporaries, in muralists José Orozco and Diego Rivera. It is evident that Izquierdo was relevant and competition for them, since she had somehow garnered a solo exhibition of her work in New York, and as the presenter noted, also a first for a Mexican and/or Mexicana, to be featured in the United States. I appreciated Izquierdo’s distinct approach of making nonpolitical art and opted for poetic works, since for generations, much Chicana/o art is political. Mujer ante el Espejo (1934), was a perfect example, with a self-portrait of the back of her head with no reflection in the mirror, as a metaphor to the unknown unseen future she would have. In conversation about the artist with a friend, she mentioned that some people believed, Izquierdo’s sense of fashion influenced Frida Kahlo’s, which reminded me of other popular culture figures whose sense of cool and style came from someone that influenced them, such as, Arthur Lee of the 1960s legendary L.A. band called Love, that had a young Jimmy Hendrix in their band for a minute and that is where Hendrix got his hippy gypsy rock fashion and style from. Lastly, I looked up some of Izquierdo’s other works and noticed many of her paintings had barren trees. From a poetic gaze, maybe the trees represented death and lifelessness, or maybe death as seen in a spiritual sense that represents yet the next stage in life, for anyone looking for a brighter side of the dead trees.
La Soga (1947)
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