On View
On viewObject number2018.23
Untitled
Artist
Olga Albizu
(Puerto Rican, 1924 - 2005)
Dateca. 1965
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensionscanvas: 40 × 30 in. (101.6 × 76.2 cm)
Credit Linepurchased in memory of David and Muriel Gregg through the generosity of their estate
Exhibition History"Unveiling American Genius," KIA Permanent Collection Exhibition, Traditional, Markin, Nay and Groos Galleries (March 1, 2021 - December 31, 2023).
"EXPO Chicago 2023" Chicago, Navy Pier (April 11 - 14, 2023).
"Legendary Voices: Art for the Next Century," KIA (September 7 - February 18, 2025)Label TextBorn and raised in Puerto Rico, Olga Albizu grew up knowing
the value of creativity in art and music. Her mother was an
accomplished pianist and on Sundays, Albizu’s family listened to
the Metropolitan Opera on the radio. She could not have known
that one day, those worlds would merge in the late 1950s to
the mid-1960s, when Albizu’s artwork graced RCA and Verve
Records album covers for the Boston Symphony (conducted by
Charles Munch), Bob Brookmeyer and His Orchestra, The Rod
Levitt Orchestra, and Stan Getz’s collaborations with Charlie
Byrd, João Gilberto, Luiz Bonfá, and others. While the cover art
for these albums represents Albizu’s mature style and are similar
to our collection’s Untitled (shown), the music itself ranged from
deep, rolling, and dramatic compositions to lively, frolicking
and brassy arrangements. Collectively, the works reflect her
extraordinary ability to convey the varying qualities of musical
styles from piercingly energetic to boldly symphonic.
Hailed as one of Puerto Rico’s major Abstractionists, Albizu
attended the Universidad de Puerto Rico, studying under famed
New York Studio School founder and teacher, Esteban Vincente
between 1945-47. Considered one of his most preeminent
students, she was introduced to the tenets of Modernism,
though he dissuaded his students from practicing beyond
figurative or still life genres. His geometric and Cubist impulses
of that era are seen as formative to Albizu’s practice and
inspired her to pursue painting professionally. After graduation,
she obtained a post-graduate fellowship, which afforded her the
opportunity to study in New York, Paris, and Florence.
Between 1948-51, Albizu studied with famed Abstract
Expressionist Hans Hoffman. Under his tutelage her works
explored the modes of the moment, non-representational, flat
angular forms; and eventually Albizu added more dynamic
coloring, creating more structure to her fractured geometries.
In 1951, the influence of abstraction lyrique (an art movement
popular in France that rejected geometric abstraction, replacing
it with intuitive brushwork and the application of paint directly
from the tube onto the canvas) found its way into her work.
Albizu replaced angular lines and shapes in her compositions
with overlapping squares of color. Within the next four years,
Albizu’s signature style emerged via overlapping, masses of
rhythmic forms infused with vibrant colors.
In Untitled, viewers see undulating swathes of squares in
blues, greens, blacks and reds that overlap, jostle, and expand
the pictorial plane. This effect is what the artist called “a
conversation between color and form.” Although completely
abstract, the work perhaps alludes to a place or moment in time,
or the bustling nature of city life. Created during the height of her
work with RCA and Verve Records, Untitled is luminous,
yet tenebrous, invigorating, yet temperate.
Despite Albizu’s paintings being reproduced on album covers,
critical acclaim eluded her. She stopped painting in 1984,
but recently her originality has been rediscovered. Untitled
demonstrates an artist tapping into the restorative and formative
powers of color, and the tactility of the medium to impact the
canvas. [Collection Highlight]
