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Gego
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Gertrude Goldschmidt (1 August 191217 September 1994) also known as Gego, was a modern Latin American artist and sculptor. Born in 1912, Gego was raised by her Hamburg Jewish family. Between 1932 and 1938 she studied Architecture and Engineering at the Technical University, Stuttgart. Nazi limits on Jews prevented her from working, so she looked for opportunities abroad. In 1939, she received a contract and visa for work in Venezuela and began her life there as a designer of furniture. After obtaining an architect's license she worked briefly as an architect. In 1940 she married Ernst Gunz, and in 1942 their son, Thomas was born, followed by daughter Barbara, in 1945. By the late 1950's she had transitioned into teaching and being an abstract artist. Gego's most popular works were produced in the 1960s and 1970s, during the height of popularity of Geometric abstract art and Kinetic Art. Although these genres influenced her somewhat, Gego tried to develop her own style and break from the popular art of Venezuela. Her artwork is commonly exhibited with artists like Lygia Clark, Helio Oiticica and Mira Schendel. Dying in 1994, she left a collection of writings describing her thoughts about art which adds to her legacy as a Latin American artist.
While in Los Angeles in the late 1960s, Gego composed a series of lithographs that were mostly untitled except for a ten-page booked entitled, Lines in 1966. This book is full of lithographs produced in gray and red. Variations in the thickness, length, and direction of the lines demonstrate the fundamental instability of line. By experimenting with line in a different medium, Gego emphasized that the notion of "line" retains its strength and independence regardless of its specific location or form.
Since her death in 1994, her children and grandchildren have taken the responsibility to preserve Gego's legacy. That same year, they founded the Fundacion Gego to organize her artwork and to promote the awareness of their relatives contribution to the art world. The Fundacion Gego gave the permission to publish Gego's personal writings and testimonies in 2005. These writings, now published, might influence other artists in her innovative and experimental mode of sculpture.Latin American and Caribean Art: MOMA at El Museo, ed. Fatima Becht . ISBN 978-0870704604.
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