Débora Arango's 114th Birthday

Google Dooles 11.11.2021 07:00  Date: November 11, 2021 Today’s Doodle celebrates pioneering Colombian artist Débora Arango. Her self-described expressionist paintings blended a personal figurative style with techniques borrowed from early 20th-century Mexican muralism to challenge social injustice. Although it first met great controversy, Arango’s work revolutionized the perception of Colombian women’s roles in society and represents a key milestone in the nation’s art history. Débora Arango was born on this day in 1904 in Medellín, Colombia. Arango was encouraged by her mother to become a painter. She first exhibited her work at a 1939 competition for professional artists in Medellín—the first-ever selection by a woman to include nude paintings. Her work was awarded first place, sparking widespread outrage due to her exhibition’s scandalous nature that rebelled against the status quo. The broad, defined brushstrokes Arango employed in her paintings were as bold as her subject matter. Her work presented an unfiltered depiction of Medellín from the 1940s to the 1960s, illustrating an era rife with political turmoil, gender discrimination, and social injustice. Overcoming decades of censorship both at home and abroad, Arango was finally able to exhibit 100 paintings in Medellín in 1975. Arango’s boundary-breaking career was recognized with several distinguished awards later in her life, including the Order of Bocaya—Colombia’s highest civilian honor. Today, Colombians exchange 2,000 peso bills emblazoned with her portrait, and the Medellín Museum of Modern Art displays a permanent collection of Arango’s paintings, which serve as a potent time capsule of Colombian history. Happy birthday, Débora Arango! Early drafts of the Doodle Location: Tags: , , , ,