Mexico's first professional female sculptor has died
Mexican artist Heles Cabrera, who became Mexico’s first professional female sculptor and the founder of an independent art space, passed away at the age of 100. Throughout her long career, the artist made a significant contribution to the development of avant-garde art and challenged academic stereotypes regarding sculpture as an exclusively male pursuit.
Jeles Cabrera was born in Mexico City in 1926 and studied at the San Carlos Academy and La Esmeralda. The human figure was the central theme of her work, and her technical innovation lay in the use of unpolished volcanic stone, inspired by Mesoamerican culture and pre-Hispanic artifacts. The sculptor also experimented with terracotta, bronze, wood, Plexiglas, and paper, gradually moving toward abstraction, and participated in the activities of avant-garde art groups.
Due to a lack of institutional support, Cabrera combined her artistic practice with teaching and raising five children for many years. In 1966, she founded her own Museo Escultórico in Coyoacán, where more than 50 of her works were exhibited over the course of decades. The artist gained widespread international recognition toward the end of her life: in 2022, her first solo exhibition in the U.S. took place, and in 2023, she received Mexico’s highest artistic honor—the Medal for Fine Arts.
This was reported by The Art Newspaper.
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