Ángel Bracho’s Girl provides a counterpoint to the politically themed graphics for which the artist is generally recognized. Though tonal values are uniform throughout the composition, the figure of the young girl stands out, with contrasting patterns and bright colors that overshadow issues of identity. Underneath the vibrantly colored clothing is a girl with exceptionally dark skin, not the usual indigenous or mestizo type that usually represented Mexican identity. She is, rather, indicative of the African population that has been in Mexico from the earliest days of the colonial period. This colorful work was purchased by émigré German art dealer Galka Scheyer, who by this time probably owned a vibrant composition of a similar subject by Alexei Jawlensky—Child with Doll (Kind mit Puppe), c. 1910—which is on view in the twentieth-century galleries.
Details
- Artist Name: Angel Bracho (Mexican, 1911-2005)
- Title: Girl
- Date: c. 1931
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 62 7/8 x 39 1/8 in. (159.7 x 99.4 cm)
- Credit Line: Norton Simon Museum, The Blue Four Galka Scheyer Collection
- Accession Number: P.1953.193
- Copyright: © 2008 Angel Bracho
Object Information
Galka Scheyer;
Pasadena Art Institute, Pasadena, 1953-1954;
Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena,1954-1975;
Norton Simon Museum, 1975.
Breaking Ground: 20th-Century Latin American Art at the Norton Simon Museum
- Norton Simon Museum, 2013-09-13 to 2013-11-04
From Europe to California: Galka Scheyer and the Avant-Garde
- Norton Simon Museum, 2003-05-16 to 2003-10-13
Maven of Modernism: Galka Scheyer in California
- Norton Simon Museum, 2017-04-07 to 2017-09-25
- The Blue Four Galka Scheyer Collection, Norton Simon Museum of Art at Pasadena, 1976, no. 338
- Barnett, Vivian Endicott, The Blue Four Collection at the Norton Simon Museum, 2002, no. 441 p. 436
- Gilbert Holzgang, Galka Scheyer : Ein Leben für Kunst und Kreativität, 2023, p. 201 (ill.)
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