Archives of American Art

Oral history interview with Luchita Hurtado

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.hurtad94
Creators:
Hurtado, Luchita, 1920-2020
Winter, Amy H. (Amy Harriet)
Karlstrom, Paul J.
Dates:
1994 May 1-1995 Apr. 13
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
4 Sound cassettes
Sound recording (4 hrs., 15 min.)
analog
120 Pages
Transcript
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
An interview of Venezuelan born American paitner, Luchita Hurtado, conducted 1994 May 1-1995 Apr. 13, by Amy Winter and Paul Karlstrom, for the Archives of American Art, Women in the Arts in Southern California Oral History Project.
Scope and Contents
1994 May 1 session: The interview focuses on Hurtado's family background; years with her second husband, artist and collector Wolfgang Paalen; the surrealist artist group, Dynaton, living and traveling in Mexico with Paalen, moving to San Francisco and her relationships with artists, collectors; influences on her painting; and Surrealism. Among those mentioned are Rufino and Olga Tamayo, Isamu Noguchi, Gordon Onslow Ford, Jacqueline Johnson, Frida Kahlo, Remedios Varos, Leonora Carrington, Edward James, Lucienne Bloch, Stephen Dimitroff, Grace McCann Morley, Sybil Moholy-Nagy, Jack and Frank Stauffacher, James Broughton, Rene d'Harnoncourt, Julius Karlebach, Herbert (Joe) Spinden, and Robert Motherwell.
Scope and Contents
April 13, 1995 session: Hurtado continues with a focus on the California years, discussing her reasons for settling there, the Dynaton group and her circle of friends; her third husband, Lee Mullican; the birth of her son Matthew Mullican; her work; California and Mexican imagery; importance of experience and senses, particularly smell, to her creativity and work; importance of her family; and difficulties of pursuing art as a career for a woman, wife and mother; and life in Taos, N.M. She recalls Jean Varda, Shiela and Giles Healey, Mary and Paul Wescher, and Joyce Kozloff.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Luchita Hurtado (1920-2020) was a painter from Santa Monica, Calif. and Arroyo Seco, N.M. She was born in Caracas, Venezuela.

Administration

Sponsor
The digital preservation of this interview received Federal support from the Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics, and administrators. Funding for this interview was provided by the Margery and Harry Kahn Philanthropic Fund of the Jewish Communal Fund of New York.

Digital Content


Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Painters -- California Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Surrealism Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Latino and Latin American artists Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Women artists Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Women painters Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Painters -- New Mexico Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bloch, Lucienne, 1909-1999 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
D'Harnoncourt, Rene, 1901-1968 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Kozloff, Joyce Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Moholy-Nagy, Sibyl, 1905- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Mullican, Lee, 1919-1998 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Mullican, Matt, 1951- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Noguchi, Isamu, 1904-1988 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Paalen, Wolfgang, 1907- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Varda, Jean Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Wescher, Mary Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Wescher, Paul, 1894- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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