Marta Pérez
"La Virgen del Café*" (1981-1983)
"La Virgen del Café*" (1981-1983)
Painter and teacher. In 1955, Pérez earned her bachelor’s degree from Notre Dame College in Maryland, which then awarded her a fellowship to study in Rome for a year. In 1977, she studied with Larry Gluck in Hollywood. She gave art classes in the Veterans Administration and at the University of Puerto Rico and was also director of art for the Caribbean Consolidated Schools. For some time she collaborated with master ceramicist Hal Lasky at the renowned Puerto Rican Pottery works. From the eighties to the end of her life, she dedicated herself completely to her painting in her studio in Old San Juan. The exoticism and diversity of allegorical references in some of her paintings reflect her own multicultural roots, as she was descended from Basque, Jewish, Greek, and Irish forebears. Exuberant colors, an agglomeration of elements, and female figures with mythical and angelic appearances are characteristic of her work.