900–50–80
Date 1978
Dimensions 58" x 66"
Category Painting
Medium Oil on canvas
Genre Abstract
Period 20th Century
Collection Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico Collection

Olga Albizu

"900–50–80" (1978)

Biography

Painter. Albizu studied drawing under Miguel Pou and painting at the University of Puerto Rico under Spanish painter Esteban Vicente. In 1948 she was awarded a scholarship by the University of Puerto Rico to study in New York under German painter Hans Hofmann. Albizu also studied under Morris Kantor, Carl Holty, and Vaclav Vytlacil at the Art Students League in New York. Albizu attended the legendary Parisian art school Académie de la Grande Chaumière in 1951, and in 1952 attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence. In 1956 Albizu’s paintings began to be used for record-jackets for bossa nova albums produced by RCA and Verve Records. In 1958 she settled in New York City and her first solo exhibition was organized in Puerto Rico. She stopped painting in 1984. Albizu is the pioneer of Abstract Expressionism in Puerto Rican art, and her work has been described as lyrical.