Sculpture of Edgar Negret life

Edagar Negret´s biography



Early years

Edgar Negret was born in Popayan Colombia the 11 of October on 1920. He was attending the school of Bellas Artes in Cali on 1938 and 1943. In 1944 Edgar Negret has the opportunity to meet Jorge de Oteiza, who was his main influence and receive a lot of knowledge about the European sculpture of that time.

Growing in his career

In 1946 Negret made his first individual exposition and during the 50’s he resides in New York, Paris and Madrid. In 1950 he went to live in Manhattan, then was residing for short periods in Barcelona and Paris. Trough this time Negret came to know artist like Louis Nevelson, Jack Youngerman and Ellsworth Kelly. When he was living in New York in 1956, he studied in the Sculpture Center where he learns new techniques. The principal materials for working of Negret at the beginning were the plaster, ceramic, steel and the iron, later the aluminum pass to be the main material. The most influential artists of Negret where Gaudi and Brancusi.

Negret great times

Negret receive worldwide public recognition in 1968, when his work was awarded the David E. Bright international prize for sculpture ate the thirty-fourth Venice Biennial. In 1963 he returns to Colombia and resides in Bogotá, and he was in charge of lead the sculpture department in the Escuela de Bellas Artes in Los Andes university.

During the 60’s he works in Los Navegantes and Los Puentes, sculptures where Negret styles is completely define. The next years he performed expositions Cabo Géminis, Acomplamiento, Templos, Columnas and Escaleras. Negret made a tribute to his origins, doing the serie Los Andes where Inca allusions are evident. Between year 1974 and 2009 Negret exposed en many country's; in Washington he expose in the Corcoran Gallery, in Paris he participate in FIAC, and inaugurated a sample in the foundation Joan Miró in Barcelona, he expose in Contemporary Sculpture Center in Tokyo and other many important things that make him very famous. Finally in 2009 he inaugurated his exposition Poética del Silencio in gallery Mundo de Bogotá.

His influence

Negret is consider one of the most renovator and productive sculptor of Colombia. He won many awards: a silver medal of the eight Bienal art in São Paulo, the award to the sculpture of nineteen Salón de Artistas Nacionales, the David Bright in Bienal art of Venice, and he won the grant Guggenheim.




How is Edgar an inspiration of mine?

@Copyright Laura Bejarano 2015  
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