Lot 59: Olga Costa (1913-1994) Granadas y pitahayas 10 1/8 x 14 in (25.5 x 35.5 cm)

Olga Costa (1913-1994) Granadas y pitahayas 10 1/8 x 14 in (25.5 x 35.5 cm) , Painted in 1971
Provenance
Galeria de Arte Mexicano, Mexico City, 1971.
Olga Costa's family initially emigrated from Odessa to Germany before eventually settling in Mexico City in 1925 when the artist was twelve. Costa attended the Academy of San Carlos where she studied with Guatemalan artist Carlos Mérida and met fellow artist and her future husband José Chávez Morado. She had already been aware of the developments in Mexican modernism but became more closely involved in artistic circles in Mexico City and Guanajuato through her relationship with Chávez Morado. She first exhibited at the Galeria de Arte Mexicano in 1945, establishing a long-lasting friendship with its owner Inés Amor and continuing to show there throughout her career. Costa was also closely involved in the establishment and running of the Galeria de Espiral which exhibited the works of Angelina Beloff, Francisco Zúňiga and Germán Cueto, while also facilitating relationships between local and international curators, among them Alfred H. Barr and Henry Clifford.
Despite her European background, Costa's work is thoroughly Mexican, both in its subject matter of lush landscapes, exotic still lifes and genre scenes of daily life and her expressive use of exuberant and vivid color. Despite being acutely aware of the political and social upheavals in Mexico in the first half of the twentieth century, her work remained apolitical throughout her career.