Luchita Hurtado, painter of bodies and nature, dies at 99 in Santa Monica

Luchita Hurtado, a painter whose eight-decade career explored the body's connection to the environment, died in Santa Monica, California, at age 99. Her gallery Hauser & Wirth confirmed her death. Born in 1920 in Maiquetía, Venezuela, her family relocated to the United States in 1928. She studied at New York's Art Students League and worked early on as a muralist and illustrator for Condé Nast. In 1946, she moved to Mexico City, where she encountered artists like Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Leonora Carrington. Hurtado's art, spanning surrealism, biomorphic abstraction, and Indigenous patterns, remained largely unrecognized until the mid-1970s, when she participated in feminist group shows. A resurgence came with her inclusion in the Hammer Museum's 2018 biennial 'Made in LA,' highlighting under-recognized female artists. In 2019, Time named her one of its '100 Most Influential People,' with curator Hans Ulrich Obrist praising her vision of the human body as integral to nature. Her notable 1970s paintings depict her nude form blending into patterned rugs or natural landscapes like mountains and sand dunes. Hurtado described painting as essential as breathing, stating she never refused life and felt a responsibility to the planet. Her extensive oeuvre includes paintings, drawings, photographs, and prints, reflecting a lifelong commitment to documenting the interconnectedness of humanity and the Earth.