This is an article written by the editorial staff at the weekly Magazine Dominical about the life and work of Alicia Tafur, the Colombian artist. It was written on the occasion of the “first large exhibition for Bogotá” at the Banco de la República’s Luis Ángel Arango Library, where the artist presented nineteen sculptures made of sheet metal and one each made of bronze, copper, and wood. The article includes details about the artist’s personal life that are in some way related to her work, such as her connection to a family that was interested in the arts, and her professional relationship with the painter Armando Villegas (b. 1928), who was her husband at the time. Together, Tafur and Villegas ran the decoration, ceramics, and artisan studio/workshop called “Gruta del Arte”. The article quotes Tafur saying that women should expand their horizons in society and take an active role in artistic and intellectual fields. This document lists Tafur’s major accomplishments over the course of her career. The article quotes her again in order to explain her sculptural creative process, which she began in 1955 with a “semi-abstract” project that was “reminiscent of vegetable forms, underwater forms, or wings.” Tafur responds to the magazine’s questions concerning official support for sculptors and the issue of an artist’s inspiration by saying that in spite of minimal support from the Colombian government, the financial challenges involved in working with certain materials, or any doubts about their inspiration, artists should under no circumstances interrupt the production of their art.        

The ceramicist and sculptor Alicia Tafur (b. 1934) was among the growing number of artists who started working in the 1950s. These artists produced experimental works with which they expressed their surroundings and their own personal circumstances through a refinement of forms and the expressive qualities of the materials they used. By the time of her solo exhibition at the Luis Ángel Arango Library in April 1963—which is the subject of this document—Tafur already had some accomplishments under her belt. She had had a solo exhibition at the Pan American Union in Washington, DC (1958); she had received a special mention at the XIII Salón de Artistas Colombianos (1961), and then won second prize for sculpture at the XIV Salón de Artistas Colombianos (1962). Together with other Colombian artists, such as the sculptor Feliza Bursztyn (1933−82) and the painters Judith Márquez (1925–94), Cecilia Porras (1920–71), and Lucy Tejada (1920?2011), Tafur was part of a group of women artists who made a splash in the visual arts in 1950s with their avant-garde work.

This article is important because it documents in her own words the artist’s personal vision and her ideas about the production of art and working conditions in a specific field. Alicia Tafur demands an active role for women in society, insisting that it should involve a harmonious blend of their domestic and their professional activities. She discusses the creative difficulties faced by Colombian artists as a result of the lack of governmental support. And she expresses her passionate interest in the acknowledgment and promotion of the arts through her studio/workshop, Gruta del Arte.    

This document is complemented by the article about the same exhibition, titled “Escultora, ceramista y madre de cuatro niños” [see doc. no. 1133413].