Shifra M. Goldman writes about Patricia Israel’s painting in the early 1990s. She shares her thoughts on conditions in Latin American and their historical roots, focusing on how the discovery of America continues to be problematic five centuries after it happened. Goldman posits that the painter’s fascination with history is based on her interest in politics and on her place of birth: Temuco, in southern Chile, a region that is defined by being owned by the Mapuche peoples and by its topography, which influences the iconography in her painting. Goldman reviews the series La llegada de lo blanco, which, in her opinion, is a continuation of América de cuerpo pintada. She notes that neither series is descriptive; both are marked by an anti-realist emphasis, functioning via allegories and plays of meaning. Israel is an artist on the periphery who speaks about the “cultural invasion of the center” and sees a certain irony in how the conquest is perceived, a matter she considers a sign of resistance.

The North American art historian and feminist Shifra M. Goldman (1926–2011) wrote “El oro y lo blanco de colon-ización” on the occasion of La llegada de lo blanco, the exhibition of works by Patricia Israel (1939–2011) at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (Santiago, 1992).

Patricia Israel showed an early interest in art. When she was fourteen, she took classes from the sculptor Tótila Albert (1928–1967), and in 1958 began her formal studies at the Escuela de Bellas Artes, with a focus on painting and printmaking. She sought to insulate her painting from academic influences and instead explored an expressive style; Gustavo Carrasco (1907–1999), José Balmes (1927–2016), Alberto Pérez (1926–1999), and Eduardo Martínez Bonati (b. 1930), the latter three being members of the Grupo Signo, were instrumental in her training. In the 1960s her commitment to left-wing politics became apparent in her work and she explored ways of mass-producing art. In 1968, she and Guillermo Núñez (b. 1930) started designing posters (of Violeta Parra, Ángel Parra, and Che Guevara) and poster-paintings of works by Chilean artists. After Salvador Allende was elected (1970), she joined the Instituto de Capacitación e Investigación de la Reforma Agraria (ICIRA) and worked on print projects with Alberto Pérez. One of the screenprints they produced was América despierta (1972), which was recognized in art circles and, after the 1973 military coup d’état, was burned together with books in acts of censorship that were reminiscent of those performed by Nazis. Given the new political-dictatorial reality, Patricia Israel went into exile in Argentina and Venezuela. She had exhibitions in various countries during the dictatorship years, and her works continued to reflect what was happening in Chile. She returned to Chile in 1980 with a collection of works inspired by the literary work of José Donoso (1924–1996), which she exhibited at solo shows and group events. During this period, she produced Charadas, the series inspired by the fables she used to read as a child. She explored many subjects but her approach to art always involved challenging and questioning. In the 1990s she turned her sights on Latin American issues in a series of paintings that explored the issues she had always pursued. Goldman reviewed a llegada de lo blanco and América de cuerpo pintada, two series produced in the early 1990s. In 1998–2001 Israel produced the series América. In 2011, the year she died, she had her final exhibition, Geografías, a collection of paintings and prints that brought her posthumous recognition. [For more on some of the artists mentioned here, see the ICAA Digital Archive: “Alberto Pérez” (doc. no. 756960) by Francisco Brugnoli, and, about Guillermo Núñez, “Enunciar, anunciar, denunciar: el arte como archivo” by Diamela Eltit (doc. no. 757287).]