Lita Cabellut

Lita Cabellut
Born (1961-10-24) 24 October 1961
Sariñena, Aragon
Education Gerrit Rietveld Academy
Known for Painting
Awards Premio de Cultura Gitana de Pintura y Artes Plásticas (2011)
Website www.litacabellut.com

Lita Cabellut (born 1961 in Sariñena,[1][2] Aragon) is a Spanish painter who lives and works in The Hague, Netherlands. Cabellut has developed a unique technique characterised by large-scale canvases that combine traditional fresco techniques and modern applications of oil paint.[3] This craquelure effect gives a skin to her portraits of street dwellers, prostitutes, religious people, historical figures, fictional characters and influential people.

Early life and influences

Born a gipsy girl in a village in Aragon, Cabellut moved to Barcelona as a child where her mother ran a brothel. She was left under the care of her grandmother but spent most of her days on the streets begging, scamming and selling 'imaginary stars'. At the age of twelve, Lita was adopted by a Catalan family.[4] During this new period she discovered the Prado Museum and became inspired by the paintings of Goya, Velázquez, Ribera and Rembrandt.[5]

Lita Cabellut had her first exhibition at the age of 17 and moved to the Netherlands at the age of 19, where she studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam between 1982 and 1984. During these years she was influenced by the Dutch masters and developed some of the artistic techniques that have become her distinguishing mark.[5]

Work

The secret behind the veil 02
Coco nr. 47

Art Techniques

Working on large-scale canvases, Lita Cabellut has developed a contemporary variation of the classic fresco technique and a recognisable personal palette style that comes from her obsession to provide her characters with a skin.[6] Beyond her defining monumental portraits, Cabellut is also a multi-disciplinary artist whose work includes video art, visual poetry, scenography, drawings, installations and sculptures.

Collections

Lita Cabellut's work is grouped conceptually in collections of themed series.[7] For example, the collection “Frida, The Black Pearl” (2010) pays tribute to Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, in which Cabellut depicts Kahlo’s life whilst relating this to her own experiences.[8] This series inspired Cabellut to create “Coco, The Testimony of Black and White” (2011),[9] a collection that portrays this fashion icon through 35 large-scale portraits.[10] “A Portrait of Human knowledge” (2012) continues Cabellut’s previous work with portraits of some of the most influential icons of knowledge from the past 150 years, including Stravinsky, Nureyev, Marie Curie, Billie Holiday, Federico Garcia Lorca, Rudolf Steiner and Sigmund Freud.[7]

With “The Trilogy of the Doubt”, a collection composed by socially inspired triptych paintings about power, injustice and ignorance, Cabellut received attention both in her native Spain and in The Netherlands.[11] The portrait collection “Dried Tear” (2013) expresses Cabellut’s fascination and admiration for Asian culture.[12] Cabellut’s series about the Dutch Golden Age entitled “The Black Tulip” (2014) was inspired by one of the most famous national symbols of the Netherlands.[13]

Dried Tear 52

In the collection “Blind Mirror” (2015), Cabellut explores culture and religion, focusing on some of the most influential religions that have been known to humanity.[14]

Exhibition

Don Quijote 08

Since her first exhibition at the Town Hall of El Masnou, Barcelona, in 1978, Cabellut's work has been exhibited all around the world, including New York, Dubai, Miami, Singapore, Hong Kong, Barcelona, London, Paris, Venice, Monaco and Seoul.[15]

Some of her other solo museum exhibitions to note include: “Trilogy of the Doubt” (2013) at Fundación Vilacasas in Barcelona, Spain and NoordBrabants Museum in Den Bosch, The Netherlands; “Here to Stay” (2014), at Kunststation Kleinsassen in Berlin, Germany; “100 Masterpieces” (2014) at Seoul Art Centre in Seoul, South Korea; “Black Tulip” in State Visit Okura Hotel in Tokyo (2014), Japan; and “Blind Mirror” (2015) at Hälsingland Museum in Hudiksvall, Sweden.[14]

Recognition

On 8 April 2011 Lita was awarded with the “Premio de Cultura Gitana de Pintura y Artes Plásticas” (Gypsy Culture Award for Paint and Plastic Arts) by “Instituto de Cultura Gitana” (Institute of Gypsy Culture) in recognition to the work done in benefit of this group’s culture anywhere in the world.[16]

In March 2015 Lita was invited by the Barcelona-based Fundació Privada de les Arts i els Artistes to be a jury member for the 2015 “Figurativas” competition. “Figurativas” is a yearly art competition seeking to promote and diffuse Figurative Art.[17]

In 2017 Lita was awarded with the "IX Premio Time Out Barcelona" for her contribution to the projection of the city with her retrospective exhibition at the Vila Casas Foundation in Barcelona. [18]

References

  1. ↑ "How a street child became a leading artist".
  2. ↑ Isabel Ferrer. "Lita Cabellut, la conquista del mercado del arte | Confidencias | EL PAÍS Semanal". elpaissemanal.elpais.com. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  3. ↑ "Lita Cabellut Press Dossier".
  4. ↑ "Lita Cabellut's Biography". Opera Gallery. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  5. 1 2 Busbridge, Matt (2012). "La Perla Negra". Schon Magazine.
  6. ↑ Sanchez, Alberto. "Depths of Humanity". Babylon Magazine. 11: 72.
  7. 1 2 "Interview on "Portrait of Human Knowledge". 1883 Magazine. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
  8. ↑ Battersby, Matilde (1 April 2011). "La Perla Negra: A tribute to Frida Kahlo". The Independent. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
  9. ↑ Gibson, Jennifer (26 May 2012). "Interview with Lita Cabellut". Hello! Middle East.
  10. ↑ Malat, Jean David. "Four the art of it". 1883 Magazine. 5.
  11. ↑ Pérez Martín, Ana (13 June 2013). "Infiernos de tercipelo". La Vanguardia.
  12. ↑ Teo, Cheryl (24 October 2013). "Lita Cabellut's Dried Tear Series". Esquire Magazine Singapore.
  13. ↑ Cabellut, Lita (2014). The Black Tulip. A Tribute to the Dutch Golden Age. pp. 4–5.
  14. 1 2 Cabellut, Lita (2015). Blind Mirror.
  15. ↑ "Nobody expects the Spanish exhibition". City Times Newspaper Dubai. 6 May 2012.
  16. ↑ "La familia Flores premio de la música del instituto de cultura gitana". La Vanguardia. 29 May 2011.
  17. ↑ "Figurativas 2015". Fundación de las Artes. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
  18. ↑ "Premios Time Out Barcelona 2017". Time Out Barcelona (in Spanish). Retrieved 2018-09-05.
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