Edited by Geaninne Gutiérrez-Guimarães and Pablo León de la Barra, with contributions by Mónica Amor, Ruth Auerbach, Tanya Barson, Vered Engelhard, Julieta González, Geaninne Gutiérrez-Guimarães, Pablo León de la Barra, Sean Nesselrode Moncada, Luis Pérez-Oramas, Mari Carmen Ramírez, and Michael Wellen.
Accompanying the first major museum retrospective exhibition of Gego’s work in New York, this definitive catalogue charts the evolution of the German-Venezuelan artist’s singular approach to abstraction through her organic forms, linear structures, and systematic spatial investigations. Featuring 300 images, including more than 160 artworks—sculptures, drawings, prints, artist’s books, textiles, and installations made between the early 1950s and the early 1990s—this expansive volume presents 11 illustrated essays by experts in the field of modern and contemporary Latin American art that trace Gego’s artistic development across various mediums and disciplines, including her significant contributions to architecture and design. In addition, the publication grounds Gego’s practice in various art movements that materialized in Latin America, Europe, and the United States during her lifetime and considers the pedagogical influence of her two-decade teaching career in Caracas. An illustrated chronology tracks Gego’s life and artistic progression as well as her exhibition history, all contextualized within the rich cultural milieus in which she lived and worked. Also featured are photographs of Gego’s Reticulárea, an iterative environmental installation widely considered to be her magnum opus, and her public artworks, in addition to a series of photographs taken by the artist’s partner at their shared home and studio in Caracas. One of the most significant artists to emerge in Latin America during the second half of the twentieth century, Gego remains lesser known in the U.S. today, despite her unique formal and conceptual contributions. This essential publication advances an expanded understanding and appreciation of the artist and her work. Gego: Measuring Infinity is designed by VACA, the studio led by Venezuelan graphic designer Álvaro Sotillo, a longtime Gego collaborator, and partner Gabriela Fontanillas.
Gego, or Gertrud Goldschmidt (1912–1994), came of age as an artist in the midst of Venezuela’s development as a modern state, emerging as a vital figure in Latin American art in the post–World War II era. Born in Hamburg and trained as an architect and engineer in Germany, Gego immigrated to Venezuela in 1939, fleeing Nazi persecution. In her new home of Caracas, she worked as an architect and a designer before embarking on her artistic career, which she pursued until her death there, in 1994.
Publication Year: 2023
Number of Pages: 328
Publisher: Guggenheim Museum Publications