Raquel Forner

Raquel Forner was born in Buenos Aires in 1902. Forner completed studies at the National Academy of Fine Arts (today part of the National University Art Institute) in Buenos Aires in 1923. A year before graduation she received an appointment to teach drawing at the same academy. She borrowed ideas from surrealism during the 1940s, often portraying strong female figures. During the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) she began to paint pictures in a powerful and dramatic style, inspired by the tragedies that have laid humanity waste, and often working in series format. Beginning in 1957, coinciding with the space race, her attention turned to imagined scenes of interplanetary travel. With her Space Series, which exhibited in Europe and earned recognition, she became one of the earliest fine artists to portray scenes of outer space. This period is characterized by a more vibrant use of colour and a personal cosmic mythology of her own creation. Forner's artistic portrayals of space travel continued until the 1970s.