Luchita Hurtado was born in Caracas, Venezuela in 1920, before moving to the United States. She lived in New York briefly before moving to Mexico City and later returning to American to live in Los Angeles. In her artistic practice, Luchita is known for bright paintings and mixed media works that often portray a headless female figure.

The artist’s works are clearly visible in her studio space -- in fact, the wall behind Hurtado is almost completely covered in works. It seems that the artist is quite prolific, and most of the visible works have a very present, gestural quality to them, as though they were produced quickly in a flash of inspiration.

The table that Hurtado stands at appears equipped with everything the artist would need to produce her works -- paint brushes, paints, and pens. It looks like the artist has a work-in-progress laid out in front of her. Perhaps she’s just putting the finishing touches on it. Given that Hurtado has moved around so much throughout her artistic career, I can imagine that her studio has changed quite a bit over the years.

The artist recently showed 100 works in a chronological solo retrospective at London’s Serpentine gallery -- her first show at a public institution. Hurtado met Marcel Duchamp, and was photographed by Man Ray in the 1940s.

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