Background
Olga Albizu was born on May 31, 1924, in Ponce, Puerto Rico.
L’Académie de la Grande Chaumière
Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze
University of Puerto Rico
Art Students League
University of Puerto Rico
Art Students League
L’Académie de la Grande Chaumière
Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze
Olga Albizu was born on May 31, 1924, in Ponce, Puerto Rico.
Olga Albizu studied painting in Puerto Rico with renowned Spanish painter Esteban Vicente during 1943 - 1947 and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1946 from the University of Puerto Rico. Olga arrived in New York City in 1948 on a fellowship for post-graduate work at the Art Students League. During her training in the United States, Olga studied under several noted teachers, including abstract painter Hans Hoffman who had a significant influence on her style. She further broadened her training in Europe at L’Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, France; and the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze in Florence, Italy.
After Olga's studying, following the easels of Van Gogh and Cezanne, Olga Albizu spent a year painting in Provence, France. In 1953 she returned to New York, where she settled permanently. Upon her return to New York, she became an accomplished abstract painter, with solo and group exhibits in New York, Washington, Louisville, Philadelphia, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Germany. During the 1950s, she designed record album covers for the recording industry company RCA Victor. She was part of the generation of artists of the 1950s and 1960s whose works ranged from abstract to representational.
Olga's works were abstract in genre and she preferred to work in oil paints. Her work is distinguished by an intermittent pigment with contiguous stop creating strong textural structure, forming an illusion of unity, between color and geometrical forms on the canvas. Among her works were "Violeta", "50-90-3", "White", and "Growth." Olga's paintings are part of many private and public collections, including those of Chase Manhattan Bank, the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture, the Cooperativa de Seguros Múltiples, the Puerto Rico Museum of Art and the Israel National Museum.
Olga’s work has been recognized in various reference works, including Famous Hispanic Americans in the Humanities: 20th Century; The Latin American Spirit: Art and Artists in the United States; and Art Heritage of Puerto Rico at the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York. Her paintings have been reproduced on the cover of musical records from diverse origins – from classical works to modern jazz, including The Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Stan Getz, Bill Evans Trio, Bob Broomeyer Orchestra and the Rod Levitt Orchestra. Olga stopped painting in 1984. Olga Albizu died in New York in 2005.
Olga Albizu adhered to the artistic traditions of Abstract Expressionism.
Quotations: “To certain extent, I believe in art for art’s sake. I believe in eternal art and eternal values, in Botticelli and Kandinsky, in the will to live. I really don’t think an artist at this moment in time has to give a political or social interpretation to his work.”
