Remota is proud to present Paintings and a Tapestry by the great Salta-born artist María Martorell (1909–2010). This exhibition brings together a selection of works that reflect a key part of her abstract and geometric explorations.

“I make avant-garde painting, but with a Salta accent.”
(María Martorell, El Tribuno, June 8, 1981)

Martorell is one of Argentina’s most important abstract painters. Celebrated for her contribution to geometric art in Latin America, she developed a singular body of work in which color and form take center stage. Her academic training and her formative journey to Europe in the 1950s marked a turning point: there she encountered Op Art, the Madí movement, and the geometric avant-gardes that were reshaping the international art scene. She exhibited in Salta, Buenos Aires, Madrid, Paris, New York, among many other cities around the world. Most recently, her work was featured in the latest edition of the Venice Biennale.

“I believe we must foster the possibility for the Salta public to see different things and have new experiences in art. The world is very small, distances grow shorter every day, and what is produced in faraway latitudes quickly spreads. So it is almost an obligation to accept dialogue—with an open mind—toward new conceptions in every field. I believe this is a vital part of personal growth, especially for those whose vocation is defined through artistic expression.”
(ibid.)

Her work never ceased to be in dialogue with her primary environment: the landscapes of northern Argentina. From Salta and Buenos Aires, where she produced most of her oeuvre, Martorell constructed compositions inspired by local curves, rhythms, and geographies—as well as emotional geographies.

“In the artist, joy and drama always alternate dialectically. There is in them a constant dissatisfaction, proper to those who seek to grasp the ungraspable. That is, in my opinion, the ultimate truth of art.”
(ibid.)

Tapestries: modernizing an ancient technique

In the late 1960s, Martorell collaborated with the School of Handicrafts in Cafayate, proposing a series of tapestries for which she designed the cartones (weaving templates) herself. She did not simply adapt an existing painting to be translated into textile form; rather, she composed with the medium’s final purpose in mind. As she explained in an interview:

“The ultimate goal is to interest the artisans to the point of seeing them become fully fledged creators (designers and makers) of their own work. In this way, Argentina will be able to compete in the global market, and considering the skill of our weavers and the richness of our traditional motifs, become—why not?—the mecca of tapestry.”
(Revista Análisis No. 346, October 30, 1967)

Paintings and a Tapestry offers a brief yet intense journey into Martorell’s universe: a prolific artist who, through synthetic forms and vibrant colors, made abstraction a way of seeing and connecting worlds.

Salta, June 2025