Araceli Gilbert

Araceli Gilbert in her studio. Paris, 1953. In 1955, she married the Swedish writer, photographer and explorer Rolf Blomberg.

The great Ecuadorian painter Araceli Gilbert de Blomberg was born in Guayaquil,on 6 December 1913. She studied at the School of Fine Arts in Santiago de Chile; she returned to Guayaquil in 1942 and – along with her cousin, the writer Enrique Gil Gilbert and his wife Alba Calderón – became part of Society of Independent Writers and Artists. In 1943 she won the Painting, Sculpture and Art History Dissertation at the School of Fine Arts in Guayaquil; she moved to New York, studied at the Ozenfant Art School and, in 1946, moved to Quito, Ecuador. In 1950, she travelled to Paris and took part in the Spanish American Anti-biennial organized by Picasso, as well as several group shows including the Salon de Réalités Nouvelles. Her reputation grew; she took part in numerous exhibitions and represented Ecuador at biennials in Sao Paulo, Brazil, La Havana, Cuba and Coltéjer, Medellín, Colombia. In 1989, the Ecuadorian Government honoured her with the Cultural National Award Eugenio Espejo. Araceli Gilbert de Blomberg died in Quito in 1993. Her work is now in major collections around the world.