Margarita Álvarez de Martínez (born 1948), known artistically as Negra Álvarez, is a Salvadoran visual artist. She is one of the most recognized Latin American sculptors of the 1990s for being one of the first artists to use wood for her sculptural proposals, without the need to carve it.

Biography

Between 1967 and 1969, Álvarez studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in

Leuven Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the historic ...

, and then at the Saint Luc Institute in Brussels, both in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, graduating from the latter in 1970. She returned to

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

, where she participated in the embossing and drawing workshops of Benjamín Saúl, and painting, by

Carlos Cañas Carlos Cañas (September 3, 1924 - April 14, 2013) was a Salvadoran painter who studied art and theory at the School of Arts of El Salvador. In 1950, he received a scholarship to study art, history, aesthetics, and literature in Madrid at the R ...

. She works in the restoration of the decoration of the

Teatro Nacional de El Salvador Teatro Nacional de El Salvador, or National Theatre of El Salvador, is the oldest theatre in Central America. It began construction on November 3, 1911, by the French architect Daniel Beylard; and inaugurated March 1, 1917. It is of French Renai ...

and works as a teacher at the School of Arts of the Dr. José Matías Delgado University, where she was elected vice-director, and at the National Center of Arts (CENAR). She worked set designs with the Sol del Río 32 theater group. Álvarez was vice president (1994) and president (1995) of the Association of Plastic Artists of El Salvador. She is the founder and president of the Cultural Foundation of the 44 de la Heroica Santa Ana since 1996. She has been decorated by the Inter-American Commission of Women of the

OAS OAS or Oas may refer to: Chemistry * O-Acetylserine, amino-acid involved in cysteine synthesis Computers * Open-Architecture-System, the main user interface of Wersi musical keyboards * OpenAPI Specification (originally Swagger Specification) ...

(1999) and was named Distinguished Painter by the

Legislative Assembly of El Salvador The Legislative Assembly ( es, Asamblea Legislativa) is the legislative branch of the government of El Salvador. Structure The Salvadoran legislature is a unicameral body. It is made up of 84 deputies, all of whom are elected by direct popul ...

(2008). Álvarez married Dr. Guillermo Martínez in 1973 with whom she has three children, Claudia, Guillermo and Rodrigo.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alvarez, Negra 1948 births Living people People from Santa Ana, El Salvador Salvadoran women artists