Eva Díaz Torres (1943 - 14 February 1993) was a Uruguayan ceramicist, who specialised in the production of
Raku ware
is a type of Japanese pottery traditionally used in Japanese tea ceremonies, most often in the form of '' chawan'' tea bowls. It is traditionally characterised by being hand-shaped rather than thrown, fairly porous vessels, which result from low ...
. A member of the
Tupamaros
The Tupamaros – National Liberation Movement ( es, Movimiento de Liberación Nacional – Tupamaros, MLN-T), widely known as Tupamaros, was a Marxist-Leninist urban guerrilla group in Uruguay in the 1960s and 1970s. The MLN-T is inextricab ...
, she was imprisoned for her political beliefs from 1972 to 1974.
Biography
Díaz was born in Tarrasa, Barcelona in 1943. She was the daughter of the sculptor
Eduardo Díaz Yepes
Eduardo is the Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese form of the male given name Edward. Another version is Duarte (name), Duarte. It may refer to:
Association football
* Eduardo Bonvallet, Chilean football player and spor ...
(
es) and
Olimpia Torres (
es), and the granddaughter of the master of constructivism
Joaquín Torres García.
She emigrated with her family to Paris in 1946,
and returned to Montevideo in 1947, settling in Uruguay.
In 1958 her interest in ceramics began and she entered the
Torres García Workshop (
es), where she received training from the painter and ceramicist
José Gurvich.
Whilst there she also took classes with the Catalan potter
Josep Collell.
Díaz's concern for social justice drove her to join the
Movimiento de Liberación Nacional-Tupamaros. In 1972 she was arrested and prosecuted by the military dictatorship. She was confined in a detention centre for political prisoners until the end of 1974. After being released from prison, she emigrated with his family first to Costa Rica for a brief stay, and then to Barcelona.
In 1985 she returned to Uruguay, where she once again set up a workshop.
She worked with various techniques, developing research and analysis in ceramic and enamel techniques. She presented her work in collective exhibitions and in a solo show at the Exhibition Hall of the
Municipal Palace of Montevideo.
during this period, Díaz expanded her knowledge of and experimentation with
Raku ware
is a type of Japanese pottery traditionally used in Japanese tea ceremonies, most often in the form of '' chawan'' tea bowls. It is traditionally characterised by being hand-shaped rather than thrown, fairly porous vessels, which result from low ...
, developing a series of sculptural pieces and becoming a prominent Uruguayan exponent of the technique.
Díaz died in Montevideo on 14 February 1993.
Legacy
In 2009, a retrospective of Díaz's work was held at the
Torres Garcia Museum.
In March 2018, an anthological exhibition of Díaz's work was held at the
Gurvich Museum in
Montevideo
Montevideo () is the capital and largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . Montevideo is situated on the southern ...
.
Curated by her daughters
Jimena Jimena or Ximena is the female version of the given name Jimeno, derived from the Basque ''Semen''. It has come to be viewed as a form of the name Simone, though their origins are distinct. The French rendering of the name is Chimène. It may re ...
, a curator, and Micaela Perera Díaz, the show featured fifty ceramics from her rakú technique body of work.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Díaz Torres, Eva
1943 births
1993 deaths
Uruguayan women artists
Women potters
Women ceramists
People from Montevideo