Virginia Pérez-Ratton is the pseudonym for Virginia Pérez Johnston (1950–2010). She was a

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

n artist,

art historian Art history is the study of artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history. Traditionally, the ...

, art critic and curator. She devoted a large part of her life to the promotion of

visual arts The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics (art), ceramics, photography, video, image, filmmaking, design, crafts, and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual a ...

and the development of artists in

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

and the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

.Hivos (2010
''Virginia Perez Ratton, moeder van de beeldende kunst in Midden Amerika, overleden''

Biography

Virginia Pérez Johnston was born on September 16, 1950, in

San José, Costa Rica San José (; meaning "Saint Joseph") is the capital city, capital and largest city of Costa Rica, and the capital of San José Province. It is in the center of the country, in the mid-west of the Costa Rican Central Valley, Central Valley, wi ...

.Prince Claus Fund (2002) Press report on the presentation of the Prince Claus Awards 2002]Chinchilla U., Darío (7 October 2010
''Falleció Virginia Pérez-Ratton, Premio Magón del 2009''
La Nación Pérez-Ratton obtained her academic degree in

French literature French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by French people, French citizens; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of Franc ...

at the

University of Costa Rica The University of Costa Rica (Spanish: ''Universidad de Costa Rica,'' abbreviated UCR) is a public university in the Republic of Costa Rica, in Central America. Its main campus, Ciudad Universitaria Rodrigo Facio, is located in San Pedro Mo ...

. She got her first artistic study in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

from Grace Blanco (

drawing Drawing is a Visual arts, visual art that uses an instrument to mark paper or another two-dimensional surface, or a digital representation of such. Traditionally, the instruments used to make a drawing include pencils, crayons, and ink pens, some ...

), Lola Fernández (

painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

) and Juan Luis Rodríguez (

engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design on a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ar ...

). In 1987 she went on for a study of

Engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design on a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ar ...

at the

École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs The École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (; ÉnsAD) also known as Arts Decos' and École des Arts décoratifs, is a public grande école of art and design, constituent member of PSL Research University. The school is located in the R ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, and later continued this study in

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

, France. Since 1994, Pérez-Ratton was the director of the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design in San José. She organized a series of exhibitions of regional artists and stimulated many artistic initiatives. One of these, was her foundation in 1999 of the art center TEOR/éTica, with the goal to promote

contemporary art Contemporary art is a term used to describe the art of today, generally referring to art produced from the 1970s onwards. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a ...

from the region. She organized several conferences and international exhibitions.Prince Claus Fund
profile
/ref> In 2002 she was honored with a

Prince Claus Award The Prince Claus Fund was established in 1996 and named after Prince Claus of the Netherlands. It is annually subsidized by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since 1997, the Fund has annually presented the international Prince Claus Awa ...

from the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. The jury described her as a ''re-inventor of Central America''. According to the jury, she "''managed to bring together the different artistic terrains of this fragmented and isolated region. With enormous tenacity she introduced artistic environments in and from Central America to each other and to the rest of the world.''" In 2009 she received the Magón National Prize for Culture of the Costa Rican Ministry of Culture and Youth.Fundación Cisneros
biography
/ref> The Magón Prize is the highest cultural award, granted by the Costa Rican State. The last years of her life, Pérez-Ratton struggled with

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

. The disease turned out to be fatal, she died in her house in

Concepción de Tres Ríos Concepción (Spanish for ''conception'') refers to the Immaculate Conception of Mary, mother of Jesus, according to Roman Catholic Church doctrine. Concepción or Concepcion may also refer to: Geography Argentina * Concepción, Catamarca, a villa ...

, Cartago, Costa Rica on October 6, 2010.

Bibliography (selection)

* * 1998: ''Centroamérica Y El Caribe: Una Historia En Blanco Y Negro'' *2000: ''Costa Rica En La VII Bienal De La Habana: Cuba'', with Alessandro Tosatti *2001: ''Bienal Internacional de Pintura'', with Adrián Arguedas, Emilia Villegas em Joaquín Rodriguez del Paso, *2002: ''Priscilla Monge: Armas Equívocas'', with Priscilla Monge *2003: ''Héctor Burke: Un Desaparecido'', with Héctor Burke, *2003: ''Liliana Porter: Una "Puesta En Imágenes'', with Liliana Porter, *2004: ''Iconofagia'', with Tamara Díaz *2005: ''Enfoques A Distancia Sobre La Producción De Cultura En La Situación Contemporánea'', with Nikos Papastergiadis en Carlos Capelán, *2006: ''Estrecho Dudoso'', with Tamara Díaz, *2007: ''Rolando Castellón'', with Rolando Castellón, Rolando Castellón en Tamara Díaz, *2009: ''Lida Abdul'', with Lida Abdul, Els van der Plas en Nikos Papastergiadis,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perez, Virginia 1950 births 2010 deaths Artists from San José, Costa Rica 20th-century women artists Costa Rican artists Costa Rican women artists Costa Rican curators Art critics Museum directors Women museum directors 21st-century women artists