Sheila Hicks: Free threads. Textile and its Pre-Columbian Roots, 1954-2017

Curated by Frédéric Bonnet 

Museo Amparo presents a major exhibition dedicated to Sheila Hicks; the first in Mexico since a collaboration with Antonio Souza Gallery in 1961. 

Sheila Hicks: Free Threads. Textile and its Pre-Columbian Roots, 1954-2017 offers a new and original interpretation of her work, allowing to appreciate a large number of works that have not been exposed for several decades, including some made in Mexico in the 1960s. 

With approximately 120 works made at different times, as well as numerous photographs, the exhibition will provide a broad overview of her artistic work, allowing to highlight their Latin American roots and influences. 

A student of Josef Albers at Yale University, Sheila Hicks received a solid pictorial training, a medium in which she made her first works—two oil paintings from 1954 and 1957, never exhibited before, are to be displayed in this exhibition. It was during that period that she developed a sensitivity marked by the power and effects of color. 

Her work underwent a radical change in 1957 when she began a series of trips through Chile and the region, during which she became acquainted with Pre-Columbian textiles and ancient Andean weaving techniques. Through this approach, the exhibition aims to confront Sheila Hicks’ art with 20 Pre-Columbian textiles from the collections of the Museo de Arte de Lima. 

This exhibition proposes a new reading, emphasizing that the achievements of her training in the field of abstract painting did not disappear when her work turned to textiles, which led the artist to address pictorial abstraction in a unique way, which manifested itself very quickly through an openness to spatial concerns.

In addition to these pictorial and structural considerations, the importance of architecture and decoration in the art of Sheila Hicks are explored, as well as color considered as form and texture, and language issues. 

Museo Amparo
Museo Amparo is a private institution founded in memory of Amparo Rugarcía de Espinosa Yglesias in 1991 by Manuel Espinosa Yglesias and his daughter Ángeles Espinosa Yglesias Rugarcía through Fundación Amparo with the commitment to preserve, research, display, and disclose Pre-Columbian, colonial, modern, and contemporary Mexican art. Currently, Museo Amparo displays its Pre-Columbian art collection, considered one of the most important in Mexico in a private institution. In addition to the collection of works of colonial, 19th and 20th century art, it has an ongoing program of Mexican and international temporary exhibitions as well as an intensive program of academic, artistic, educational, and ludic activities for all age groups.