A Manuela se le arrancó el caballo

Born to Jewish parents who escaped to Chile in World War II, Israel’s oeuvre is steeped in her childhood experiences with Judaism and an environment of textiles from her father’s tailoring profession. Her work in oils, acrylics and mixed media often express a theme of exile which dominated her personal life. At the 1974 Biennale di Venezia, she presented one of the first pieces of art to protest the Chilean military coup. She was also the first woman to win the Bienal Internacional de Arte de Valparaíso (1992). Shortly before her death in 2011, she published a compendium of her work titled “Cuerpos impresos (Metales Pesados).” In her words, “Beauty is something more than color, material and form. Beauty is in love, in justice, in respect for nature.”