A modern French artist in Argentina: Andrée Moch (1879-1953)

Andrée Moch (1879-1952) in his workshop in Buenos Aires, circa 1939.



Andrée Moch (1879-1952) Self-portrait, circa 1908, current location unknown.



Andrée Moch (1879-1952), A summit of Tandil, current location unknown.



Georgina G. Gluzman
(Buenos Aires, 1984)

Specialist in women artists and feminist approaches to art history. She has a doctorate in Art History, and a degree and professor of Arts from the University of Buenos Aires. She is a researcher at the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research. Likewise, she works as a professor at the University of San Andrés. She is the author of the book Invisible Traces. Women artists in Buenos Aires (1890-1923) (Biblos, 2016). She has curated the exhibition María Obligado, painter at the Provincial Historical Museum “Dr. Julio Marc” and El canon accidental. Women artists in Argentina (1890-1950) at the National Museum of Fine Arts, whose catalog she has also edited.

By Georgina G. Gluzman

The trajectory of Andrée Moch (1879-1953) has suffered a double denial in the histories of Argentine art, due to her condition as a woman and a migrant, incapable of being "absorbed" by the nationalist discourses that have structured the discipline. An active participant in the Argentine art scene since her arrival in Buenos Aires, Moch developed an extensive career away from her homeland, marked by her artistic and literary production, particularly her autobiography. In various instances, the artist referred to the degree of freedom and creativity that her decision to move to a strange land had given her. This theme is central to Moch's memoirs: creative freedom is achieved by moving her through space and by the joy of finding a new home away from her own birthplace. (1)

Andrée Moch was born in Paris into a wealthy family. His prosperous situation would come to an end when his father passed away. After this loss, she decided to train to become a professional and financially independent artist, first in Bordeaux and then at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, which shortly before had fully opened its doors to women. There, she trained as both a painter and a sculptor. In 1905, during her studies, she exhibited a relief inspired by Roman art at the Salon des Artistes Français. Soon, her love for her travels and her desire to broaden her professional horizons led her to England and Spain.

In 1907, Ella Moch exhibited successfully in Spain. We do not know the works that the artist presented on that occasion. However, her theme is well known: portraits and landscapes, painted in England and Spain, especially in the Basque Country. The landscapes of the Basque city of Fuenterrabía, where she lived for a few months, were one of the highlights of her presentation. The titles of the works refer to Spanish traditions and well-established themes of Spanish art.

After the Spanish sojourn, Moch decided to travel even further and sailed to Buenos Aires in 1908. He arrived with the vague prospect of receiving a commission to create a monument, in the hectic years leading up to the celebration of the Centennial of the May Revolution. in 1910, when several monuments to the "great men" of Argentine history were erected.

Here she waited months for the jury in charge of evaluating her model for the monument to Admiral Brown to visit her in her study. However, Ella Moch did not get the assignment. But, the artist, who was extremely resourceful, had already started planning her next moves. Her passage through the Basque Country helped her establish links with the Basque community in Buenos Aires and shortly after her arrival she became a contributor to La Baskonia, the magazine of that community in this city. Also, a few weeks after her arrival, she organized a solo exhibition at the Witcomb Gallery, which received mixed reviews.

In 1923, Moch traveled to the United States, an experience that he would record in his book Sketches of my trip to North America. In New York, the artist exhibited at the Anderson Gallery. Although the works that she exhibited there have not been able to be identified, we once again know her subject matter: portraits and landscapes of Argentina and Chile, including Tierra del Fuego. Landscapes that she painted after traveling through the south and the Andean region of Argentina and Chile. There, the tireless she walked and rode until she found the views that captured, in her words, going "from wonder to wonder" in the "immense and changing Andes”.

Although Moch always presented herself as a homeless person, we can even say an outcast, she evidently found in Argentina a community that valued her work and finally settled permanently in Buenos Aires, a city that she embraced as one of her main sources of inspiration. Although she did not abandon her more traditional landscapes, the representation of the hectic city of Buenos Aires became a key theme for her, both in her paintings and in her writings. The fledgling Buenos Aires art market was eager to acquire the vibrantly colored paintings of familiar places in the city, as well as the landscapes of it. The places and history of Argentina had replaced the old themes. In addition, Moch found another very profitable and socially valued activity: painting portraits, especially within the Basque community.

Andrée Moch, doubly denied in the stories of traditional art in Argentina, is an artist whose work is still little known, despite having undoubtedly been a relevant figure in her time. For her, her home was where hers was her heart: the Argentine Republic, which before her arrival had considered a place as remote as it was mysterious.

Note:

1. For an overview of this topic, see Georgina Gluzman, Invisible Traces: women artists in Buenos Aires, 1890-1923, Buenos Aires, Biblos, 2016.

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