Lourdes Grobet (Mexican, 1940–2022). <em>Untitled (Cactus Painted Red/Yellow)</em>, ca. 1986. Silver dye bleach print (Cibachrome), image: 7 11/16 × 7 3/4 in. (19.5 × 19.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Marcuse Pfeifer, 1990.119.12. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: , 1990.119.12_PS9.jpg)

Lourdes Grobet (Mexican, 1940–2022). Untitled (Cactus Painted Red/Yellow), ca. 1986. Silver dye bleach print (Cibachrome), image: 7 11/16 × 7 3/4 in. (19.5 × 19.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Marcuse Pfeifer, 1990.119.12. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: , 1990.119.12_PS9.jpg)

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What is the significance of using house paint?

Lourdes Grobet's use of house paint signifies her role in the anti-academicism trend in Mexico at the time.

She rejected the style of the Old Masters, and instead focused on art as a means of expression and personal language.

Deciding to work with house paint instead of artist's paint was unusual and unacceptable within historic conventions, and was a move away from (and against) academic art. In her words, "...schools are the same everywhere: they lay down rules that I wasn't prepared to follow."

Did she paint directly onto trees and cactuses?

She did! She would go out into the fields (sometimes with her children) and paint!

She started doing this as a student in England, and when she returned home to Mexico, she said, "After my experience in England, I was curious to see what the Mexican landscape would look like if I painted it."

Wow. That is subversive! Thank you for all the great information.

What is the significance of using house paint?

Lourdes Grobet uses house paint, an every-day, almost industrial, material as a deliberate rejection of the rules of academic fine art that she felt were too narrow. She felt that the strict, formal rules and traditions were "outdated."

She chose this "unacceptable" material as a means to develop a unique and personal language.

Untitled (Cactus Painted Red/Yellow)

Lourdes Grobet

Photography

Lourdes Grobet was an art student in England in 1977 when she challenged divisions between painting and photography by using her camera to document local landscapes she dramatically altered with colorful house paint. Her professor failed her, and her Derbyshire neighbors called the police. In 1982 and 1983, still inspired, Grobet returned to this concept, siting her experiments across her Mexican homeland in Morelos, Michoacán, and Oaxaca.

ARTIST Lourdes Grobet, Mexican, 1940–2022

MEDIUM Silver dye bleach print (Cibachrome)

DATES ca. 1986

DIMENSIONS image: 7 11/16 × 7 3/4 in. (19.5 × 19.7 cm) sheet: 8 x 9 3/4 in. (20.3 x 24.8 cm) (show scale)

SIGNATURE Signed on lower right recto of mat: "M.L. Grobet"

COLLECTIONS Photography

ACCESSION NUMBER 1990.119.12

CREDIT LINE Gift of Marcuse Pfeifer

EXHIBITIONS

Out of Place: A Feminist Look at the Collection

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view

CAPTION Lourdes Grobet (Mexican, 1940–2022). Untitled (Cactus Painted Red/Yellow), ca. 1986. Silver dye bleach print (Cibachrome), image: 7 11/16 × 7 3/4 in. (19.5 × 19.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Marcuse Pfeifer, 1990.119.12. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: , 1990.119.12_PS9.jpg)

IMAGE overall, 1990.119.12_PS9.jpg., 2019

"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.

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Download our app and ask your own questions during your visit. Here are some that others have asked.

What is the significance of using house paint?

Lourdes Grobet's use of house paint signifies her role in the anti-academicism trend in Mexico at the time.

She rejected the style of the Old Masters, and instead focused on art as a means of expression and personal language.

Did she paint directly onto trees and cactuses?

She did! She would go out into the fields (sometimes with her children) and paint!

Wow. That is subversive! Thank you for all the great information.

What is the significance of using house paint?

She chose this "unacceptable" material as a means to develop a unique and personal language.