Juanita Guccione, 1 of the most intriguing “lost” figures in modern art

December 28, 2019 8:57 AM

Juanita Guccione's life (June 20, 1904–December 18, 1999) spanned all but four years of the 20th Century (overview of her art). Cubist, realist, abstract, surrealist, and abstract surrealist strains are all to be found in her work, but by 1970 she was painting electrifying works in watercolor and acrylic that elude the most considered categorization. For the better part of her career she had been imperceptively referred to as a surrealist, but her later work abandoned the human figure and the observed world. This later work, lyrical and astral, reflected a painterly independence hinted at earlier in her career. This is the opening of the biography of Juanita Guccione.

Juanita Guccione began painting as Anita Rice, then changed her name to Juanita Rice, then Juanita Marbrook, and finally to Juanita Guccione after marrying in the mid-1940s.

Here's another collection of art online, used by permission of Juanita’s son Djelloul Marbrook.

posted by filthy light thief (4 comments total)

Title post from this brief article on a recently closed exhibit at the Napa Valley Museum.

Post inspired by this painting on Mltshp.

Guiccione doesn't have a Wikipedia article yet, but there's this "stale" draft article.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:00 AM on December 28, 2019

This is really neat. 80% of the work doesn't appeal to me, but the other 20% is incredibly interesting! I'd love to find more if her WPA mural work, but the internet doesn't seem to have that information. (Google thinks it does, but I've yet to find anything that isn't pretty clearly a painting on canvas or paper. I guess some of them are another artist's copies of historic murals?) Thanks for posting this!
posted by eotvos at 9:50 AM on December 28, 2019 [1 favorite]

This is a very enjoyable and interesting read. We as a society don't often recognize the value to be found spending a lifetime pursuing art and creation, unless the artist becomes famous and/or wealthy. But a look back at lives like this woman's, show me at least, the incredible richness of experience that often comes along with following your creative drive.
posted by WalkerWestridge at 10:44 AM on December 28, 2019

Yes yes yes - extremely relevant to my interests! (Came to a love of modern art late but hard, low key self-educating on what speaks to me from larger movements). Thank you!
posted by esoteric things at 10:41 AM on December 29, 2019