Lily Garafulic

Who was Lily Garafulic?

Lily Garafulic Yankovic was a Chilean sculptor and museum professional of Croatian descent. She was a member of the Generation of 40 artists, which included other Chilean sculptors, including Marta Colvin. Garafulic was a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in New York City in 1944. She served as the director of the Chilean National Museum of Fine Arts from 1973 until 1977.

Garafulic was born in Antofagasta, Chile, on May 14, 1914. She began attending the School of Fine Arts at the University of Chile in 1934, where she studied under the noted sculptor, Lorenzo Domínguez. In 1944, she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to New York City, where she studied at the New School of Social Research and worked with engraver, William Hayter.

Garafulic worked as a teacher and professor of sculpture and art. Her students included Sergio Badilla Castillo and Raúl Valdivieso. She became a professor Emeritus at the University of Chile in 1997.

She received the Premio Nacional de Artes Plásticas award in 1995.

Garafulic died on March 15, 2012, at her home in the Parque Forestal section of Santiago, Chile, at the age of 97.