Feliza Bursztyn

Who is Feliza Bursztyn?

Feliza Bursztyn was a Colombian sculptor.

Feliza Bursztyn studied painting in the Art Students League of New York City and sculpture at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris. Her exploration with materials started thanks to the work of the French César Baldaccini and after 1961 she started using trash in her works. Bursztyn was part of a generation that changed the definition of sculpture in Colombian culture.

Her workshop in Bogotá was a gathering place for many writers, artists, and intellectuals including Gabriel García Márquez, Alejandro Obregón, Marta Traba, Álvaro Cepeda Samudio, Santiago García, Jorge Gaitán Durán, Fernando Martínez Sanabria, and Hernando Valencia Goelkel. She took exile in Mexico in 1981 due to the political and social problems in Colombia.

Feliza died in Paris on January 8, 1982, leaving many of her works to the Colombian Ministry of Culture and the National Museum of Colombia.