“María Izquierdo was the first Mexican painter to embrace the avant-garde, not only in terms of formal aspects, but also in her pursuit of a modernity rooted in her own artistic identity. She rejected nationalism and its dogmas, distancing herself from simplistic folklorism. Instead, she held popular culture in high regard, drawing from it the colors and many of the themes in her work; the circus, one of her favorites, appeared in her oil paintings and watercolors from the 1930s and 1940s. She was the first female painter from Mexico to have a solo exhibition in New York based on her own merits, and also to take part in a group exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1930.”