Pitocha meditando (Pitocha Meditating)

Among the most enigmatic creations of Delhy Tejero is her series Las Brujas (The Witches), a group of five personages that reappeared throughout the burgeoning years of her artistic career. Boceto para «Las Brujas y sus cualidades» (Sketch for “Witches and Their Qualities”) serves as an introduction to these “magical beings”, informing of their names, physical appearance and forms, which, in a sisterly fashion, aid Tejero in her artistic undertaking. Kirta is a woman of letters and prepares her paintbrush; Kulinda is an astronomer and takes care of her water; Rabina is a mountaineer and erases the lines on her paper; Taruja is an aviator and sharpens her pencil; and Pitocha is a swimmer and holds her paper as she works.

In contrast to the other illustrations she made for children’s books (a common endeavour among women artists of the time), this series of witches comprises autonomous works — as much an imaginative modification of the aesthetic and narrative canon of the witch as the comical intent of representing the muses of the arts and sciences from classical mythology.



Raúl Martínez Arranz