Gemma Taccogna

Gemma Fane Taccogna (1923-2007) was an Italian-American and Mexican artist. She innovated the design and production technique of papier-mâché. After her death, her artwork became collector's items.^[1]

Gemma Taccogna was born on May 9, 1923, in Santeramo, as the daughter of Giuseppe Taccogna and María Putingnano. She was still a baby when she arrived with her family in New York. Taccogna left home in 1937, at the age of 14, and started to work as an artist. In 1952 she married the Mexican medical doctor Juan del Rio Huidobro with whom she had three children. The couple moved to Mexico in 1954. In the early 1960s, Taccogna married the American artist Fred Sexton (1907-1991). The family moved to Palos Verdes, California in 1966. Taccogna separated from Sexton in 1968 because of sexual abuse.^[2]

When Taccogna arrived in Mexico in 1954, she already was a well-known artist in New York. In Mexico, she set up a studio to make papier-mache artworks. Her work was covered in Verna Cook´s book Mexican Interiors, with photographs by Bob Schalkwijk.^[3] The studio, named Artes Gemma, had up to 60 employees. Peggy Guggenheim bought Gemma's art and exhibited it in her museum in Venice. Gemma's success gave the papier-mâché industry in Mexico a boost.

When Taccogna confronted Sexton, he fled to Mexico. Sexton, who had been involved in an earlier abuse case of his friend George Hodel, seized the couple's Mexican estate and left Taccogna in financial trouble.^[2] Taccogna moved to a condo in Torrance and continued teaching art classes until her death in 2007.

Taccogna's works participated in temporary exhibitions in the following musea and art galleries:

• Peggy Guggenheim collection, Venice
• Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico-city
• Galería Antonio Souza, Mexico-city

• Tile decorating with Gemma.^[4]