Emma Reyes at White Cube: First UK show explores her radical late portraits

Emma Reyes, a celebrated Colombian artist little known in Britain, receives her first UK solo exhibition at White Cube Mason's Yard, focusing on her final radical portrait series "The Masks" from 1990 until her death in 2003. The exhibition highlights Reyes's late works, where faces dissolve into vivid, organic forms blending human, animal, and plant elements, reflecting her traumatic life, including a child reportedly killed in Paraguay and a harsh convent childhood. Reyes, who learned sewing in a convent and later studied under André Lhote in Paris, produced earlier compelling pieces like 1970s ink portraits and an "Imaginary Portraits" work, prompting calls for a full museum retrospective.