Marta Gutierrez

Marta Gutierrez, a trailblazer and influential figure in Miami’s Latin American art scene, passed away on May 29, 2025, at her home in Miami, surrounded by family, including her children, several grandchildren and greatgrandchild. She was 92 years old.

Ms. Gutierrez was one of the founders of Forma Gallery in 1977, the first gallery in the United States devoted exclusively to Latin American art. In a quiet street in Coral Gables (FL), it became a center of activity where several generations of Latin American artists had their first U.S. exhibitions; countless artists can affirm these exhibitions to be milestones in their careers. Ms. Gutierrez left Forma Gallery to open Marta Gutierrez Fine Arts, dealing mostly in the secondary market, with works in inventory by the most important artists from Latin America, such as Wifredo Lam, Fernando Botero, Roberto Matta, Claudio Bravo, Amelia Pelaez, Joaquin Torres Garcia, and many others. Additionally, the gallery kept representing and promoting many renowned artists, such as Edouard Duval Carrie, Gustavo Acosta, Jorge Pantoja, Guido Llinas, Demi, Rafael Ferrer, and Ernesto Barreda, among others. Marta Gutierrez Fine Arts was the first gallery from Florida to be accepted and to show at the nation’s most prestigious art fair at the time, the Chicago International Art Exhibition (CIAE) at Navy Pier.

Her many efforts, including collaborations with major museums, art galleries and auction houses, helped to foster appreciation and recognition for these and many other artists and to advance Miami’s reputation as a hub for Latin American art in the country and around the world.

In 1992, a New York Times article noted the increasing “…importance of Miami as a center for Latin American art” as it welcomed at the time Art Miami '92 in Miami Beach that year. The same article, which was on the front page of The New York Times, showed a photo of Ms. Gutierrez with her son Fernando, who was a partner in the firm at the time. Art Miami ’92 was then the largest convening of artists, dealers and collectors the state had ever seen. Over 30 years later the art scene in Miami continues strong. 

Ms. Gutierrez was married to Enrique (Henry) Gutierrez, a highly respected architect and developer himself, who designed Miami’s iconic Bacardi Building and the One Biscayne tower, which when finished in 1974 was not only the tallest building in Miami but also the tallest building south of Atlanta. He also designed Brickell Place, four residential towers that presaged the current construction boom in the area. Mr. Gutierrez passed away in 2017. 

Marta Gutierrez is survived by her children, her daughter Tessie San Martin and son Fernando E. Gutierrez, her grandchildren, Alexandra Gutierrez, Caroline Gutierrez, Gabriela San Martin and Beki San Martin and her great grandson Sebastian Gutierrez-Ryder. 

Marta Gutierrez was a woman ahead of her times - independent, strong, brilliant, a mother, a wife, a grandmother and a great grandmother, a formidable woman in all respects.

Her work leaves a lasting legacy, the city of Miami and by extension the US are the better for her unflagging support and elevation of Latin American Art, and her family will never forget her beauty, tenacity, and her love and affection.