Ligia Montoya

Of a shy and retiring nature, she nevertheless came into extended correspondence with leading paperfolders internationally, and to be highly respected, as the "Angel of Origami", and thus influential in the development of this modern art.

The most complete biography to date is the book titled "Paper Life" [1] and its Spanish version "El Angel del Origami" [2] by Laura Rozenberg.

With the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War and the closing of universities in 1936, she returned to Argentina, enrolling in literature at Universidad de Buenos Aires and studying for a second degree in library science (bibliotecología).

It appears that a serious accident in the early 1960s, followed by her mother's death in 1966, added to Ligia Montoya's declining health, spelt her end a year later, but not before she made careful drawings and folded duplicates of many of her voluminous productions, so that her life's work might survive her.

"[6] Ligia Montoya's own designs are, in subject-matter, drawn from close observation of nature: notably birds, flowers and insects typical of Argentina.

Harbin, who there called her "the foremost woman paper-folder today", continued: "Her creations, which are innumerable, range from simple figures of birds and flowers to fantastically difficult insects.

A beginning of an account of her aesthetic is suggested by James Sakoda: "The artistic folder, best illustrated by Ligia Montoya, observes the limitations of the paper, emphasizes clean-cut straight lines, which are characteristic of folds, and produces beautiful and somewhat stylized figures.