María Carmen Portela (Buenos Aires, October 6, 1898 - 1983) was an Argentine engraver and sculptor who settled in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1944, and became a legal citizen.

Portela learned sculpture as a self-taught artist and in 1929, she began to work under the direction of Agustín Riganelli [es].

[1] Later, she studied engraving with Alfredo Guido at the Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes [es] in Buenos Aires.

[2] In 1939, Portela received a scholarship to study sculpture and engraving in Europe from the National Commission of Culture, which she was unable to use because of World War II.

[1] Portela'a sculptural works can be found in public squares in Argentina and Uruguay,[2] as well as in the National and Provincial Museum of Fine Arts (Buenos Aires), National and Municipal Museum of Fine Arts (Montevideo), as well as Argentinean provincial museums in Cordoba, Catamarca, Mendoza, and La Plata among others.