Maria Gutierrez Blanchard was born in March of 1881, in Santander, Spain. In 1903, she began studying to become a painter in Madrid. In 1909, Maria won a grant to continue her studies in Paris, at the Academy Vitti (Academie Vitti), where she studied under Hermengildo Anglada Camarasa, and Kees Van Dongen.

While at the Academy, Kees influenced her style and she began to break out of the constraints that she was taught earlier in Spain. It was during this time that she began to experiment with Cubism, after meeting artists Jacques Lipchitz and Juan Gris.

In 1910, while in Paris, Maria won a medal in the National Exhibition of Beautiful Arts and from 1914 to 1916 she taught drawing to select students in Salamanca. In 1916, sh...