Coqui Calderón

Constancia Calderón de Augrain (17 January 1937 – 26 December 2025) was a Panamanian visual artist. She was a recipient of the Order of Vasco Núñez de Balboa (1983).^[2]

Coqui Calderón was born in Panama City in 1937 to a Panamanian father, the engineer Manuel Calderón and an American mother, Constance (Connie) Byrd.^[3]

In 1955 she begins her university studies in Panama's Canal Zone, later transferring to St. Mary of the Woods University in Indiana. She later transfers again, to Rosemont College in Pennsylvania, which she graduates from in 1959 with a BA in History and Art History.^[4] During her university years, she takes a color theory class that inspires her to become a painter, and begins to produce abstract work that art historian Monica Kupfer describes as "gestural and non-figurative [...] with a lyrical and abstract pictorial language."^[5]

After a brief return to Panama, Calderón moves to Paris in 1960, where she lives for two years. In 1962, she moves again, to New York City, establishing herself first in Manhattan and later in Greenwich Village.^[6] During this time, she becomes involved in the emerging scene of Pop Art through her roommate Judith Heidler, who was employed by the gallerist and art collector Sidney Janis,^[4] known at the time for curating the early Pop Art exhibition "The New Realists". Influenced by artists like Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg, Roy Lichtenstein and Jim Dine, Calderón begins to blend Pop Art influenced visuals drawn from current events into kinetically-focused compositions inspired by Op art.

Augrain died in Panama on 26 December 2025, at the age of 88.^[7][8][9]

Coqui Calderón returns to Panama in 1968, only months before the 10th of October coup d'etat by the Panamanian National Guard which ended Arnulfo Arias' presidency. Calderón was fiercely opposed to the military government, and in 1984, made a marked shift away from the semi-abstract still life paintings of her "Fertilidades" series to present the exhibition "Protesta 84" at Galería Etcetera in Panama, centered on surreal drawings criticizing the repression and corruption of the regime.^[10]

From 1987 to 1990, Calderón produced another important series of politically critical works. Titled "Vientos de Furia", it consisted of a series of large-format paintings protagonized by the Cruzada Civilista, a protest movement which had positioned itself in opposition to the military government and its Batallones de la Dignidad, resulting in episodes of violent repression. "Vientos de Furia" documented real and allegorical scenes of mass protest, visually unified by abstracted waves of white handkerchiefs, the representative color of the Cruzada. The series' inaugural exhibition took place at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Panamá (MAC Panamá) in 1990, and two years later, was exhibited again at the Museo de Arte de las Americas at the Organization of American States in Washington DC.^[10]

These series, produced while Calderón and her family were living in Miami (where they had moved in 1983^[11]) are some of the most well-known contemporary artistic representations of opposition to the period of military dictatorship in Panama.

In 1962, due to tensions with the military government, the Instituto Panameño de Arte (Panarte) was seized and abandoned by the Instituto Nacional de Cultura (INAC). Coqui Calderón, who had been a longtime collaborator, was contacted by Olga Oller, at the time the director of the institution, for assistance in protecting Panarte and its permanent collection, which had allegedly been targeted during these cuts. Calderón takes over leadership in conjunction with Panarte co-founder Graciela Quelquejeu, securing a new physical location for the institution.^[12]

In 1976, Calderón co-founded el Taller Panarte de Artes Gráficas with Colombian artist Alicia Viteri, focused on promoting printmaking in Panama.^[11]

In 1983, Calderón participates as a co-founder of the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Panamá. As a result, she received the Order of Vasco Núñez de Balboa for her contribution to the development of Panamanian art and culture.^[12]