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The work Locust Woman, the title of which stems from the insect on the figure's head, belongs to the fifty-odd sculptures made by Alberto in Moscow after 1956. Given his lack of resources -he didn't even have a workshop- Alberto used the materials he had to hand, such as wood and metal. The small fragments of wood he obtained from boxes and waste materials were turned and sanded down before being joined together with pieces of metal by means of assemblage. In this work that recreates the traditional maternity motif a female figure supports one of her children in arms, while the other one remains by her side, holding on to her skirt. As in most of his late sculptures, Alberto's formal vocabulary oscillates between Surrealism and Abstraction.

Alberto was one of the renovators of Spanish sculpture in the second and third decades of the 20th century. Of humble origins, Alberto was a self-taught artist who adopted a vocabulary of sinuous and organic abstract shapes that linked his work to Surrealism and to artists such as Jean Arp and Tanguy. An enthusiastic admirer of Castilian landscape and of the rural and popular worlds, in 1927 his strolls and conversations with the painter Benjamín Palencia through the outskirts of Madrid would lead to the founding of the School of Vallecas. In 1938 Alberto moved to Moscow, where he taught the children expatriated during the Spanish Civil War. He also worked as a set designer and between the years 1946 and 1956 gave up sculpture to focus on painting. [Miriam Alzuri]

Selected bibliography

• Bilbao Fine Arts Museum : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2014. p. 172.
• Musée des Beaux Arts de Bilbao : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2014. p. 172.
• Brihuega, Jaime. "El fulgor de un epílogo : dos obras de la última etapa de Alberto = The glow of an epilogue : two works from Alberto's late period", Buletina = Boletín = Bulletin. 2015. pp. 165-192, 261-270.
• Alberto, 1895-1962 [Cat. exp.]. Madrid, Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia, 1970. pp. 19, 53, n° cat. 72. (Con el título 'Figura de madera')
• Azcoaga, Enrique. Alberto. Madrid, Servicio de Publicaciones del Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia, 1977. p. 49. (Con el título 'Figura')
• Alberto [Cat. exp.]. Madrid, Patronato Nacional de Museos, 1980. pp. 19, 40, n° cat. 11. (Con el título 'Escultura')
• 5. Triennale Fellbach 1992 : Kleinplastik in Mexiko, Spanien, Italien, Deutschland [Cat. exp.]. Stuttgart, Cantz, 1992. p. 140. (La imagen no se corresponde con la obra del museo)
• Bonet, Juan Manuel. Escultura española do seculo vinte : pequeño formato [Cat. exp.]. Santiago de Compostela, Consorcio da Cidade de Santiago de Compostela, 1993. p. 39 (Con el título Sin título).
• De Picasso a Bacon : arte contemporáneo en las colecciones del Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao [Cat. exp.]. Segovia, Museo de Arte Contemporánea Esteban Vicente, 1999. pp. 102-103..
• Entre la figuración y la abstracción : arte contemporáneo en las colecciones del Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao [Cat. exp.]. Pamplona, Museo de Navarra, 1999. pp. 76-77.
• Un bosque en obras : vanguardias en la escultura española en madera [Cat. exp.]. Madrid ; Segovia, Caja Madrid Fundación ; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Esteban Vicente, 2000. pp. 116-117, 241 (Con el título Sin título). N° cat. 14
• Memoria rusa de España : Alberto y El Quijote de Kózintsev [Cat. exp.]. Madrid ; Toledo ; Córdoba, Sociedad Estatal de Conmemoraciones Culturales ; Empresa Pública Don Quijote de La Mancha 2005 ; Fundación Provincial de Artes Plásticas Rafael Botí de Córdoba, 2005. p. 58.
• Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao : guía. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2006. pp. 172-173.
• Musée des Beaux Arts de Bilbao : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2006. pp. 172-173.
• Bilbao Fine Arts Museum : guide. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2006. pp. 172-173.
• Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao : guía. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2011. pp. 172-173, n° cat. 123a.
• Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa : gida. Bilbao, Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa-Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 2012. pp. 172-173, n° cat. 123a.