The Search For An Identity
It has been said that Argentina's artistic creativity was not decolonized until the 1920s , when it finally ceased, albeit hesitantly, to draw its inspiration exclusively from France, Spain, Italy and other European countries. While a relatively progressive president, Marcelo T. de Alvear, was in power from 1922 to 1928, bringing about a relaxed climate of creativity and prosperity, key figures Xul Solar and Emilio Pettoruti came back to Argentina after long peregrinations in Europe, and the Martin Fierro magazine, a vaguely patriotic publication interested in criollo and neocriollo culture as a means of achieving a non-chauvinistic brand of "Argentinidad", in all fields of artistic creation, first went on sale in 1924; Borges was one of its contributors. Of all the early "post-colonial" artists, Xul Solar , born Oscar Agustin Alejandro Schulz Solari (1887-1963), stands out, both technically and for his originality; he is one of the few artists in Argentina to have a museum all to himself, the fantastic - in both senses of the word - Museo Xul Solar in Recoleta, Buenos Aires. Solar was an eccentric polymath, born just outside Buenos Aires to a German-speaking Latvian father and a Genoese mother. After abandoning his architectural studies in the capital he set sail for Hong Kong but jumped ship in London, stayed in Europe for twelve years, and began working there as an artist. Back in Buenos Aires he experimented with new styles and influences but in 1939, fascinated in particular by astrology and Buddhism, he founded the Pan Klub , a group of artists and intellectuals sharing his Utopian pacifist credo. Some of his more disturbing pictures evoke the ruins left by World War II. Xul Solar worked mainly with watercolour and tempera, preferring their fluidity and pastel colours to the relative rigidity of oils. While many influences are visible, his closest soul-mate, both artistically and philosophically, is undoubtedly Klee, though artists as varied as Bosch, Braque, Chagall and Dali evidently provided inspiration too. His beguiling paintings essentially work on two levels: a magical, almost infantile universe of fantasy, depicted in fresh, bright colours and immediately appealing forms, and a far more complex philosophy of erudite symbolism and allegory, in which the zodiac and cabalistic signs predominate, along with a repetition of snake and ladder motifs. His adopted name is not only a deformation of his real surnames but also "Lux" (light) backwards, while "solar" suggests his obsession with the planets. Octavio Paz's maxim "painting has one foot in architecture and the other in dreams" has often been quoted in his connection and the artist's early architectural training unmistakeably comes across in his paintings, in which buildings and futuristic urban plans predominate. You can see a particularly fine watercolour, Pupo , one of Xul Solar's earlier works (1918), at Buenos Aires' Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes or MNBA, the country's biggest and richest collection of nineteenth- and twentieth-century painting and sculpture. In the same museum you can see a very fine painting - Arlequin , 1928 - by Solar's friend and contemporary, Emilio Pettoruti (1892-1971), whose major exhibition in 1924 sent ripples of scandal and excitement across the conservative capital. This event is widely interpreted as the beginning of the modern era in Argentine painting. Pettoruti transferred into painting and collage his personal and, for some, very Argentine vision of Cubism. The MNBA not only houses a beautiful collection of art, but it also traces in a concrete form the very history of the country's painting and sculpture since independence in the early nineteenth century. In colonial times Argentina had relied on two main sources to satisfy the growing demand for artwork: the craftsmen of Peru and Bolivia, especially those of the Cusco School , who churned out mostly religious paintings and objects that added a mestizo touch to European baroque themes and styles; and artisans and artists from Brazil, whose slightly different techniques and inspiration provided some variety among the objects on offer. As a gaucho identity began to emerge and benefit from economic prosperity a more specific creativity appeared, in the form of mostly silver and leather " motivos " - mate vessels, saddles, knives, guns - of the kind displayed at museums right across the country. A major collection of these objects is housed at the Museo Hernandez , in Palermo, Buenos Aires. But as a middle class and wealthy land-owning aristocracy became firmly established, they heaped scorn upon this "vulgar sub-culture" and would have nothing in their homes but fashionable European and European-style art. Not until 1799 did Buenos Aires have its own art school , the Escuela de Dibujo, but it was shut down upon the orders of King Carlos IV only three years later. After independence, an academy of fine art was founded, but all the teachers came from Europe and it too was closed down for lack of funding in the 1830s. Carlos Morel (1813-94), one of the first recognized Argentine artists, had been trained there; firmly entrenched in the Romantic tradition of early nineteenth-century France, his oils of urban and rural scenes and military episodes were exquisitely executed and you can see a particularly fine example, Carga de Caballeria del Ejercito Federal (exact date unknown) on display at the MNBA.
your food is yummyisabella says "i think yalls food is super dooper yummy keep up the good work
" whatsamanth says "nothing. you can survive on your own. dont go there its a horrible place." what you needkatie says "bring lots of food and water. try to bring non perishable food. and bring warm and cold clothes. you will need it." Buenos Aires City of DesignBob Frassinetti says "In August 2005 Buenos Aires was appointed City of Design by the UNESCO. This is recognition the city of “good airs” shares with other top notch design areas of the world such as Berlin, Montreal.
This appointment evidences recognition towards what Buenos Aires is doing in this particular area, and it cannot be understood if not put in perspective to the recent boom that took place in this area recently. BA features a constant flow of movement in terms of design, from mind-blowing creations to average regular, items the broadness of the design movement in the Argentine capital provides a wide rainbow of options featuring something for every taste.
Buenos Aires has been among the firsts of the American Continent to take upon the challenge of design together with Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and Mendoza in Argentina –as well-. The turning point in contemporary design in South America can be dated at the end of the 1950s and all throughout the 60s. The decade of 1960 was a strong decade for innovation, creation and design in the deepest sense of the words. The Arts in general had a strong input back then, and design was not an exception, from aesthetics to usefulness, Argentina has been taking upon the challenge of designing new and innovative objects ever since. After a couple of decades of ups and downs, ins and outs, always in tune with the general panorama of what was going on in our country, today, Buenos Aires is breeding and furthering some interesting aesthetic and conceptual approaches to objects.
In terms of industrial design today in Argentina, there are at several different disciplines working in an avant-garde creations and innovating in theory and practice in this sense. The range goes from industrial products to vehicles, furniture and lighting, making of Buenos Aires a design spot pretty much hyper-comprehensive in terms of design for the visitors.
An interesting insight on design in Buenos Aires is provided by worldly known Argentine architect and designer Ricardo Blanco in his book entitled Crónicas del diseño industrial en la Argentina – Chronicles of the Industrial Design in Argentina-, where he reconstructs the path of evolution thru means of a particular historical perspective and journey. Not aiming to cover the entire historical process, but more in the sense of providing an organized insight into the world of useful aesthetics, Blanco attest to evidence the intention and cultural bases of the Argentine design path.
Thru means of the current literature and the ever growing production of industrial design objects Buenos Aires takes upon new airs of discovery, as it mutates from the traditional city of beef and tango to a much more interesting and amusing spot of arts, design and aesthetics… And all in all, in the meantime we explore the new inputs of design we can always stop to enjoy the delightful Argentine cuisine and culture, but now in a broader and richer way.
Bob Frassinetti, Buenos Aires, Argentina" GanjaFaith says "look for ganja at all times"
Your Tip for Argentina
Help other backpackers! Write your own guides and backpacking tips to Argentina - they will appear instantly on this page - Please only write a tip/guide to Argentina - visit the main Argentina forum to ask a question!
Please do not post links to your site here (they won't work) - please use the Argentina webguide section below! Thanks.
|
