Page 10 - Boca Club News - April '23

Page 10, Boca Club News

Boca Happenings

Paintings by Latin American Master

Oswaldo Vigas at Boca Museum of Art

The Boca Raton Vigas was a contemporary of
Museum of Art is Picasso, Ernst, Léger, Calder,
currently exhibiting and Lam, and he became close
Oswal do Vi gas: to these artists while living in
Paintings Between Paris during the 1950s and
Lat in Ame ri ca, 1960s (especially Picasso,
Africa, and Europe who encouraged Vigas to
(on view through May reflect on notions of ancestry
21st), a collection of in his work). Vigas was the first
works by the Latin A young Oswaldo Vigas with Picasso artist to represent Venezuela
American master at the Spanish master’s studio, Villa at the Venice Biennale when
which he created in La Californie, near Cannes, South its national pavilion was
Paris in the 1950s, of France, 1955 inaugurated in 1954, and
and in Venezuela from again in 1962 to organize the
1969-1976. The exhibition is an homage to the artist by his Venezuelan section. He was
son, the award-winning filmmaker Lorenzo Vigas – as an successful in France, where El Alacrán (1952). Oil on canvas.
intimate lens through the eyes of their father-son relationship, his works were exhibited
honoring the launch of the new catalogue raisonné of his alongside artists Jean Arp, Chagall,
father’s work. The exhibition features several works that Giacometti, Laurens, Magritte, Matisse
have never been exhibited before in the United States. The and others.
paintings are on loan from the Oswaldo Vigas Foundation. Vigas returned permanently to
One of Venezuela’s most prolific and influential painters Venezuela after 12 years because he
of the twentieth century, Oswaldo Vigas (1923-2014) was passionately yearned to contribute to
recognized for his vision of the Americas. When interviewed his own country’s art scene by utilizing
in the 1950s and 1960s, Vigas compared his art to his the knowledge he gained in Europe.
birthplace: “The Americas are a cosmos. Our continent is Some say this move prevented him from
full of dark signs and warnings: telluric signs and magic that gaining the international traction of his
are deep components of our condition. At the same time that contemporaries in Paris from that era.
they reveal something, these symbols also compromise us This new exhibition at the Boca
in a disturbing world of effervescence. The intention of my Raton Museum of Art is a labor of
painting is to reach them, interpret them, and translate them love for the artist’s son, Lorenzo Vigas, Orgánico (1969). Oil on canvas. Hierática (1970). Oil on cardboard
into new warnings. My paintings are halfway between Latin winner of the prestigious Golden Lion fixed on plywood.
America, Africa, and Europe.” Vigas is known for his singular Award at the Venice International Film Festival in 2015. He
vision that takes inspiration from his pride in his Mestizo subsequently directed a 2016 documentary about his father’s Vigas’ work is represented in numerous institutions,
identity, alongside the history, mythology, and ancient art of life entitled The Orchid Seller (El Vendedor de Orquídeas) including: the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the San
Venezuela, mixed with influences from European modernism. and was recently deeply involved in the creation of his Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Michigan State
Vigas is celebrated as a towering figure of modernism in father’s online catalogue raisonné. “The film about my father University Art Museum; the Art Museum of the Americas,
Latin America, with a career spanning seven decades. His asks us to reflect on the passage of time, the importance of OAS, in Washington, D.C.; the Avon Collection, in New
first solo exhibition in the U.S. was in 1958 in Washington, memories, and above all on the origin of the impulse to York; in France - Musée Jean Lurçat et de la Tapisserie
D.C. Described as “an artist who bridged the gap between create,” says Lorenzo Vigas. “My father’s art was always Contemporaine in Angers; Musée Des Beaux Arts D’Angers;
pre-Colombian iconography and the experimental art woven with the primeval roots of Latin American culture, yet and Musée Des Beaux Arts in Reims; in Colombia - Museo
movements of the 20th century,” Vigas received the he is no longer viewed merely as a ‘Latin American artist’– he de Arte Moderno; and Museo de Arte Contemporáneo El
International Association of Art Critics Award twice (in 2008 is now acknowledged as a modern universal artist. Minuto de Dios; in Peru - Museo de Arte Contemporáneo in
and 2014), and was the recipient of the Latin Union Award “Through his work, he reinstated our continent’s Pre- Lima; in Chile - Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes; in Uruguay
in Washington, DC in 2004. “For South Florida audiences, Columbian roots and African heritage with vibrant European - Museo Ralli in Punta del Este; and in numerous important
at the crossroads here of the contemporary Latin American and North American modernism. He dedicated his entire life private collections worldwide.
experience, this new presentation of the work of Oswaldo to creating art, and never stopped painting until the final day
Vigas takes on a whole new meaning at this time in American of his life,” adds Lorenzo Vigas.
culture,” says Irvin Lippman, the Executive Director of the
Boca Raton Museum of Art. “We are thrilled to partner with
the Oswaldo Vigas Foundation, and to welcome the artist’s
widow and son to usher in the opening of this powerful
exhibition,” adds Lippman.
The new Oswaldo Vigas catalogue raisonné may ARCHIVE GALLERIES
be viewed online at catalogue.oswaldovigas.com. The
catalogue was researched by the Oswaldo Vigas Foundation
with the support of Axel Stein, the former head of the
Latin American Art Department of Sotheby’s. The first PAYS HIGHER PRICES FOR FINE ART AND ANTIQUES
online catalogue raisonné of any Venezuelan artist, this
valuable resource will allow scholars, curators, collectors
and the public to access information about the artist. The • Oil Paintings • Sterling Silver • Collectibles
catalogue includes over 3,000 paintings, gallery and museum • Oriental Rugs • Objects of Art • Fine Crystal
history, and publications detailing the artist’s trajectory. • Tapestries • Sculptures • Orientalia
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first works regarding his vision of the Americas, and his • Fine Furniture • Bronzes • Tiffany Items
period spent in Paris which resulted in his famous Central • Service Plates • Porcelain • Clocks
University of Venezuela (UCV) murals (now listed as a
UNESCO World Heritage site), and the numerous works
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A self-taught painter and muralist, Vigas’s work includes
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exhibitions and is represented in numerous public institutions
and private collections around the world. He identified as
Mestizo, a South American term for a person of mixed One Piece Or Entire Contents Purchased
indigenous and Spanish heritage. As a child, he was keenly
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form and his strong, gestural style are hallmarks of his work.