Chirino in La Isleta Return trip, 60 years later
If we imagine an exhibition made with pieces by Paul Klee, Julio González, Pablo Picasso, Manolo Millares, ÓscarDomínguez and Eduardo Westherdal, full of masks from the Bwami (Congo), Bámbara (Mali) and Migume (Gulf of Guinea) ... If I included old photos of the shipyards of Puerto de la Luz and
chronicles of the famous trip of André Breton and Benjamin Péret to Tenerife in 1935
; if you were talking about Joan Miró, Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore and if you were taking their name from some verses by Manuel Padorno, what exhibition would it be? What story would it tell?
Black Queens
, the exhibition inaugurated yesterday by the MartínChirino Foundation in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (until September 12) includes art and information from many sources, although its hard core is made up of the pieces that Chirino composed with that name in the period of 1951 to 1955. "They were
the first abstract sculptures made in Spain after the outbreak of the Civil War,
" explains Alfonso de la Torre, the curator of the exhibition.
Very short: the queens of Chirino are pieces of
volcanic stone, wood and iron
that are
based on primitive art, are full of empty, they are very slightly anthropomorphic, and take up the work of smith, of
"fabulist blacksmith"
, with which the artist from Gran Canaria went down in the history of Spanish art. The interesting thing is that the history of these sculptures allows us to discover the DNA of Chirino.
"Of the artists of his generation, Chirino was
the one who was best informed,
" explains De la Torre.
The work of his father, manager of a shipping company with English capital, allowed him to travel through Africa and visit London, Paris and Madrid in his formative years.
Between the British Museum,
the Canarian Museum
of Las Palmas and the voyages through Africa, Chirino discovered primitive art, the great food of his work and, above all, of these
Black Queens
.
Image of the Martín Chirino exhibition.
At home, Chirino was also able to connect with the surrealist tradition that had reached the Canary Islands through the legendary Gaceta del Arte.
Klee became "his moral inspiration"
and an obvious reference in some of Chirino's circus-themed drawings that are exhibited today with the
Black Queens
.
Julio González was the other essential figure in his training.
Chirino's baggage is completed by the influence of his father's work: it is hardly necessary to explain how Chirino's sculptures refer to the
landscape of the shipyards
and the atonal music of hammer blows and welding torches.
Tomás Marco, Jon Bandrés and Joan Gómez Alemany have chosen a marine theme soundtrack for this exhibition:
Britten, Wagner, Nonno
...
With all these influences, Chirino traveled to Madrid in 1955 with Millares.
For a few years she taught English and civility classes at a nun's college, but she soon caught the wave.
By 1960, Chirino had already dedicated himself to iron and
spirals
and was at the international art biennials that looked at Franco's Spain with fascination.
Image of the Martín Chirino exhibition.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
Know more
art
culture
Canary Islands
HistoryNerón was the victim of a smear campaign and fake news
CultureThe art of capturing nightlife and painting with light in the dark: ILLUMINA-21
New icons Around the world of Spanish architecture
See links of interest
Holidays 2021
Home THE WORLD TODAY
Ukraine - North Macedonia, live
Denmark - Belgium, live
Belarus - Spain, live
Netherlands - Austria, live