Cesáreo Bernaldo de Quirós
Encyclopedia
Cesáreo Bernaldo de Quirós (May 27, 1879May 29, 1968) was an Argentine painter of the post-impressionist school.
, Entre Ríos Province
, in 1879. He began to paint at age eight, and shortly afterwards, created a facial composite
sketch that resulted in a fugitive criminal's apprehension. De Quirós was a restless student, and often skipped classes to spend time among the area's gaucho
s; during one such opportunity, he witnessed a duel
and, inspired by the event, created his first known painting.
His father, a Spanish Argentine
immigrant from the Asturias
region, became alarmed at the boy's poor attendance record at school and, following his wife's 1895 death, enrolled his son in a Buenos Aires
boarding school
. There, he became acquainted with visiting Spanish painter Vicente Cotanda, who gave the young artist his first formal training, and later, de Quirós was accepted into the Fine Arts Academy, where he was mentored by realist painters Ángel Della Valle and Ernesto de la Cárcova
. A full scholarship from the Entre Ríos provincial government to receive further arts education in Rome
was presented to the artist in 1898, though his father's own objection to the award resulted in its cancellation (Juan de Quirós, who had been recently elected city councilman in Gualeguay, objected on the belief that his son had not yet merited such an honor).
The setback proved to be temporary, however, and Cesáreo earned the Rome Prize from the Spanish Royal San Fernando Fine Arts Academy
in 1899, entitling him to a three-year apprenticeship in the academy's Roman affiliate. He then relocated to Mallorca
, the largest of the scenic Balearic Islands
of Spain
, and lived there until 1910, making brief visits to Rome for the 1905 World's Fair, to the Venice Biennale
, and to Buenos Aires, where he exhibited on Florida Street
alongside Pío Collivadino
and Fernando Fader
. The latter 1906 event established the Nexus Group, which popularized post-impressionism
among Argentina's conservative clientele. María Antonelli, an unhappily-married 18-year-old resident of Florence
, met de Quirós during this interim, running away with him and eventually bearing him two children.
He again returned briefly to Argentina in 1910 to attend the Centennial Exposition
. Exhibiting 26 works, he earned a Gold Medal for his Horse Race for the Ring on Independence Day, which drew on his childhood memories of gauchos and their ring lancing contests, and was purchased by the new Provincial Fine Arts Museum in Paraná
. Increasingly well-known, he purchased a villa in Settignano
, Tuscany
, and later, an apartment in Paris
, where he regularly hosted a number of other Argentine émigrés.
The 1914 death of his estranged father, as well as the outbreak of World War I
, prompted de Quirós to relocate to the family home in Gualeguay
. A patron of the arts, President Victorino de la Plaza
had 72 of his works added to his National Fine Arts Commission's collection in 1915, and continued success locally, in Chile
and in Uruguay
allowed de Quirós to purchase a large atelier facing the Palermo Rose Garden
in Buenos Aires.
His marriage suffered, however, and their 1923 separation led de Quirós to purchase a secluded estancia
in Entre Ríos Province. The historic property, which had belonged to the daughter of 1850s-era President Justo José de Urquiza
, provided the setting for his series "the gauchos", naturalist
paintings which became his best-known works, and which he exhibited and sold world-wide; his professional success was marred, however, by the loss of his daughter Carlota in the late 1920s. Purchasing a 260-hectare (650-acre) estancia near Paraná in 1938, he changed his focus towards landscape art
, and in 1939, the National Fine Arts Museum
exhibited and acquired a number of his works. Leopoldo Lugones
, perhaps the most prominent Argentine poet of his day, considered de Quirós "our national painter".
The artist relocated in 1947 to an equestrian estate in upscale Buenos Aires suburb of Vicente López
, where one of his neighbors was a close friend, Florencio Molina Campos
(arguably Argentina's leading figure in naïve art
). He earned a Grand Prize at the Madrid
Biennale in 1951, and in 1960 married Yole Lanzelotti, a soprano
. Thirty works from his series "the gauchos" were acquired by National Fine Arts Museum in 1965, and his native province awarded him with their Legion of Merit in 1967.
Two days after his 89th birthday, Cesáreo Bernaldo de Quirós died in his Vicente López home; though the planned pavilion bearing his name at the National Fine Arts Museum was never built, the Pedro E. Martínez Provincial Fine Arts Museum in Paraná created the Salón Quirós, housing the largest single collection of his works; another significant collection was established near Vicente López at the Tigre Art Museum
.
Life and work
De Quirós was born in GualeguayGualeguay
Gualeguay may refer to:* Gualeguay, Entre Ríos* Gualeguay Department* Gualeguay River...
, Entre Ríos Province
Entre Ríos Province
Entre Ríos is a northeastern province of Argentina, located in the Mesopotamia region. It borders the provinces of Buenos Aires , Corrientes and Santa Fe , and Uruguay in the east....
, in 1879. He began to paint at age eight, and shortly afterwards, created a facial composite
Facial composite
A facial composite is a graphical representation of an eyewitness's memory of a face, as recorded by a composite artist. Facial composites are used mainly by police in their investigation of crimes.-PhotoFIT generation:...
sketch that resulted in a fugitive criminal's apprehension. De Quirós was a restless student, and often skipped classes to spend time among the area's gaucho
Gaucho
Gaucho is a term commonly used to describe residents of the South American pampas, chacos, or Patagonian grasslands, found principally in parts of Argentina, Uruguay, Southern Chile, and Southern Brazil...
s; during one such opportunity, he witnessed a duel
Duel
A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two individuals, with matched weapons in accordance with agreed-upon rules.Duels in this form were chiefly practised in Early Modern Europe, with precedents in the medieval code of chivalry, and continued into the modern period especially among...
and, inspired by the event, created his first known painting.
His father, a Spanish Argentine
Spanish Argentine
Spanish settlement in Argentina, that is the arrival of Spanish emigrants in Argentina, took place firstly in the period before Argentina's independence from Spain, and again in large numbers during the late 19th and early 20th centuries...
immigrant from the Asturias
Asturias
The Principality of Asturias is an autonomous community of the Kingdom of Spain, coextensive with the former Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages...
region, became alarmed at the boy's poor attendance record at school and, following his wife's 1895 death, enrolled his son in a Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
. There, he became acquainted with visiting Spanish painter Vicente Cotanda, who gave the young artist his first formal training, and later, de Quirós was accepted into the Fine Arts Academy, where he was mentored by realist painters Ángel Della Valle and Ernesto de la Cárcova
Ernesto de la Cárcova
Ernesto de la Cárcova was an Argentine painter of the Realist school.-Life and work:Ernesto de la Cárcova was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1866. Taking an early interest in the canvas, he studied at the local Society for the Stimulus of Fine Arts under painter Francisco Romero...
. A full scholarship from the Entre Ríos provincial government to receive further arts education in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
was presented to the artist in 1898, though his father's own objection to the award resulted in its cancellation (Juan de Quirós, who had been recently elected city councilman in Gualeguay, objected on the belief that his son had not yet merited such an honor).
The setback proved to be temporary, however, and Cesáreo earned the Rome Prize from the Spanish Royal San Fernando Fine Arts Academy
Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
The Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando , located on the Calle de Alcalá in the heart of Madrid, currently functions as a museum and gallery....
in 1899, entitling him to a three-year apprenticeship in the academy's Roman affiliate. He then relocated to Mallorca
Mallorca
Majorca or Mallorca is an island located in the Mediterranean Sea, one of the Balearic Islands.The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Cabrera Archipelago is administratively grouped with Majorca...
, the largest of the scenic Balearic Islands
Balearic Islands
The Balearic Islands are an archipelago of Spain in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.The four largest islands are: Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera. The archipelago forms an autonomous community and a province of Spain with Palma as the capital...
of Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, and lived there until 1910, making brief visits to Rome for the 1905 World's Fair, to the Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
, and to Buenos Aires, where he exhibited on Florida Street
Florida Street
Florida Street is an elegant shopping street in Downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. A pedestrian street since 1971, some stretches have been pedestrianized since 1913....
alongside Pío Collivadino
Pío Collivadino
Pío Collivadino was an Argentine painter of the post-impressionist school.-Life and work:Pío Collivadino was born in Buenos Aires, in 1869...
and Fernando Fader
Fernando Fader
Fernando Fader was a French-born Argentine painter of the Post-impressionist school.-Life and work:Fernando Fader was born in Bordeaux, France in 1882. His father, of Prussian descent, relocated the family to Argentina in 1884, settling in the western city of Mendoza before returning to France a...
. The latter 1906 event established the Nexus Group, which popularized post-impressionism
Post-Impressionism
Post-Impressionism is the term coined by the British artist and art critic Roger Fry in 1910 to describe the development of French art since Manet. Fry used the term when he organized the 1910 exhibition Manet and Post-Impressionism...
among Argentina's conservative clientele. María Antonelli, an unhappily-married 18-year-old resident of Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, met de Quirós during this interim, running away with him and eventually bearing him two children.
He again returned briefly to Argentina in 1910 to attend the Centennial Exposition
Exposición Internacional del Centenario (1910)
The Exposición International del Centenario was an exhibition held between May and November 1910 in Buenos Aires, to mark the centennial of the May Revolution in Argentina...
. Exhibiting 26 works, he earned a Gold Medal for his Horse Race for the Ring on Independence Day, which drew on his childhood memories of gauchos and their ring lancing contests, and was purchased by the new Provincial Fine Arts Museum in Paraná
Paraná, Entre Ríos
Paraná is the capital city of the Argentine province of Entre Ríos, located on the eastern shore of the Paraná River, opposite the city of Santa Fe, capital of the neighbouring Santa Fe Province...
. Increasingly well-known, he purchased a villa in Settignano
Settignano
Settignano is a picturesque frazione ranged on a hillside northeast of Florence, Italy, with spectacular views that have attracted American expatriates for generations...
, Tuscany
Tuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
, and later, an apartment in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, where he regularly hosted a number of other Argentine émigrés.
The 1914 death of his estranged father, as well as the outbreak of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, prompted de Quirós to relocate to the family home in Gualeguay
Gualeguay
Gualeguay may refer to:* Gualeguay, Entre Ríos* Gualeguay Department* Gualeguay River...
. A patron of the arts, President Victorino de la Plaza
Victorino de la Plaza
Victorino de la Plaza y Palacios was President of Argentina from 9 August 1914 to 11 October 1916.Second son of José Roque Mariano de la Plaza Elejalde and Manuela de la Silva Palacios; his older brother, Rafael de la Plaza, was also a politician and acted as governor of Santiago del Estero...
had 72 of his works added to his National Fine Arts Commission's collection in 1915, and continued success locally, in Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
and in Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
allowed de Quirós to purchase a large atelier facing the Palermo Rose Garden
Parque Tres de febrero
Parque Tres de Febrero, also known as the Bosques de Palermo , is a city park of 25 hectares located in the neighborhood of Palermo in Buenos Aires, Argentina...
in Buenos Aires.
His marriage suffered, however, and their 1923 separation led de Quirós to purchase a secluded estancia
Estância
Estância is a municipality located in the Brazilian state of Sergipe. Its population was 62,218 and its area is 642 km². The city is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Estância....
in Entre Ríos Province. The historic property, which had belonged to the daughter of 1850s-era President Justo José de Urquiza
Justo José de Urquiza
Justo José de Urquiza y García was an Argentine general and politician. He was president of the Argentine Confederation from 1854 to 1860.He was governor of Entre Ríos during the government of Juan Manuel de Rosas, governor of Buenos Aires with powers delegated from the other provinces...
, provided the setting for his series "the gauchos", naturalist
Naturalism (art)
Naturalism in art refers to the depiction of realistic objects in a natural setting. The Realism movement of the 19th century advocated naturalism in reaction to the stylized and idealized depictions of subjects in Romanticism, but many painters have adopted a similar approach over the centuries...
paintings which became his best-known works, and which he exhibited and sold world-wide; his professional success was marred, however, by the loss of his daughter Carlota in the late 1920s. Purchasing a 260-hectare (650-acre) estancia near Paraná in 1938, he changed his focus towards landscape art
Landscape art
Landscape art is a term that covers the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, and especially art where the main subject is a wide view, with its elements arranged into a coherent composition. In other works landscape backgrounds for figures can still...
, and in 1939, the National Fine Arts Museum
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (Buenos Aires)
The National Museum of Fine Arts is an Argentine art museum in Buenos Aires, located in the Recoleta section of the city. The MNBA inaugurated a branch in Neuquén in 2004.-History:...
exhibited and acquired a number of his works. Leopoldo Lugones
Leopoldo Lugones
Leopoldo Lugones Argüello was an Argentine writer and journalist.-Early life:Born in Villa de María del Río Seco, a city in Córdoba Province, in Argentina's Catholic heartland, Lugones belonged to a family of landed gentry...
, perhaps the most prominent Argentine poet of his day, considered de Quirós "our national painter".
The artist relocated in 1947 to an equestrian estate in upscale Buenos Aires suburb of Vicente López
Vicente López
Vicente López is a mainly residential neighbourhood in Vicente López Partido of Buenos Aires Province in Argentina, it forms part of the Greater Buenos Aires urban agglomeration...
, where one of his neighbors was a close friend, Florencio Molina Campos
Florencio Molina Campos
Florencio Molina Campos was an Argentine illustrator and a painter known by his typical traditional scenes of the Pampa. His work represents gauchesco scenes with a bit of humor....
(arguably Argentina's leading figure in naïve art
Naïve art
Naïve art is a classification of art that is often characterized by a childlike simplicity in its subject matter and technique. While many naïve artists appear, from their works, to have little or no formal art training, this is often not true...
). He earned a Grand Prize at the Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
Biennale in 1951, and in 1960 married Yole Lanzelotti, a soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
. Thirty works from his series "the gauchos" were acquired by National Fine Arts Museum in 1965, and his native province awarded him with their Legion of Merit in 1967.
Two days after his 89th birthday, Cesáreo Bernaldo de Quirós died in his Vicente López home; though the planned pavilion bearing his name at the National Fine Arts Museum was never built, the Pedro E. Martínez Provincial Fine Arts Museum in Paraná created the Salón Quirós, housing the largest single collection of his works; another significant collection was established near Vicente López at the Tigre Art Museum
Tigre Club
The Tigre Club stands on the banks of the Luján River, in Paseo Victorica, Tigre, near Buenos Aires, Argentina. The Club, built next to the Tigre Hotel , was financed by Ernesto Tornquist, and was designed by the architects Pablo Pater, Luis Dubois and the engineer Emilio Mitre , and was opened on...
.