Pablo Curatella Manes
Encyclopedia
Pablo Curatella Manes was a prolific Argentine sculptor.
in 1891 to Clara Manes, a Greek Argentine immigrant, and Antonio Curatella, from Italy
, Curatella Manes first acquired an interest in sculpture during his frequent childhood visits to the newly-inaugurated La Plata Fine Arts Museum. He entered the labor force in 1905 as a typographer in a printing
house, though an accident some months later ended his career in that industry. Drawing on his chldhood interest, he was taught the basics of sculpture by Arturo Dresco, who owned a local atelier.
The Curatellas relocated to Buenos Aires
, where the young sculptor enrolled in the National Fine Arts School in 1907. A rebellious streak promptly led to his expulsion, though Curatella earned an apprenticeship in 1908 under Lucio Correa Morales, with whom he worked on a number of works commissioned by Public Parks Director Charles Thays. Following the 1910 elections, he created a commemorative gold medal for Vice President-elect Victorino de la Plaza
, who secured a scholarship for Curatella that took him to Florence
and Rome
. Curatella traveled extensively in Italy
, as well as much of western Europe
, touring the region's museums and cathedrals. On his return to Argentina in 1912, National Fine Arts School director Ernesto de la Cárcova
nearly ordered the funds' repayment, objecting to travel and activities not covered by the scholarship, desisting from the punishment after being shown a folio of Curatella's prolific work.
His first Buenos Aires exhibit, in 1912, was followed by a return to Europe. He settled in the Montparnasse
section of Paris
and studied under Aristide Maillol
and Emile-Antoine Bourdelle, but was forced to return home after the outbreak of World War I
. In his native La Plata, he opened an art gallery
, the Salón de Otoño (Autumn Salon) in 1916. A brief return in 1917 to Paris, where Curatella worked under Maillol, Maurice Denis
and Paul Sérusier
, was eventually followed by a second scholarship, with which he settled in Paris in 1920. Studying under Henri Laurens
, Juan Gris
, Constantin Brâncuşi
and Le Corbusier
, Curatella explored Cubism
, and his sculptures became more avant-garde
; he also established his first atelier, where he acquired the habit of creating and destroying sculptures in a single day.
He married French painter Germaine Derbecqre in 1922 and in 1926, was given a post in the Argentine Embassy. Returning to Argentina in 1929, he exhibited Las Tres Gracias (The Three Graces), which marked a departure towards the Abstract
which would typify his work in subsequent years. Commissioned to create wall relief
s for the Argentine Pavilion in the 1937 Paris Exhibition, Curatella returned to France and opened an atelier on rue Lauriston, in Paris. His monumental Tierra Argentina and Los Dos Hemisferios ("Argentina" and "The Two Hemispheres") earned him the honor of serving in the Paris Exhibition's sculpture jury, and following the event, he was made an Officer of the Légion d'honneur
. Reappointed to the embassy in 1939 as a chargé d'affaires
, Curatella oversaw the repatriation of Argentine nationals in France following the Nazi invasion of France in 1940. Following World War II
, he oversaw the reopening of the Argentine Embassy, as well as the reconstruction of the Boulogne-Sur-Mer
home where the hero of the Argentine War of Independence
, General José de San Martín
, died in 1850.
Curatella continued to sculpt during his diplomatic tenure, and was among those who in 1946 reinaugurated the Salon des Indépendants, an artists' society and exhibit series banned by the Vichy regime. He remained active in the salon until being transferred to the Embassy in Athens
in 1949, upon which he donated thirty-one works to the Argentine government for the purpose of creating a museum of modern art (which were added to the National Museum of Fine Arts
, instead). He contributed to Unesco
festivals and was appointed to the organizing committee for Expo 58, while accepting a commission from architect Mario Roberto Álvarez
for two reliefs, El Drama and La Comedia, for display in the public San Martín Theatre
, inaugurated in 1960. Curatella returned to the diplomatic corps in 1958, as an official in the Argentine Embassy in Brussels
, whereby he oversaw the Argentine pavilion at Expo 58 and was honored with the Order of Leopold. Invited as a commissioner of the 1961 Paris Biennale
, he reopened his rue Lauriston atelier. His El Guitarrista and Torso Femenino were acquired by the Modern Art Museum of the City of Paris, but a sudden illness forced the noted sculptor to return to Buenos Aires, where he died in 1962, at age 70.
He lived to see his vision for the Buenos Aires Museum of Modern Art
, which was opened in 1956 by art critic Rafael Squirru
; a number of Curatella's works are among its collections.
Life and work
Born in La PlataLa Plata
La Plata is the capital city of the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and of La Plata partido. According to the , the city proper has a population of 574,369 and its metropolitan area has 694,253 inhabitants....
in 1891 to Clara Manes, a Greek Argentine immigrant, and Antonio Curatella, from Italy
Italian Argentine
An Italian Argentine is a person born in Argentina of Italian ancestry. It is estimated up to 25 million Argentines have some degree of Italian descent...
, Curatella Manes first acquired an interest in sculpture during his frequent childhood visits to the newly-inaugurated La Plata Fine Arts Museum. He entered the labor force in 1905 as a typographer in a printing
Printing
Printing is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing....
house, though an accident some months later ended his career in that industry. Drawing on his chldhood interest, he was taught the basics of sculpture by Arturo Dresco, who owned a local atelier.
The Curatellas relocated to 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...
, where the young sculptor enrolled in the National Fine Arts School in 1907. A rebellious streak promptly led to his expulsion, though Curatella earned an apprenticeship in 1908 under Lucio Correa Morales, with whom he worked on a number of works commissioned by Public Parks Director Charles Thays. Following the 1910 elections, he created a commemorative gold medal for Vice President-elect 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...
, who secured a scholarship for Curatella that took him to 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....
and 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...
. Curatella traveled extensively in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, as well as much of western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
, touring the region's museums and cathedrals. On his return to Argentina in 1912, National Fine Arts School director 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...
nearly ordered the funds' repayment, objecting to travel and activities not covered by the scholarship, desisting from the punishment after being shown a folio of Curatella's prolific work.
His first Buenos Aires exhibit, in 1912, was followed by a return to Europe. He settled in the Montparnasse
Montparnasse
Montparnasse is an area of Paris, France, on the left bank of the river Seine, centred at the crossroads of the Boulevard du Montparnasse and the Rue de Rennes, between the Rue de Rennes and boulevard Raspail...
section of 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...
and studied under Aristide Maillol
Aristide Maillol
Aristide Maillol or Aristides Maillol was a French Catalan sculptor and painter.-Biography:...
and Emile-Antoine Bourdelle, but was forced to return home after 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...
. In his native La Plata, he opened an art gallery
Art gallery
An art gallery or art museum is a building or space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art.Museums can be public or private, but what distinguishes a museum is the ownership of a collection...
, the Salón de Otoño (Autumn Salon) in 1916. A brief return in 1917 to Paris, where Curatella worked under Maillol, Maurice Denis
Maurice Denis
Maurice Denis was a French painter and writer, and a member of the Symbolist and Les Nabis movements. His theories contributed to the foundations of cubism, fauvism, and abstract art.-Childhood and education:...
and Paul Sérusier
Paul Sérusier
Paul Sérusier was a French painter who was a pioneer of abstract art and an inspiration for the avant-garde Nabi movement, Synthetism and Cloisonnism.- Education :...
, was eventually followed by a second scholarship, with which he settled in Paris in 1920. Studying under Henri Laurens
Henri Laurens
Henri Laurens was a French sculptor and illustrator.-Early life and education:Born in Paris, Henri Laurens worked as a stonemason before he became a sculptor...
, Juan Gris
Juan Gris
José Victoriano González-Pérez , better known as Juan Gris, was a Spanish painter and sculptor who lived and worked in France most of his life...
, Constantin Brâncuşi
Constantin Brancusi
Constantin Brâncuşi was a Romanian-born sculptor who made his career in France. As a child he displayed an aptitude for carving wooden farm tools. Formal studies took him first to Bucharest, then to Munich, then to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris...
and Le Corbusier
Le Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, better known as Le Corbusier , was a Swiss-born French architect, designer, urbanist, writer and painter, famous for being one of the pioneers of what now is called modern architecture. He was born in Switzerland and became a French citizen in 1930...
, Curatella explored Cubism
Cubism
Cubism was a 20th century avant-garde art movement, pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture...
, and his sculptures became more avant-garde
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
; he also established his first atelier, where he acquired the habit of creating and destroying sculptures in a single day.
He married French painter Germaine Derbecqre in 1922 and in 1926, was given a post in the Argentine Embassy. Returning to Argentina in 1929, he exhibited Las Tres Gracias (The Three Graces), which marked a departure towards the Abstract
Abstract art
Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an...
which would typify his work in subsequent years. Commissioned to create wall relief
Relief
Relief is a sculptural technique. The term relief is from the Latin verb levo, to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is thus to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane...
s for the Argentine Pavilion in the 1937 Paris Exhibition, Curatella returned to France and opened an atelier on rue Lauriston, in Paris. His monumental Tierra Argentina and Los Dos Hemisferios ("Argentina" and "The Two Hemispheres") earned him the honor of serving in the Paris Exhibition's sculpture jury, and following the event, he was made an Officer of the Légion d'honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
. Reappointed to the embassy in 1939 as a chargé d'affaires
Chargé d'affaires
In diplomacy, chargé d’affaires , often shortened to simply chargé, is the title of two classes of diplomatic agents who head a diplomatic mission, either on a temporary basis or when no more senior diplomat has been accredited.-Chargés d’affaires:Chargés d’affaires , who were...
, Curatella oversaw the repatriation of Argentine nationals in France following the Nazi invasion of France in 1940. Following World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he oversaw the reopening of the Argentine Embassy, as well as the reconstruction of the Boulogne-Sur-Mer
Boulogne-sur-Mer
-Road:* Metropolitan bus services are operated by the TCRB* Coach services to Calais and Dunkerque* A16 motorway-Rail:* The main railway station is Gare de Boulogne-Ville and located in the south of the city....
home where the hero of the Argentine War of Independence
Argentine War of Independence
The Argentine War of Independence was fought from 1810 to 1818 by Argentine patriotic forces under Manuel Belgrano, Juan José Castelli and José de San Martín against royalist forces loyal to the Spanish crown...
, General José de San Martín
José de San Martín
José Francisco de San Martín, known simply as Don José de San Martín , was an Argentine general and the prime leader of the southern part of South America's successful struggle for independence from Spain.Born in Yapeyú, Corrientes , he left his mother country at the...
, died in 1850.
Curatella continued to sculpt during his diplomatic tenure, and was among those who in 1946 reinaugurated the Salon des Indépendants, an artists' society and exhibit series banned by the Vichy regime. He remained active in the salon until being transferred to the Embassy in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
in 1949, upon which he donated thirty-one works to the Argentine government for the purpose of creating a museum of modern art (which were added to the National Museum of Fine Arts
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:...
, instead). He contributed to Unesco
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
festivals and was appointed to the organizing committee for Expo 58, while accepting a commission from architect Mario Roberto Álvarez
Mario Roberto Álvarez
Mario Roberto Álvarez was a prominent Argentine architect.-Early life:Álvarez was born in Buenos Aires in 1913. He enrolled at the University of Buenos Aires School of Arquitecture in 1932, and graduated with Gold Medal honors in 1936...
for two reliefs, El Drama and La Comedia, for display in the public San Martín Theatre
Teatro General San Martín
The Teatro General San Martin is an important public theater in Buenos Aires, located on Corrientes Avenue and adjacent to the cultural center of the same name...
, inaugurated in 1960. Curatella returned to the diplomatic corps in 1958, as an official in the Argentine Embassy in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, whereby he oversaw the Argentine pavilion at Expo 58 and was honored with the Order of Leopold. Invited as a commissioner of the 1961 Paris Biennale
Biennale de Paris
-History:The 'Biennale de Paris' was launched by Raymond Cogniat in 1959 and set up by André Malraux as he was Minister of Culture to present an overview of young creativity worldwide and to create a place of experiences and meetings.-Presentation:...
, he reopened his rue Lauriston atelier. His El Guitarrista and Torso Femenino were acquired by the Modern Art Museum of the City of Paris, but a sudden illness forced the noted sculptor to return to Buenos Aires, where he died in 1962, at age 70.
He lived to see his vision for the Buenos Aires Museum of Modern Art
Buenos Aires Museum of Modern Art
The Buenos Aires Museum of Modern Art known locally as the Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires or MAMBA is a modern art museum located in Buenos Aires, Argentina....
, which was opened in 1956 by art critic Rafael Squirru
Rafael Squirru
Rafael Squirru , is an Argentine poet, lecturer, art critic and essayist.- Biographical notes :Born and raised in Buenos Aires, Squirru was educated at Saint Andrew's Scot School and at the Jesuit El Salvador Secondary School...
; a number of Curatella's works are among its collections.