A Moment for Oswaldo Vigas
Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotà presents a seven-decade retrospective of the late Venezuelan artist Oswaldo Vigas.
Recognised mostly as a self-taught painter, Vigas was one of Venezuela’s most renowned artists and an influential figure in the Latin American art world. His art covered much more than paintings and included architectural murals, sculptures, ceramics, prints and drawings.
Throughout his career Vigas’ art saw many transformations in style, themes and genres. His early paintings focused on the human, mostly female, figure, until he took a deep interest in pre-Columbian cultures and pottery. This made him depart from conventional illustrations as he moved deeper into pre-Columbian representation, a style that became a milestone among his works.
In 1952, after receiving a National Visual Arts Award in his country, he relocated to Paris where he lived for 12 years. His stay in Paris saw him study engravings and lithography as well as a range of open courses at Sorbonne University. All the while his art flourished with commissions, exhibitions and increasing artistic recognition.
In Paris, Vigas also become close to several internationally recognised names such as Fernand Léger, Max Ernst, Alexander Calder and Wifredo Lam among others. During these years, his art saw another shift towards constructivism and abstraction.
In the late 1950s to the mid 1960s Vigas met with Pablo Picasso, who found great interest in his works, an interest that was quite mutual. Picasso encouraged Vigas to reflect notions of ancestry in his art, advice that Vigas acknowledged as he once again ventured into a new field. His work saw a turn into a search of authentic language, combining gestural, geometric and figurative motives inspired by early cultures. Features of faces found in Pre-Columbian art began to show up in his paintings and the new direction was marked by telluric, magical and personal imaginative characteristics, which remained in his art from the 1960s and onwards.
In the mid 1960s, Vigas returned to Venezuela, which saw him gain recognition as one of the country’s most important artists. Due to this same decision however, he failed to gain the worldwide fame and traction of his contemporaries in Paris.
This retrospective of Oswaldo Vigas presents his work over through dozens of paintings and sculptures, taking visitors on a journey from his early affinity for the female form and his strong gestural style, to his more colourful, abstract pieces and constructivist art.
The exhibition will be on view until Sunday 23 August 2015 at Bogotá’s Museo de Arte Moderno in Colombia.
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