This year they commemorate 200 years since the birth of Prilidiano Pueyrredón, one of the pioneers of Argentine painting, creator of unforgettable portraits of the local society of the 19th century. The artist, who was born on January 24, 1823 in Buenos Aires, was the son of Juan Martín de Pueyrredón and Calixta Josefa Tellechea y Caviedes. An important part of his life was spent in Europe and Brazil accompanying the exile of his father, who was Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata. In Paris, he would have trained as an architect and engineer, studies of which his intervention in several public projects would prove, once he definitively established himself in his hometown in 1854.
But his portraits and landscapes are the work for which he will always be remembered and the one that is celebrated today, with a great tribute exhibition, by the Pueyrredón Museum in San Isidro; installed for 70 years in what was the painter’s family home, where his father died. Until December, the exhibition can be visited in its rooms “Celebrating Prilidiano”, with free entry. The Secretary of Culture and City of San Isidro, Eleonora JaureguiberryWith Cecilia Lebrero (who usually manages the Museum’s collections) and the curator Patricio Lopez Mendez They were in charge of the assembly and selection of works.
The exhibition takes a different tour of the artist’s career, which will surprise specialists and admirers of his paintings. With the extra attraction, for those who have never visited the Museum, of knowing one of the best preserved colonial buildings in Argentina, which maintains the historic ravine next to the river, cared for with loving environmental rigor.
The sample inside
The first difference between this exhibition and others that have been held in the past is the rescue of works that belong to collections that are little or not at all accessible to the public. First of all, the magnificent portrait of Juan Martín de Pueyrredónheritage of the UBA Faculty of Lawwho leaves his place of residence for the first time to take part, as a loan, in an exhibition.
The same happens with the portrait of Rivadavia that is part of the collection of the Jockey Clubthe self-portrait of the artist that belongs to the Miter Museum and the landscape “The height of San Isidro” which belongs to the Fortabat Foundation.
Of the National museum of fine artswhich has one of the largest collections of works by Prilidiano (among them, the famous portrait of Manuelita Rosas), the famous “El Baño” is added to the exhibition, which the curators accompanied with a tin bathtub similar to the one in the painting, in the same room.
Of course, the Pueyrredón Museum has works of great value by the artist in its collection, among them the portraits of José Gerónimo de Iraola and that of Antonia Pereyra Arguibel de Iraola. The latter integrates a series of paintings (some of which are exhibited in the exhibition) that reproduce the image of notable women of Buenos Aires society. The researcher Roberto Amigo, in the Museum catalogue, refers to this complex as a “niche market”, in which Prilidiano felt comfortable.
In relation to the portraits, Cecilia Lebrero, curator of the exhibition, explains: “Prilidiano Pueyrredón occupies the place of precursor, in part, because he is the first native painter who has the necessary training to face the needs of that new Buenos Aires bourgeoisie of the mid- century that, separated from the Confederation, needed to portray itself, configure a new image and place itself at the top of society.”
A very interesting topic that the exhibition delves into is the relationship between photography, very incipient in those years, and painting. With the superimposition of daguerreotype images and paintings, it is proven that many of Prilidiano’s works were made from photographic shots, such as the portrait of Juan Chassaing or the country scene of “Apartando en el corral”. This theme is completed with an audiovisual made by Guillermo Srodek-Hart with the testimony of the photography historian, Carlos Vertanessian. Regarding this topic, the artist Tam Muro He created photomontages of portraits signed by Prilidiano for this exhibition.
A final room shows objects that belonged to the Pueyrredón family, such as a magnificent yellow silk dress with openwork in the folds of the skirt, which belonged to Prilidiano’s mother.
The memory of the painter’s thwarted loves is another of the interesting chapters of the tour, which points out the way in which the artist’s disappointment was incorporated into his paintings. For example, in the portrait of Magdalena Costa Ituarte de Ferreira, who would have rejected it, an arm and a hand appear unfinished.
The “painter for few pesos,” as he described himself, left the best portrait of the society of his time and died at the age of 47, after a long agony.
“For us it is a great opportunity to celebrate this notable artist – explains Eleonara Jaureguiberry – from the house he lived in. Delve into his work, his affections, his relationship with his landscape, San Isidro, and understand that he was a man ahead of his time.”
Image gallery
