Americanism
 

 

A truly multifaceted figure in the art history of Latin America, Pedro Figari is also known as a practicing lawyer, legal scholar, journalist, educator, art theoretician, and a figure of distinction in Uruguayan civic life. He was the author of numerous books, among them Art, Aesthetics, and the Ideal; The Architect; and Historia Kiria, in which he expressed a number of thoughts about Uruguay that he was later to illustrate in his painting.

Figari was born in Montevideo in 1861.Figari began painting as a hobby in the 1890s and studied under Italian academic painter Godofredo Sommavila. He directed the Escuela de Artes y Oficios in Montevideo for two years until he resigned in 1917 because of opposition to his radical reforms. Figari moved to Buenos Aires with his son Juan Carlos in 1921 and took up painting full time. He had his first exhibit in Buenos Aires that same year. In 1924 he was a founder of the Sociedad de Amigos del Arte, an organization in Buenos Aires that championed modern art. In 1925 he moved to Paris, where he lived for nine years. Figari returned to Montevideo and was appointed artistic advisor to the Ministerio de Instruccion Publica in 1933.

Click here to read more about Figari
Biography
in the collection
Writings by the artist
Writings about the artist
Permanent Collection
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pedro Figari
Continued

 

Throughout his career Figari produced paintings covering a wide range of subjects related to the traditions and customs of the Rio de la Plata region: landscapes, interiors of colonial patios, folk dances of African origin, fashionable salons, socio-historical topics, country women, horses and gauchos, all executed with a lyrical quality and freedom deriving from French Post-Impressionism. Solo exhibits of the artist's work include those held at the Sociedad de Amigos del Arte, Buenos Aires, 1938; the Musee d'art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1960; the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires, 1961; the Instituto Torcuato Di Tella, Museo de Artes Visuales, Buenos Aires, 1967; the Center for Inter-American Relations, New York, 1986; and the Pavillon des Arts, Paris, 1992. Figari's work was included in The Latin-American Collection, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1943; Art of Latin America since Independence, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, 1966; Figari, Reveron, Santa Maria, Biblioteca Luis Angel Arango, Bogota, 1985; and Art in Latin America: The Modern Era, 1820-1980, Hayward Gallery, London, 1989.

Top