PAINTINGS OF THE '900
 

Chiquito Futbolista de Tanger 1982

Sanguine on paper. Signed and dated in Roman numerals lower right. The title at the top right. Claudio Bravo Camus was a Chilean painter who established himself above all for his compositions (particularly parcels) and hyper-realistic portraits, including those of eminent political figures. Rightly considered one of the greatest masters of hyperrealism, Claudio Bravo pursued photography in painting, but always starting from the direct observation of the objects themselves: "The eyes see much more than the camera: half tones, shadows, minute changes of color and lights,” he said. The portrait presented here, that of a well-known Moroccan football player, exudes a meticulous and mimetic realism, particularly in the man's gaze; it was created during the years in which the artist lived in Tangier, where he had taken refuge to escape Franco's dictatorship. It is presented in a frame.

The Wayfarers 1910

Oil on cardboard. At the bottom left is the autographed inscription "Bozzetto per una copia", with the signature and the date Christmas 1910; the title at the bottom right. It is a sketch for a replica with variations of the homonymous painting made by Carena in 1907, large monumental (159 x 300 cm), exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1909 and now kept in the Civic Museums, Modern Art Gallery of Udine, Some moving figures appear in the work, precisely of wayfarers, representing the different categories of humanity, men and women, adults and children, old and young, but all traveling in the same direction. Compared to the original, in this sketch with still undefined facial features, the figures are placed in slightly different positions, with the young man wrapped in a red cloak in the center, and the lower part as well as the background are missing. The colors are almost harsh, lively, spread with rapid brushstrokes and with undefined contours. The painting belongs to Carena's still symbolist pictorial phase, inspired by the French symbolism of Eugène Carrière, a period which ended with his participation in the 1912 Biennale. The work is presented in a coeval frame.