Lot Essay
Iconography is an area of art through which it is possible to learn the customs and usages of eras of which there are hardly any visual records. Whithin this field, many paintings are merely illustrations or historical accounts of by-gone times, but there are also some where the artist's spirit has soared and turned them into works of art.
The period of iconographic painting in Argentina dates from the days the Independence until the end of the war with Paraguay. This last period coincides with the increased use of photography, which replaced painting as a method of documentation.
A lot of the iconographic artists were foreigners who viewed life in the Rio de la Plata through cultured European eyes. Among the best artists to visit the region were Emeric Esses, Johann Moritz Rugendas, Adolphe d'Astrel, R.O. Monvoisin and Juan Leon Pallière.
Pallière was born of French parents in Rio de Janeiro in 1823. His schooling, however, took place in Europe. He went back and forth between Brazil and Europe and finally reached the Rio de La Plata in 1856. For a long time, Brazilian critics were unaware of the time Pallière spent in Argentina, believing that having left Brazil in 1850 he did not return to America again. Curiously, his stay in the Rio de La Plata region represents one of the richest periods of creativity in Pallière's artistic life. He abandoned classic painting and turned to romantic depictions of locals and their surroundings. In contrast to other iconographic artists, he did not do portraiture. China Descansando is an excellent painting from this period. Painted circa 1860, it cleary shows Pallière's creative talent at the peak of his production.
His biographer, Alejo Gonzalez Garano coments: "Pallière took refuge in teaching, and was able to become a painter and illustrator with a clear understanding of the Argentinian character. He tried to understand Argentinian life intimately and he achieved this to such a degree that his oils and watercolors appear to be created by a native painter. He excelled at painting in great detail the life of the inhabitants of different areas of our country, and expressed in a touching way the melancholy of our land."
Enrique Scheinsohn
Buenos Aires , March 1995
The period of iconographic painting in Argentina dates from the days the Independence until the end of the war with Paraguay. This last period coincides with the increased use of photography, which replaced painting as a method of documentation.
A lot of the iconographic artists were foreigners who viewed life in the Rio de la Plata through cultured European eyes. Among the best artists to visit the region were Emeric Esses, Johann Moritz Rugendas, Adolphe d'Astrel, R.O. Monvoisin and Juan Leon Pallière.
Pallière was born of French parents in Rio de Janeiro in 1823. His schooling, however, took place in Europe. He went back and forth between Brazil and Europe and finally reached the Rio de La Plata in 1856. For a long time, Brazilian critics were unaware of the time Pallière spent in Argentina, believing that having left Brazil in 1850 he did not return to America again. Curiously, his stay in the Rio de La Plata region represents one of the richest periods of creativity in Pallière's artistic life. He abandoned classic painting and turned to romantic depictions of locals and their surroundings. In contrast to other iconographic artists, he did not do portraiture. China Descansando is an excellent painting from this period. Painted circa 1860, it cleary shows Pallière's creative talent at the peak of his production.
His biographer, Alejo Gonzalez Garano coments: "Pallière took refuge in teaching, and was able to become a painter and illustrator with a clear understanding of the Argentinian character. He tried to understand Argentinian life intimately and he achieved this to such a degree that his oils and watercolors appear to be created by a native painter. He excelled at painting in great detail the life of the inhabitants of different areas of our country, and expressed in a touching way the melancholy of our land."
Enrique Scheinsohn
Buenos Aires , March 1995