Santos Chavez
Encyclopedia
Santos Chávez was a Mapuche
printmaker
from Chile
, known for his engravings.
and Quidico in the Región del Biobío, Chile
. He was Mapuche, the indigenous people of central and southern Chile and southern Argentina. His father was a huinca or traditional chieftain, while his mother was Mapuche and Scottish. Santos was the youngest of seven and his given name was Santos Chávez Mac Alister Curinao. His father died when Santos was seven, and his mother died when he was 12. When he was young, he herded goats and farmed and could not attended school regularly.
, he was exposed to the work of artists such as Tole Peralta and followers of Mexican muralism
, including Julio Escamez, Gregorio de la Fuente and Jorge González Camarena. In 1961, Chávez was invited by Nemesio Antúnez to continue his studies the Catholic University and Taller 99 (Studio 99) in Santiago
. Here he perfected the techniques of the lithography
, etching
, dry point
and wood-block printing.
After obtaining the Premio Andrés Bello in the Salón Oficial in 1966, Chávez traveled to Mexico to work in the Taller Fray Cervando in 1967, in Mexico City
.
In 1968, he won Honorable Mention at the Casa de las Américas in Cuba. In the same year, Chávez traveled to the United States, where he studied at the Pratt Institute
of New York and in the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. While in Chicago, he participated in the 1969 show, Santos Chavez and Hector Herrara: Two Chilean Artists at the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago
.
Exiled from Chile in 1997, he spent four years in Europe, continued printmaking at the Graphic Workshop of Stockholm, Sweden and finally settling down in the German Democratic Republic
, where he worked in a private factory and joined the National Association of Artists.
In 1994, after returning to Santiago, Chile, he was commissioned to illustrate Pablo Neruda
's collection of poetry, All the Songs - You, translated to Mapudungun
by poet Elicura Chihuailaf
.
The subject matter of his prints included landscapes, seascapes, children, and lovers. His artworks, he has said, "have an intimacy with the land, with life, with my thoughts."
A scholarship for Mapuche artists has been established in his name at the Playa Ancha University of Educational Sciences. The Chilean National Council on Culture and the Arts offered the first Santos Chávez Prize to indigenous artists in 2008.
, New York; Museum of Modern Art, Montevideo
; Museum of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro
; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Santiago; the Metropolitan Museum of Art
, New York; the National Museum of the American Indian
; and state museums in Nicaragua and Berlin.
should take up something else. But I kept going back. They had no choice
but to let me [stay]. The people who had studied in Paris or London could
not accept the idea that a man with the face of an Indian like me could draw,
engrave, paint." —Santos Chávez
"I am a particle in the cosmos, what are we in the planetary system, in infinite space? …Balance, harmony, sense, symbolism, poetry…
It is my entire childhood, alone in the country, the world I interpret in my work. In the distance a window opens up […I cannot say 'I
know it all,' so I keep working, suffering and seeking to find that indescribable thing that one searches for…" —Santos Chávez
Mapuche
The Mapuche are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina. They constitute a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who shared a common social, religious and economic structure, as well as a common linguistic heritage. Their influence extended...
printmaker
Printmaking
Printmaking is the process of making artworks by printing, normally on paper. Printmaking normally covers only the process of creating prints with an element of originality, rather than just being a photographic reproduction of a painting. Except in the case of monotyping, the process is capable...
from Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, known for his engravings.
Background
Santos Segundo Chávez Alíster was born on February 7, 1934 in a small town of Canihual, between TirúaTirúa
Tirúa is a Chilean commune and town in Arauco Province, Biobío Region.-Demographics:According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Tirúa spans an area of and has 9,664 inhabitants . Of these, 2,508 lived in urban areas and 7,156 in rural areas...
and Quidico in the Región del Biobío, Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
. He was Mapuche, the indigenous people of central and southern Chile and southern Argentina. His father was a huinca or traditional chieftain, while his mother was Mapuche and Scottish. Santos was the youngest of seven and his given name was Santos Chávez Mac Alister Curinao. His father died when Santos was seven, and his mother died when he was 12. When he was young, he herded goats and farmed and could not attended school regularly.
Art studies and career
Between 1958 and 1960, he studied at the Sociedad de Bellas Artes (Society of Beautiful Arts) at the University of Concepción, and supported himself by working night shifts as a baker, construction worker, bill collector, and field hand. In ConcepciónConcepción, Chile
Concepción is a city in Chile, capital of Concepción Province and of the Biobío Region or Region VIII. Greater Concepción is the second-largest conurbation in the country, with 889,725 inhabitants...
, he was exposed to the work of artists such as Tole Peralta and followers of Mexican muralism
Mexican Muralism
Mexican muralism is a Mexican art movement. The most important period of this movement took place primarily from the 1920s to the 1960s, though it exerted an influence on later generations of Mexican artists...
, including Julio Escamez, Gregorio de la Fuente and Jorge González Camarena. In 1961, Chávez was invited by Nemesio Antúnez to continue his studies the Catholic University and Taller 99 (Studio 99) in Santiago
Santiago, Chile
Santiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level...
. Here he perfected the techniques of the lithography
Lithography
Lithography is a method for printing using a stone or a metal plate with a completely smooth surface...
, etching
Etching
Etching is the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio in the metal...
, dry point
Dry point
In geography a dry point is an area of firm or flood-free ground in an area of wetland, marsh or flood plains. The term typically applies to settlements, and dry point settlements were common in history....
and wood-block printing.
After obtaining the Premio Andrés Bello in the Salón Oficial in 1966, Chávez traveled to Mexico to work in the Taller Fray Cervando in 1967, in Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
.
In 1968, he won Honorable Mention at the Casa de las Américas in Cuba. In the same year, Chávez traveled to the United States, where he studied at the Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute is a private art college in New York City located in Brooklyn, New York, with satellite campuses in Manhattan and Utica. Pratt is one of the leading undergraduate art schools in the United States and offers programs in Architecture, Graphic Design, History of Art and Design,...
of New York and in the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. While in Chicago, he participated in the 1969 show, Santos Chavez and Hector Herrara: Two Chilean Artists at the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
.
Exiled from Chile in 1997, he spent four years in Europe, continued printmaking at the Graphic Workshop of Stockholm, Sweden and finally settling down in the German Democratic Republic
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
, where he worked in a private factory and joined the National Association of Artists.
In 1994, after returning to Santiago, Chile, he was commissioned to illustrate Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda was the pen name and, later, legal name of the Chilean poet, diplomat and politician Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. He chose his pen name after Czech poet Jan Neruda....
's collection of poetry, All the Songs - You, translated to Mapudungun
Mapudungun
The Mapuche language, Mapudungun is a language isolate spoken in south-central Chile and west central Argentina by the Mapuche people. It is also spelled Mapuzugun and sometimes called Mapudungu or Araucanian...
by poet Elicura Chihuailaf
Elicura Chihuailaf
Elicura Chihuailaf Nahuelpán is a Mapuche Chilean poet and author whose works are written both in Mapudungun and in Spanish, and have been translated into many other languages as well...
.
The subject matter of his prints included landscapes, seascapes, children, and lovers. His artworks, he has said, "have an intimacy with the land, with life, with my thoughts."
Death and legacy
He died on January 2, 2001. During his life, he had over 85 solo exhibitions. His work was featured in the First Biennial Exhibition of Indigenous Art and Culture.A scholarship for Mapuche artists has been established in his name at the Playa Ancha University of Educational Sciences. The Chilean National Council on Culture and the Arts offered the first Santos Chávez Prize to indigenous artists in 2008.
Collections
Chávez's work is included in the public collections of the Museum of Modern ArtMuseum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
, New York; Museum of Modern Art, Montevideo
Montevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...
; Museum of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Santiago; the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
, New York; the National Museum of the American Indian
National Museum of the American Indian
The National Museum of the American Indian is a museum operated under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution that is dedicated to the life, languages, literature, history, and arts of the native Americans of the Western Hemisphere...
; and state museums in Nicaragua and Berlin.
Quotes
"They threw me out twice [of the Sociedad]. They said I was no good. That Ishould take up something else. But I kept going back. They had no choice
but to let me [stay]. The people who had studied in Paris or London could
not accept the idea that a man with the face of an Indian like me could draw,
engrave, paint." —Santos Chávez
"I am a particle in the cosmos, what are we in the planetary system, in infinite space? …Balance, harmony, sense, symbolism, poetry…
It is my entire childhood, alone in the country, the world I interpret in my work. In the distance a window opens up […I cannot say 'I
know it all,' so I keep working, suffering and seeking to find that indescribable thing that one searches for…" —Santos Chávez
External links
- Santos Chávez Alister Carinao en la Galería Cultural Codelco, featuring images of his work
- Profile of Santos Chavez, Chilean Cultural Heritage Corporation