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Fine Art Gonzalez: Many of Gonzalez Prada's works have existed in book form only recently, having been collected and published posthumously by his son. In such works as Pdginas libres (1894), Bajo el oprobio (1933), and Nuevas pdginas libres (1937), he vigorously defended the Indians and workers of Peru. He saw them as the victims of injustices perpetrated by die clergy, the government, and the heirs of Spanish colonial privilege. Gonzalez Prada was also a fine art Gonzalez poet. Some of his verses are collected in Antologia poetica (1940).
Since that time his sculpture has been largely representational in a fantastic vein. Though his work is usually in bronze his effects in the handling of that material are astonishingly varied. The Spaniards, Pablo Gar-gallo (1881-1934) and Julio Gonzalez (1876-1942), were important in establishing wrought iron as a medium for sculpture. Gonzalez, after working with Picasso about 1930, began to make constructions in an original fantastic vein. Italian sculptors, with the exception of Boccioni, worked in a simplified traditional manner until the 1930's, when Arturo Martini (1889-1947) and his pupil Marino Marini (b. 1901) evolved new expressive factors of distortion. Marini's weathered surfaces, and surface tensions, together with the Etruscan sepulchral aura which he creates, have brought him great fame.
Experimenters in pure form, often bio-morphic, are Jose Ruiz de Rivera (b. 1904), David Hare (b. 1917), and Ibram Lassaw (b. 1913). Isamu Noguchi (b. 1904). although an American and trained as an assistant by Bran-cu§i, makes designs which have a Japanese flavor. Some of them are for furniture. Herbert Ferber (b. 1906) worked in a manner influenced by Julio Gonzalez, then developed a peculiar, personal expression by composing thornlike bits of metal with almost anguishing effect.
There is no doubt that the meaning of sculpture must be extended to comprehend the constructional and biomorphic forms of the 20th century and the new materials and techniques which have been used to produce them. On the other hand, the representation of natural forms in a more-or-less traditional manner continues. There is need for both, and each may be fine art Gonzalez in its own way. |
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