Does century inaugurated an exhibition in Buenos Aires that was so controversial that it generated a scandal in the pressreceived spit by the public and even caused intellectuals to cling to trompadas. Although this seems like the product of sensational news, the reality is that when Xul Solar and Emilio Pettoruti They returned to the country after several years living in Europe, they brought with them the modernism and the possibility of rupture, ready to dismantle the conservative local society. That’s why This powerful duo is being honored at the Del Infinito gallerywhich together with the Pettoruti Foundation and the Pan Klub Foundation, presents New World and remember what happened after that exhibition that left the art world completely convulsed.
Both Xul and Pettoruti They were extraordinary and atypical figures that did not resemble anything that was happening at that time in Argentina or abroad, where they had settled during the 1910s even without knowing each other, with a desire to discover everything.
Pettoruti was determined and grateful to have won the scholarship which allowed him to reach Italy from La Plata, which is why he spent his mornings copying the frescoes of the churches and his afternoons in cafes with the creme de la creme of the new avant-garde, such as the futurism that welcomed him under its wings. . In his work past and present would become one to give life to a new plastic language.
Meanwhile the friend Xul, a practically unclassifiable artist, eternally curious and passionate about theosophy, anthroposophy, literature, philosophy, music and astrologyhe traveled like wanderlust disinterested in the typical journey that other young Latin American artists took. In those first months, through a blue rider almanac, I would also discover at the forefront to notice with amazement that he was already one step ahead, as he relates in a letter to his father: “I am very satisfied because I see how I alone, without external inspiration of any kind, have worked on the trend that will be the dominant one of the highest art of the future.” ”.
An urgency to show
The friends They met in Florence in 1916 and after living and traveling together, in 1924 they organized the return to the beloved homeland with the plan of exposing and demonstrating that national art could offer more than impressionist-style landscapes and polite portraits. However, while Xul was indecisive, Pettoruti felt an urgency to show.
As narrated in his autobiography A painter in front of the mirror“everyone knows how the magnificent imagination distances loved ones or things, how the idea of Homeland grows gigantic in exile. From Europe, I saw my country as a powercovering itself with the cultural and spiritual attributes of the most advanced countries”.
After deciding on the Witcomb Hallwhere he was received with open arms, Pettoruti inaugurated in October of that same year, with his friend Xul accompanying him through the word, since he had written what could be considered the first article on modern art in the countryand the cunning of teaming up with the group of intellectuals who had been waving the flag of the avant-garde and who were grouped around the magazine Martin Fierrofounded months ago with the aim of promote a literary renewal and with whom both artists met as soon as they arrived.
Pettoruti knew that what they had to offer it wouldn’t be easy to assimilatesince even before his return the press mentioned him as a “futurist painter”, a term unknown at that time in these territories and that It was equivalent to saying that he was a “crazy, liar, extravagant, apocryphal, rigged or crook” determined to destroy national art.
Its popularity grew so much that even got the then president Marcelo T. De Alvear to visit the exhibitionpassing through the crowd that had been gathering at Witcomb’s door since the day of the inauguration and that burst in like a tide that He protested against an art that, according to the painter, was not seen by anyone as he described the chaotic crowd as “a vat of screaming sardines standing up, if you’ll allow the comparison, and me in the center, suffocated.”
Fainting and spitting
While some people they fadedothers they spit to the paintings while the floor sank and Witcomb’s director turned off the lights that illuminated the paintings. Luckily, he had the brilliant idea of devising a protection systemotherwise they would have been damaged. But that was not all, since some people they continued the fight in the surrounding bars and on Florida Street, with the martinfierristas prepared to defend cultural renewal.
“We are talking about a moment that changed the course of art in Argentina forever and that should not be ignored. That’s why we thought about an exhibition that traces the journey of both artists, creating capsules that encompass different periods before and after 1924. We worked to show unpublished and not so recognizable works, starting with the small paintings that Xul and Pettoruti sold on the streets of Europe. to be able to eat, the works that show the avant-garde that each one chose, later works and the Witcomb bar, where we summarize the scandal that the exhibition represented. Together with Javier Villa, in charge of the curatorship, and both foundations, we chose to propose a contemporary look at these artists who had so much to offer,” he explains. Julián Mizrahi, co-director of Del Infinito.
Museology is one of the most interesting aspects of the exhibition, especially the veils that hide, seduce, reveal and that are related to the series of labyrinths by Xul Solar and the transparencies that Pettoruti used to superimpose planes, as can be seen in his Farfalla series from the 50s and 60s.
“We chose to stage original files, as well as complementary texts and quotes from the critics of the time with the desire to accompany them from the word, as well as perform a thorough search to revisit what happened and understand it from the present“says Mizrahi.
This is an opportunity to understand what this episode meant in Argentine history, which highlights the fear that flourishes in societies when big changes comethose who have no turning back. Luckily for us, in this chapter the cultural revolution prevailed, bringing, slowly but surely, great things for the country’s art.
New world. Emilio Pettoruti | Xul Solar. At Galería Del Infinito (Avenida Quintana 325 PB), until February 1, 2025.