Emma Reyes Colombian painter and writer born in Bogotá on July 9, 1919. Her artistic work is characterized by being eclectic and original, as it moves within the trends of naive art, Mexican muralism, indigenism and expressionism. This is reflected not only in the countless paintings, illustrations and drawings she created throughout her life, but also in her travels and everyday experiences that defined her artistic style. His book Memoria por correspondencia constitutes the best biographical collection of her youth crossed by poverty, life in a girls' boarding school, uncertainty regarding existence and a constant search for herself, which would prompt her to travel throughout much of South America, Europe and the Middle East.

Biography

Emma Reyes was born in Bogotá on July 9, 1919. The most relevant events of her childhood are found in her book 20Emma,%20&tab=Colecciones_fisicas&search_scope=LibraryCatalogOnly&vid=57BDLRDC_INST:57BDLRDC_INST&offset=0 Memoria por correspondencia, a series of twenty-three letters addressed to the historian Germán Arciniegas and written between 1969 to 1997, in which he recounts in a detailed and casual way his memories and experiences that most marked the first years of his life. She lived in the San Cristóbal neighborhood in Bogotá in a small room without windows, with her sister Helena and a woman named María, who she acted as her caregiver. In Her Memoirs she says that she never met her parents or any other close relative. Only her sister Helena, older than her, accompanied her in this time characterized by economic hardships, the mistreatment received by Mrs. María and by the hard trips undertaken to Guateque and Zipaquirá, which would mark, according to her, "the debut of a life that would have as its sign and as its school the inclemency of the hard roads of America and later the fabulous roads of Europe” (Reyes, 2012).

In this part of her life far from her hometown, Emma Reyes tells quite meticulously about the daily rural life of the Cundiboyacense highlands; her the celebrations and popular religious festivals that she was able to witness, the relationships between the wealthiest families with the popular classes of the municipalities and the difficulties that she had to go through when traveling the bridle paths, the wooded landscapes and the natural geography of the region. Likewise, and while still a child of only five years old, she lived and shared with the peasants and indigenous people of the highlands, characters who would later be the main actors in her paintings.

After being abandoned by her caregiver, Mrs. María, at the Zipaquirá train station, Emma Reyes returned to Bogotá and was admitted to the María Auxiliadora convent along with her sister. She remained in that place for fifteen years, during which she made a remarkable description of the influence of religion both on her daily life and on the people around her. “They taught me to sweep […], peel potatoes, carry water, take out the trash, take out the ash from the stove, wash pots and dishes, help unpack the chocolate boxes, wash floors” (Reyes, 2012). Life at the service of the community, the long days spent in the sewing workshops and the hours dedicated to religious worship, always away from the outside world, made Emma Reyes, already a young woman, escape from the convent and embark on a long journey. travel through Latin America, “marching on foot, on buses, trains or whatever, selling boxes of Scott Emulsion” (Arciniegas, 2012). She arrived in Buenos Aires in 1945 after having lived for a time in Paraguay and it was there where she began her life as an artist.

Emma Reyes, painter

In 1947 Emma Reyes participated in the international competition of the Roncori Foundation in Buenos Aires and won a scholarship to study in Paris at the academy of the artist André Lothe (Medina, 1996). This fact would definitely open the doors to a prolific artistic career at an international level. By 1949 she had already presented her first individual exhibition at the Kléber Gallery in the same city and, the following year, she was invited by the Cultural Department of UNESCO in Washington to make the illustrations for the “Popular Library of Latin America ”. She lived for two years in the American capital and from there traveled to Mexico, where she worked as an assistant to the renowned Mexican painter Diego Rivera, which allowed her to get close to and learn about, in advance, the work of the main muralists and the retrospective exhibition of Frida Khalo. in 1953.

From his time in Mexico he went to live in Italy, presenting his works in the main museums and galleries of Milan, Florence and Rome. Likewise, for a brief period of time between 1957 and 1958, he settled in Israel where he presented his works at the Betzabel National Museum in Jerusalem, and at the Museums of Modern Art in Haifa and Tel Aviv. In 1962 she returned to France, married the French doctor Jean Perromat, and settled there permanently until her death on July 12, 2003. It was there where her works were most recognized, with the six mural panels that decorate the Normal School standing out. and the library of Périgueux, the city in which he would live almost permanently. Likewise, she was closely linked to the French intellectual world, where she met Alberto Moravia, Jean-Paul Sartre, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Enrico Prampolini and Elsa Morante. Likewise, between the sixties and the end of the century, several of her works were presented, both in individual and group exhibitions, in various galleries and museums in Belgium, Germany, Spain, the United States, Venezuela, Mexico and Colombia. . As an internationally recognized painter, Emma Reyes helped several Colombian artists launch her career; Among them stood out Fernando Botero, Antonio Barrera, Luis Caballero, Alberto Cogollo, Darío Morales and Alberto Sojo.

Characteristics of her works

Emma Reyes' work is characterized by its eclecticism, by rescuing from each of the artistic trends with which she experimented various elements, techniques and themes that she would later manage to articulate with considerable originality and coherence in her paintings. The influence of naïve art in her works is observed through the freedom in interpretation and self-taughtness that is perceived in the use of bright colors and in the execution of rural landscapes and still lifes. From indigenism and muralism, both artistic currents linked to Mexican artistic history, she was inspired to create portraits of peasants, indigenous people, men and women from the most marginalized social sectors in Latin America. Likewise, from expressionism she would employ the use of thin and thick lines both to fill the shapes and objects, and to give them contour and volume (Medina, 1996). The use of lines of all thicknesses, lengths and shapes is part, on the other hand, of a heritage of pre-Columbian Peruvian art, similar to the details in the weavings made by Andean indigenous communities (Tal, 1996).

Eclecticism and self-taughtness are, therefore, the two main characteristics in the works of Emma Reyes. According to the painter herself “the self-taught artist, unlike the one who has gone through an academy, is much more restless and unstable; He is always looking for something new and has the risk of getting lost” (Reyes, 2012). In this way, the artist went through countless facets and trends throughout her life; She went from painting landscapes to drawing monsters, from there to portraying people, mostly with indigenous features, and then moving on to make collages inspired by folklore and everyday objects (Valencia Diago, 1996).

On the other hand, the central theme in Emma Reyes' paintings is destiny; Each of the monsters, beasts and men that she portrays is subordinated to the inevitable evolution of the events of life itself. For the artist, it is in destiny where “resides the great force of conviction of the work that at times appears cold, cruel, without a shadow of a smile or mercy and, however, is as human as it is legendary, at the same time. modern and primitive” (Tal, 1996). The role that destiny plays in her works is combined with other elements inherent to the nature of her characters, such as race, habits, traditions, religion and family.

Individual exhibitions of her works

  • 1949 : Galería Kléber. París, Francia.
  • 1951 : Dupont Weil Gallery. Nueva York, EEUU.
  • 1952 : Matignon Gallery. Nueva York, EEUU.
  • 1953 : F.A.J. Gallery. Nueva York, EEUU. Museo de Arte Moderno, Ciudad de México, México.
  • 1954 : Morse Gallery of Art. Miami, EEUU. Decoration Salon Paquebot Francai “Cavallier de la Salle”.
  • 1956 : Galería delle Carroze. Roma, Italia. Galería Monte Napoleone. Milán, Italia.
  • 1957 : Betzabel National Museum, Jerusalén, Israel.
  • 1958 : Museo de Arte Moderno. Haifa, Israel. Museo de Arte Moderno. Tel Aviv, Israel. Galería d´Ein Hod. Israel.
  • 1960 : Galería Monte Napoleone. Milán, Italia. Galería Schneider. Roma, Italia.
  • 1961 : Galería El Callejón. Bogotá, Colombia. Museo de Arte Moderno “La Tertulia”. Cali, Colombia. Galería VendOme. Bruselas, Bélgica
  • 1965 : Duguith Art Gallery. Tel Aviv, Israel.
  • 1966 : Seis paneles murales. Decoración de la Escuela Normal. Périgueux, Francia.
  • 1967 : Galería de Beaune, Francia.
  • 1968 : Galería Botto. Caracas, Venezuela. Biblioteca Luis Ángel Arango. Bogotá, Colombia. Museo de Zea. Medellín, Colombia. Museo de Arte Moderno La Tertulia, Cali, Colombia.
  • 1971 : Casa de La Cultura. Annency, Francia.
  • 1973 : Museo Les Trois Portes. Mons, Bélgica.
  • 1974 : Galería l´Atelier. Bruselas, Bélgica.
  • 1975 : Galería Ciento. Barcelona, España. Galería H et Múltiples. Marsella, Francia.
  • 1978 : Capilla de los Penitentes. Callian, Francia.
  • 1980 : Museo Les Trois Portes. Mons, Bélgica.
  • 1982 : Feria Internacional de Basilea. Alemania.
  • 1983 : Galería Garcés Velásquez. Bogotá, Colombia. Museo de Arte Moderno La Tertulia. Cali, Colombia.
  • 1985 : Tres paneles murales. Decoración Liceo Pablo Picasso. Périgueux, Francia.
  • 1986 : Galería Duszka Patya Karolczak. Bruselas, Bélgica.
  • 1988 : Decoración Mural, Hall de la Nueva Biblioteca Municipal. Périgueux, Francia.
  • 1990 : Retrospectiva de la obra de Emma Reyes. Périgueux, Francia. Biblioteca. Museo de Perigord.
  • 1991 : Galería R. Treger. París, Francia.
  • 1993 : Museo de Arte Moderno La Tertulia. Cali, Colombia. Galería Diners. Bogotá, Colombia.

Collective exhibitions of her works

  • 1956 : Bienal de Venecia, Italia.
  • 1960 : Galería Breda. Milán, Italia.
  • 1962 : Museo de Arte Moderno. París, Francia.
  • 1965 : Galería Charpentier. París, Francia.
  • 1966 : Salón de Bellas Artes. Périgueux, Francia.
  • 1968 : Ateneo de Madrid, España.
  • 1970 : Instituto Italo-Latinoamericano “Visiones”. Roma, Italia.
  • 1972 : Festival Internacional de Cagnes-Sur-Mer, Francia.
  • 1973 : Bienal Americana de Artes Gráficas. Cali, Colombia.
  • 1976 : Galería Kaspari. Meebrusch, Alemania.
  • 1980 : Salón Delima. La Mujer en las Artes Visuales. Medellín, Colombia.
  • 1982 : Feria Internacional. Marsella, Francia.
  • 1983 : Diez Artistas de América Latina. Compiêgne, Francia.
  • 1984 : Centro Cultural de Toulouse, Francia. Museo de Clichy.

Emma Reyes in the Collections of the Banco de la República

The Banco de la República has arround a hundred artworks by artist Emma Reyes and 23 of her handwritten letters.

Manuscripts in the BLAA special archives collection

The Raros y manuscritos room of the Luis Ángel Arango Library houses and guards an important sample of Emma Reyes' handwritten correspondence. Among other letters, you can find the letters that the artist sent to the writer Germán Arciniegas in which she told him about her childhood. Acquired by the Bank of the Republic in 2016, the 23 letters composed of 312 handwritten pages allow us to observe her handwriting, her crossouts and other types of editions that she made on them. They are in a very good state of conservation and are, due to their testimonial and literary value, one of the “treasures” of the Library's documentary collections.

Emma's Letters

Works in the Art Collection

The Art Collection of the Banco de la República has 97 works by the artist. 93 of them were donated to the Bank in 2019 by Mrs. France Marquet, who was a close friend of Emma Reyes in France.

Explore the artworks by Emma Reyes in the Art Collection

Obras de Emma Reyes en la Colección de Arte del Banco de la República
Título Año Ubicación Denominación Registro
Sin título 1987 Reserva Xilografía AP1986
Dios Vegetal 1961 Reserva Pintura AP0205
Caligrafía Reserva Pintura AP0284

Chronology

  • 1919 : Born on July 9, 1919 in Bogotá.
  • '1947 ' : he wins a scholarship that allows him to travel to Paris to study at the academy of the French artist André Lothe.
  • '1949 ' : Presents his first individual exhibition at the Kléber Gallery in Paris. That same year she was hired by UNESCO to illustrate The Soil Primer.
  • '1950 ' : she receives a commission from UNESCO to illustrate the History of Literacy books, belonging to the Popular Library of Latin America.
  • '1951 ' : she is appointed by UNESCO as a delegate to the Inter-American Congress in Mexico City.
  • '1952 ' : she travels to Mexico, where she participates in the exhibitions of the Revolutionary Painters of Mexico and works at the same time in the studio of the painter Diego Rivera.
  • '1957 ' : she is invited by the Cultural Institute of Latin America in Israel. She lives in Haifa in the Artists' Village.
  • '1960 ' : she returns to Europe. She first went to work in Italy and, two years later, she settled permanently in France.
  • '2003 ' : she passed away on July 12 in Bordeaux, France.

See also

Bibliography

  • Arciniegas, G. (1996). En E. Reyes, Reyes, Emma (págs. 25-29). Bogotá: Excelsior Impresores.
  • Arciniegas, G. (2012). De Flora Tristán a Emma Reyes. En E. Reyes, Memorias por correspondencia (págs. 187-189). Bogotá: Editorial Kimpres Ltda.
  • Medina, Á. (1996). En E. Reyes, Emma Reyes (págs. 7-20). Bogotá: Excelsior Impresores.
  • Reyes, E. (2012). Memorias por correspondencia. Bogotá: Editorial Kimpres Ltda.
  • Valencia Diago, G. (1996). En E. Reyes, Emma Reyes. Bogotá: Excelsior Impresores.
  • Tal, M. (1996). En E. Reyes, Emma Reyes. Bogotá: Excélsior Impresores.

Related links in Banrepcultural

Reyes, E. (2020). Insert Emma Reyes. Cultural and Bibliographic Bulletin, 54(98). Recovered from Works by Emma Reyes - Insert

External links

Créditos

1. Diciembre de 2019. Investigación y texto Daniel Preciado para Banrepcultural

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