Armando Reverón: The Master of the Light
This virtuous man of the arts, who was deeply interested in the action of light on forms, a vehement follower of French Impressionism, whose painting transcended beyond abstraction and symbolism, made Armando Reverón be considered the best Venezuelan painter of the first half of the 20th century. There are many things that have been said and written about the life and work of Reverón, which marked his course in the field of plastic arts, but critics have taken it upon themselves to give importance and value to his work, placing him among the most important artists in Latin America, this is how the Venezuelan writer Juan Liscano once said: "Reverón's work expresses a profound visual, sensory eroticism, with a carnal fixation on women." That attraction to feminine forms and vague approaches Lesbians are already noticed in the first paintings that began their stage of liberation ".
Armando Reverón was born in Caracas on May 10th, 1889 and there he died on September 18th, 1954. Since he was a boy, Reverón showed fascination for the drawing. He studied in the Academy of Fine Arts and then he travelled to Europe to continue studying and receiving influences of Spanish painters like Francisco Goya and José Moreno Carbonero. In the middle of 1916, Reverón returned to Venezuela and settled in La Guaira, central coast, where he dedicated himself to teaching drawing and painting privately. Two years later, in 1918, Reverón meets one of the most determining presences of his life, the young Juanita Ríos, who became his model and wife, companion of all his life. In 1921, he lives on a ranch on the beach, in the sector of "Las Quince Letras". Shortly after moving there with Juanita, and begins to build, a little south, in Macuto, El Castillete, which would serve as a home for the rest of his life, living in that place radically changed habits and work of Reverón. "El Castillete" today is an emblematic place of Venezuelan culture.
Reverón had the virtue of capturing the light and turned it into a painting, becoming the great protagonist of the arts in Venezuela. He broke with all the conventions, with all the existing canons and standards although for his time his work was seen as crazy. Armando Reverón marked a time and a style. The owner of "El Castillete" and "Señor de Juanita" reinvented the pictorial evolution.
Reverón and one of his rag dolls. Photography: Cipdeg Guevara.
Last year I had the opportunity to visit El Castillete in the company of a group of photographers in an activity called "Cayapa Fotográfica" and enjoy a welcome performance on the life of this important Venezuelan painter and they told us a bit about the story of his life , of his mental illness, his delusions, his shortcomings, his virtues, his home, his rag dolls and his great love Juanita. As a Venezuelan, I am proud to write about Reverón in these small lines. Here I show you some photos that I took of the performance made in El Castillete. Thanks for reading me! ;)
Juanita. Photografý: Cipdeg Guevara.
Reveron's rag dolls. Photography: Cipdeg Guevara.
