Juan Ismael : an Island on the Horizon

NEXUS CHNyiflS "...Olí lili ¡,'¡1(111(1 lovkiiiíi (il lile .seii. tlie sen of literary productioii, published in the iVíilily. llic .si'd iíi ir/iic/i /iti.s lirrii fon lid lili- magazine Syntaxis and concerned with mldiiil oj lii.i iiili.i/ic rmilioii. " the "photomontages . [0] Eriicsli) Pcslaiiii \iibrt'"ii Duriug the first half of the current decacle, two coexístmg facts bring about a With the nppoaríinrc liiTe last vear ol tlu- slow awakening of interest in the painter. thiitietli voluiiie of llic Biljlioleca de Fü'st, Juan Ismael is accepted wthout Artistas Caiiai'ii)s. dedicated to Juan qtiestíon as pertaíning to the generation Ismael [1]. a half-decade has come to a of artísts who sujjplied Sjjain's most cióse iii wliicli inroi'inalioii and brilliant contribution to 20tli-centurv midersíandiiig of llie autlior of cultine. Second. the ])i'oof that his work Naciiiiienlo de lii i.fla lias lieeii is inseparable froni the artistic élite that supplemeiited with numerous tangle and imtangle llie island s art and documeiitaries, memoirs and ciitical that includes .Néstor, Doiníngtiez, studies. They have not delineated his sponsored bv the same financia! Gramas, Millares and Manrique. image iiilo a limited and easilv institiition and was curated by E. The period began with t\\'0 compreliended l)0(h of wiirk: lhe\ have Padoi'iio [3]. This was to be virtually the exhibitions that would serve lo provide caused it lo expand and diversifv, onlv reference foi' the niajoi'it\' of an inexorable impettis for a svsleniatíc endowing his personality and his work publications dealing with tfie painter in revíew of Spanish and Canarv Island art with that cornplex weave of destiny and the years tíiat followed, sucii as Micliel of the 20th-centurv. "El surrealismo Creative will onto which Art's features I3ernier's "Juan Ismael. La constancia entre viejo y nuevo mtmdo' proposed an are projected. surrealista ' [4] or the adniii'able hislorical but non-dogmatic hi the veai's hnmediatelv following contribulion of Lucía García de Carpí inter|)retation of the surrealist niovenient his death hi Augnst 1981, the first "La pintura siu'realista española, 1929- which would later be universalised by general studies of Juan Ismael bagan to 19.36 ' [5] which clarified one this the díaspora following the second World appear. A few of tliem would become centtu'v s obscin'er periods in Spanish War: the show was the inaugural indispensable, obligatorv references for art. In the chapter concerning the exhibition at the Atlantic Centre for all later attempts at coming to tei'ms willi Canarv Islands, and after havhig tieait Modern Art and was curated b\' Juan his work. even iip lo the present time. We witli Osear Domínguez and the Gaceta Manuel Bonet [?]. The other show, owe the principal studv to the poet and de Arte, García de Carpí pauses to focus entitled "Ladac. El Sueño de los essayist Eugetiio Padorno wliose work, on Juan Ismael as if on an exceptional arqueros'" [8], was organised by Pilar originallv ]3ui:)lished 12 years age, is now discoverv, even suggesting that "it is a Carreño Corbella for the Víceconsejería oíTered in a considerably amplified and paradox that in the bírtliplace of the de Cuhina y De])orles áe\ Gobierno de updated versión by the B.A.C., niost coherent surrealist nucjetis (Santa Canarias. This show offered the first accompanied l:)v an impoUant graphic Cruz de Tenerife), the niost worthy academicallv rigorous attenipt to stndy and documenlarv ap|jaratiis.[2] painter should be a man disassociated aiid dociimeiit an inxigoraling IVoMi the group' . movement witlñn the island s visual arts The first versión of the text which culttire, focusing as well on the sniall we will discuss below was published by IJntil the end of the 80s there are grotip of artisls who wei'e particularly the Caja General de Ahorros de Santa no fnrther contriljinions to the stiidy of sensitive to the state of ihe islands Cruz de Tenerife, in conjunction with Juan Ismael except foj- an aiticle by coiileinpoiarv arl. as was again the case tlie retrospective exhibition that was .Margarita Gómez Sierra, a sludeiil of his yW CINTCO AtlíNlICODI AfTi MODffNO witli llie íiciK-ration of íivant-Karde familiai'itv witli mosl of the works iiuinerous conversatioris concerning his arlisls 30 yeai's ago. pioduced from 194.5 unlil llie ciid of unconsumaled projecl. ¡t sliould bear." Juan Ismael s participalioii iii llie .juaii Ismael s hfe. The importance resides in the virtuallv creatioii aiicl developineiil ol LADAC^s "Dado fie lado", a rediscovered unknown character of Juan Ismaels activities would inspire a flourishing oí' volunie of impiiblished poetrv by Juan ])oetical work, with the exce]jtion of a new infoiiiiatioii and documents Ismael, appeared in the lasl months of few poems published here and therc in concerning his artistic activitv during aii 1992, sponsored by the Caja Insular de magazines and catalogues, such as the extraordiiunilv lirli and complcx Ahorros de Gran (Canaria [12]. The '^Anlhología de la poseía eaiKiria" nionicm. wlien he was nlilising dií'fei'enl felicitous underlaking was carried oiit l)v (19.52) and in "Faceióit siirreaisla de (echiiic|ues in various series or varialions. Eugenio Padorno w itli the collaboration Tenerife" (1975), both of Domingo At tile requesi of ilic of Antonio de la Nuez. E. Padorno tells Pérez Miiiik, and in a pair of collections Viceconsejería de Cultura I liad llie US in the introdtiction that "no attempt publislied by the painter during his oppoitunitv to prepare a show of Juan has been made to offer a critical edition lifetime: "/?/ aire qne me ciñe" (1946) Isinael's |)aintings in 1991. The show of Juan Ismaels poetrv. A lew texts that and %:halel de O'Coniian" (1977). (lid uol aílenipt a relrospeclive rail the risk of being lo.st were broiishl Tlie exhibition in late 1994 entitled approach. w liich would have been together, oiilo which we have broiiglil "El surrealismo en España in the Reina difficull witli lile liniiled nuinber of ihe title that, as the author repealed in Sofía National Museum and Centre for works in our jjossessiuu at the time. 143 Instead, it aimed lo be an invitalion or introdiiction lo his work, represented bv 40 painlings made during nearlv -^0 years of luiimerrupted aclivitv between 1932 and 1980 [9]. Viaiiy of the works exhibited were vhtuallv iniknown. especially those dated earlier dian 19-iO and which had been considered losl. The exhibition made clear ihe inipoitance of the avant-garde period for an understanding of the bill laler developinenl of ,[uan Ismael s paintiiig. A few months aftcr the exhibition I returned to the same subject in a seminar "CaiHiridn: his rdiigiid/rlids Ititilóricas" [10]. organised bv Andrés S. Roba)na for CAAM. In mid-1992 a collection of Ijiographical essavs ealled La era ele gacela de arte |3iiblished a book entitled "Juan Ixiiiael" [11] bv the writei' and ])sycli¡atrisl Carlos PiíUo (¡rote. The work was accompanied bv importaiit and unknown documents, both graphic and epistolary, as well as bv anthologies of texts by and about the painter. Pinto Grote's suggestive contribution i'ests on direct aceoimts of his long-lerm relationship witli the aiMÍst. iuid in his Sin lihilii. I')77. 01! on caiuas. ()4 x .")4 ciii. Prívale (iollcclion. TeMciifc. l'lioKi: l'Jiaiii Pililos. Art. curated by Lucía García de Carpí "...Juan Ismael never abandoned is a departure from references to reality. and Josefina Alíx Trueba, corroborated his fidelitv to the female figure and the which instead is poeticallv transformed; the existence of a group of artists whose feniiiiine identity as a vehicle for the third, which extends and accentuates expectations and influence before the revealed truth and for myster\'. A the essential mode of the second. sees a (^ivil War were among the most faithfulness that penetrates into the detour into abstract expressionism; in promising ín tlie sense of renovating and irreplaceable commiinícation between the fourth there is a return to poetical inoderiiisíng S[)anish paintíng. Some of woman and nature." With these words J. painting.'' At this point E. Padorno these artists recommenced their creative Alien begins his essay "Juan Ismael: los establishes a chronology which, despite efforts after the war; they endiired desnudos en el jardín ". published the claim of a merely orientalionai conlroversial vears and their poetics had toward the end of 1995 [15]. At this nature niade in the introduction. to evolve independent of inainstreaní — stage of our knowledge of the painter. it constitutes the basic structure for his ^ in other words, silenced if not annulled. is bevond question that the "feminine critical biography. T L Despite all this, they continued striving identitv' is both aura and marrow of his The first section, gathered under * in pictorial space with the same fervent art. even to the point where on occasion the title "La obra primera (1927- N j anxiety [13], there is no difference whatsoever 1933) . studies the hfe and work of ' Before 1994 had ended 1 edited a between the art and the "penetration Juan Ismael in the period between his c into its earthly nature. The stimulating arrival in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria ^ collection of letters that had been text by J. Alien fertilises the field, which to the death of his father in 1933, which IJII dehvered to me in 1990. together willi is perhaps wider thaii we supposed, of coincides with the exhibition held in i other keepsakes and documents, by the fi essays speficically addressing the contení May in the Ateneo in Madrid. [16] The < painter's widt)w.

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