Eduardo Schiaffino
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Eduardo Schiaffino (1858-1935) was an Argentinian painter, critic, intellectual and historian. A member of a group known as the Generation of '80, he founded the National Museum of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires and sparked the development of painting in his country.
[edit] Biography
At 18 he founded the Stimulating Society of Fine Arts, the initial name of the National Academy of Fine Arts. In 1884 he travelled to Europe as correspondent for the newspaper El Diario, publishing various articles on artistic themes under the pseudonym Zig Zag.
In 1891 he was one of the founders of the Buenos Aires Athenaeum, a group dedicated to renewing Hispanic American culture through the participation of distinguished figures like Ruben Darío and Leopoldo Lugones. In 1895 he won a victory when the government agreed to create the National Museum of Fine Arts, a project for which he had long struggled. He acted as its first director until 1910. The trend in painting during that period was for symbolism, which he publicly and polemically criticised — but he hung the works in the Museum just the same.
From then on he was engaged in various diplomatic undertakings in Europe, but in 1933 he returned to Buenos Aires and published his most important book, Painting and Sculpture in Argentina.
Not to be confused with Eduardo Schiaffino (Argentine Air Force officer).
