Andrés de Santa Maria

Andrés de Santa Maria
Born Andrés de Santa Maria Hurtado
December 16, 1860
Colombia Bogotá, Colombia
Died April 29, 1945 (age 85)
Belgium Brussels, Belgium
Nationality Colombian
Known for Painting
Movement impressionism

Andrés de Santa Maria (December 16, 1860 – April 29, 1945) was the most internationally known Colombian painter of his time and the pioneer of impressionism in Colombia. His work in solitary as a vanguardist painter, frames the beginnings of modern art in Colombia. Santa Maria search of new artistic expressions generated rejection and controversies around his work. He lived great part of his life in Europe.

Early life

Andrés de Santa Maria Hurtado was born in Bogotá, Colombia on December 16, 1860. He was the third son of Andrés de Santa Maria Rovira and Manuela Hurtado. He belonged to a well off family that was politically connected. Both his grandfather and his father worked for several years in high official positions for the Colombian government. In 1862, when he was two years old, his parents took him to Europe. The family lived in London until 1869 when they moved to Brussels. In 1878, his father obtained a position at the Colombian Embassy in France and his family settled in Paris. Santa Maria's desire to be a painter faced the strong opposition of his parents who forced him to follow a career in finances. For a time, he worked as a banker, but at the death of his father in 1882, he was finally able to study painting.[1] He entered the School of Art in Paris and worked in the workshops of Ferdinad Jacques Humbert (1842–1881) and Henri Gervex (1852–1929). Prince Eugen of Sweden and the Spanish painter, Ignacio Zuloaga y Zabaleta, studied with him under Gervex's guidance.[2] The impressionist art movement had a great influence on his career, but Santa Maria was also interested in social subjects shown in the work of Alfred Roll and through him, he was influenced by the realism movement and the paintings of Jean-François Millet and Gustave Courbet.

Santa Maria first obtained recognition when he won a first prize and was accepted to participate in the salon of French Artists in 1887 with his painting Launderers of the Seine. This large and ambitious painting already shows impressionist elements in the use of the reflection of light and his interest in social subjects.

He took part in the salons of 1888, 1889 and 1890. In this early period, Santa Maria painted a variety works with a refine liking for realism in the style of Courbet in works as: The shooters (1885), The reading (1886) and Salomón F. Koppel (1889). These paintings also show Santa Maria's clear command of the rules of the academy. In 1891, he exhibited his painting: The tea party, at the Artistic union of Paris. The tea party is one of his best works of his early period that concludes when he left Europe to go back to Colombia.

Colombia

Andrés de Santa Maria married Amalia Bidwell Hurtado on January 25, 1893 in Saint-Jean-de-Luz. They had eight children. In 1894, the couple decided to come back to Colombia, where they lived for almost two decades.[1] Shortly after arriving at Bogotá, Santa Maria was appointed professor of landscape at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes (English:The National Academy of Beautiful Arts), where he brought the experience he had learned in France. However, his work as a vanguadist artist breaking with the traditional academic painting in Colombia was controversial.

During the Colombian Civil War called, the Thousand Days War, the Academy was closed and Santa Maria made a long trip to Europe.[1] In Paris, he took part in the French salon with his painting los dragoniantes de la guardian inglesa, which received a congratulation letter from the jurors. At the end of the Thousand Days War, he came back to Colombia, where in 1904, he was appointed director of the Academy of Arts, a position he held for the rest of the years he lived in his native country.

While in charge of the Academy, he also founded the school of decorative and industrial arts, in which other artistic techniques like pottery, wood and stone carving and smelting where taught. In 1910, he organized an exhibition commemorating the centenary of the Independence of Colombia in which he exhibited forty six of his works .[2]

As an artist, Santa Maria did not enjoy great recognition and his work as director of the academy was controversial. Under a cloud of criticism, he decided to resign to his post and left Colombia to never return.

Later life

Santa Maria left for Europe in 1911. With his family, he traveled to England, the Netherlands and France before settling in Brussels. At the outbreak of World War I he moved to Paris where he established a friendship with the sculptor Antoine Bourdelle. During the war he traveled to London; he finally settled in San Sebastian, where he remained until 1918.

At the end of the war, he came back to Brussels. During this, the third period of his career, he earned distinctions as a painter in exhibitions in 1936 in Brussels and in 1937 in London.[1] He captured the modern tendencies of the European art, but was inspired by the great master like el Greco. Until the last years of his life, Santa Maria remained active and held many exhibitions of his works.

His paintings can be divided in three different periods of evolution. In his early works, executed while living in France, light and color have a great importance. His second period began with his return to Colombia. It is characterized with a style within the divisionism, a method of painting that uses pure color, harmony and contrast. His last period began when he was back in Europe. He used a richer pictorial language, employing knives and spatulas to apply thick layers of paint. The forms became denser and more vibrant.

Andrés de Santamaria died on April 29, 1945 of kidney infection. He was eighty-five years old. After his death, there have been many exhibitions of his works, most notably at the Colombian National Museum in 1949 and the Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá in 1971, when 126 of his paintings where exhibited.[2]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Andrés de Santa Maria": Martinez Betancour, William,
  2. 1 2 3 "Andrés de Santa Maria": Villegas Editores

Bibliography

External links

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