Photo: Chile’s National Monuments Council.
Chilean artist Julio Escámez finished “Beginning and End” in 1972. Dictator Pinochet ordered it destroyed, but it was recently discovered to have been only painted over.
Today’s story reminds me of the Power of One. It’s not the only example of a person (or persons) being be ordered to destroy a work of art and finding a way to hide it instead, but it was new to me. Probably Rebecca at the Fake Flamenco blog knows all about it.
Min Chen writes about the discovery at Artnet.
“Long thought lost, a historic mural by Chilean artist Julio Escámez that was erased by Augusto Pinochet’s military regime in 1973 is finally reemerging in Chile’s city hall.
“A team from the Heritage Unit of the Municipality of Chillán (UPA) is currently in its third phase of uncovering and restoring the celebrated mural in the Salon de Honor. Begun in 2021, the project involves the millimeter-by-millimeter removal of 12 layers of white paint, which were slathered over the original composition decades ago. The restoration is slated to be completed in December 2027.
“ ‘We will be working in grids, carrying out manual stripping daily,’ Elvira Fuchslocher, head of the restoration team, said in a statement. …
“The work by Escámez was commissioned in 1969 by Mayor Eduardo Contreras Mella on the eve of Salvador Allende‘s presidential election victory. Escámez spent two years creating the mural, which, when completed, spanned some 452 square feet across a wall of the Salon de Honor. Titled Beginning and End, it depicted the triumph of people over oppression. …
“In 1972, the mural was unveiled by Mella’s successor, Ricardo Lagos Reyes, before Allende visited the work himself months later. Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda described it as containing ‘the most extraordinary essences of creation have been recognized, essences that possess the stillness of depth, of truth.’
“The ardently right-wing Pinochet, however, saw the artwork differently, linked as it is to a democratic socialist project. After his military junta overthrew Allende, the dictator ordered the mural destroyed. Escámez was forced into exile in Costa Rica, wounded by the erasure of his work. …
“Nearly five decades on, Chile’s current mayor, Camilo Benavente, spearheaded the effort to recover Escámez’s mural. But the chances were slim that the work still survived. Over the years, reports had circulated about how the artwork was destroyed: It was demolished with bayonets, it was covered with tar, or, in the artist’s own account, chipped away with ‘chisel and hammer.’
“But in 2021, an initial analysis of the wall in the Salon de Honor by the University of the Arts found the first trace of Beginning and End. ‘We locked ourselves in the council chamber, and in a small window that opened [by removing the white paint], the orange color appeared, which is prominent in the mural and corresponds to the flame,’ Karin Cárdenas, a historian who worked on this first analysis, told El Pais. ‘We stopped and said, “There might be something here.” ‘
“Turns out, the mural had not been tarred or slashed with bayonets — it had simply been painted over. But as the UPA continued to uncover more of the artwork over the years, the team learned that its original height was reduced to make room for a second story, with a window cut directly through it.
“They also discovered that the mural was larger than previously believed. In fact, the city now suspects the artwork’s title, Beginning and End, might refer to two artworks, likely Beginning and End. Where the first part portrays the dramatic class struggle, the second reveals a serene group of women peering through a telescope, reflecting ‘calm and contemplation,’ said Cárdenas.”
What an emotional moment — that might-be-something-here moment! How I long to experience a moment like that for values that have been trashed! More at Artnet, here.
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