By Roberto Vega Andersen The Olympic Games in Paris are the focus of media interest at the time of writing these lines. More than fourteen thousand athletes and a constellation of satellites that brings together technicians and other assistants, referees, managers, security guards, personnel for the most diverse functions, journalists, photographers, politicians, an enormous legion of spectators and more security -much more-, attentive to the serious risk that France has assumed in a historical situation full of conflicts. Such a spectacle is the ideal stage for the most varied protests, and France knows it. Even so, and in the face of the greatest precautions, just days before the start of the competitions, a young Australian woman reported a gang rape in Montmartre, steps from the Mouline Rouge. An episode that triggers the most diverse judgments about the security ring that surrounds the City of Light. I am writing this editorial by recalling with humor my beginnings in athletics as a child, a village passion matured on a dirt track and intense daily training. Those competitions fueled the enthusiasm of the entire community, there was no money at stake, the image of a country was not mortgaged on a result. It was just sport, and it was enjoyed with successes and defeats. From a distance I imagine that it was the same amateur spirit that inspired Baron de Coubertin to struggle for years until March 24, 1896, when King George of Greece pronounced those unforgettable words: "I declare open the First International Olympic Games of Athens." Putting both facts on the same level reminds me of the lyrics of that chacarera that proclaims “Casas más, casas menos, igual a mi Santiago”, placing on the same level the cosmopolitan New York and Buenos Aires, with the provincial homeland, or the rivers of Santiago, the Dulce and the Salado, with the Euphrates and the Tigris, or Marilyn Monroe with “my Juana”, who lives near Mailín… May Pierre de Coubertin’s dream strengthen the bonds of brotherhood and hope.
July 2024
Editorial
Mapuche style poncho with four edges. Everything starts with an idea that becomes a desire
By Pablo Rambozzi *«Everything starts with an idea of your own or someone else's, which will eventually become the most recognized traditional Argentine textile item, a poncho. That is the first step, the intention that then leads to an exchange that I find fascinating, because it is defining that original idea and transferring it to a concrete project. Ideas come and go, what design, what color, what size... And when faced with projects, the feedback: this is possible to do, this other thing is not. Are you looking for a traditional design or something contemporary? As a weaver, I want to share with you the complete process of making it through an example [...]»
Masonic photographers of the 19th century. Prophets of modernity in the Río de la Plata
By Abel Alexander *«We can say that the history of Argentine photography –which began in Buenos Aires in the middle of 1843– is still a building under construction, and with this text we want to add another brick –almost like a Masonic symbol– to this fascinating work, rescuing the work carried out among us by some pioneers of the camera, both professional and amateur, who, in addition to exercising the newest art of Niépce, Daguerre and Talbot, had in common their active affiliation with Masonry». Illustrious surnames in the history of Argentine photography are the protagonists of this chapter, such as Alexander, Pozzo, Kratzenstein, Aguiar, Encina, Calógero…
Family Postcards
By Irina Podgorny *«June 9th marks International Archives Day, a day proclaimed in 2008 by the International Council on Archives to remember that, on that date and in 1948, UNESCO created this international non-governmental organization with the purpose of promoting the management and efficient use of documents, as well as the preservation of the evidentiary and cultural heritage of humanity.» To refer to the good practices of archives, Irina Podgorny brings us closer to the celebration carried out by one of the most relevant Spanish organizations in these disciplines, the CSIC, equivalent to our CONICET. «This last June 9th», she says, «gave an example of this by celebrating the day with the Collection of postcards of María Isabel Navarrete Navarrete, a collection originating in the first half of the 20th century that I discovered thanks to my friend Maribel, a prehistorian from Madrid [...]»
New unpublished works by Cortázar, 40 years after his departure. As always, magic
By Lucio Aquilanti *Antiquarian bookseller and bibliographer specializing in Julio Cortázar, he shares his studies and excitement at a new discovery by the celebrated author of Rayuela, Cronopios and many other beloved titles. «In 2023 I had the opportunity to study another set of works discovered by chance in Montevideo», he says, with seven unpublished Cronopios, «and in 2024, one hundred and ten years after the birth and four decades after the physical disappearance of its author, another unexpected discovery: thirty-six unpublished works in a set of fifty-eight original pieces. Without a doubt, another news of international repercussion» The works, we advance, are part of our next auction in Montevideo, to be held in alliance with Zorrilla Subastas.
Mexican Alebrijes, from the world of the dead to works of art
By María Ester Nostro *«It was 1936 and Pedro Linares López, with a perforated gastric ulcer, was delirious on his deathbed in Mexico City, in an almost convulsive state of agitation. He would later say that the peaceful natural landscape he had first dreamed of had suddenly been harassed by nightmare animals: a winged donkey, a rooster with bull horns and a lion with a dog's head. What's more, they did it shouting "alebrijes! alebrijes! alebrijes!" Pedro Linares, already given up for dead, came to his senses when his now deceased brother told him in a dream that this was not yet his place, and showed him a door through which he returned to the world of the living, to his home and his family.» This is the story of those impossible beings called alebrijes.
Josefina Plá at the crossroads
By Miguel Ángel Fernández *On more than one occasion I have referred to the work of Josefina Plá as a crossroads event, which is clearly visualized through a tour of her life and work. Poet, art critic, university professor, M. A. Fernández gives us a heartfelt tribute to his teacher, the beloved Josefina Plá (1903 - 1999), Spanish by origin, a key figure in the Paraguayan and Latin American artistic movement; ceramist, engraver, short story writer and poet —«her production, in this field, is [I have no doubt] one of the most valuable events in modern lyric poetry in the Spanish language», says the author of this article—, art critic, historian…
The last printed issue of the oldest newspaper in the world
By Roberto Vega Andersen *The news spread quickly a year ago, and deserved the attention of all readers, those who enjoy printed paper and those who feel comfortable going from section to section in publications edited on the web, either from a mobile phone or from a computer. It was the oldest printed newspaper in the world, the Austrian Wiener Zeitung, whose first issue took place on August 8, 1793. «There is no doubt that change is here to stay.»
Contemporary experiences of Argentine art. New exhibition of the Palais de Glace at the Borges Cultural Center
By Guillermo Vega Fischer *On July 3, the exhibition Contemporary experiences of Argentine art was inaugurated in the Bon Marché space of the Borges Cultural Center. It is an exhibition that displays 75 works selected from the collection of the Palais de Glace. The curators of the exhibition write that they sought to "put the focus on the collection, which is arranged in a choreographic way. The works, coming from different temporalities and production environments, are exhibited as a large installation, with the aim of promoting new intersections and contemporary readings of the collection." Indeed, the exhibition is a look at the heritage of the National Palace of the Arts, and through it, at the development of Argentine visual arts in the last century.
The Library of Juan Jorge Cabodi
By Guillermo Palombo *A reformist university student, Juan Jorge Cabodi (1905 - 1994) created a library of about eight thousand volumes that today belongs to the National Academy of History of the Argentine Republic. G. Palombo gives us a detailed description of his passions and commitments, a bibliophile of stature who was also a historian and editor, "who knew how to collect books, read them with profit and annotate them with erudition." For Guillermo Furlong, a serious historian, whom he surely respected for his erudition in "the field of rare American prints, for having found them, consulted them, copied them, and when possible, acquired them."
Four exhibitions to see at the Moderno Museum and the Malba
Two museums in the city of Buenos Aires are exhibiting exhibitions that deserve to be seen leaving the comfort of home and visiting them. Gyula Kosice. Intergaláctico; Mondongo. Manifestación, and Tercer ojo. Colección Costantini, all three at the Malba -Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires, and Moderno y Metamoderno at the Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires. To enjoy them.
Tehuelches. Dance with photos at the National Library
The Benito Panunzi Photo Library, on the third floor of the National Library, is hosting an exhibition that addresses a topic with particular edges, the path of the Tehuelche ethnic group in our Patagonia. Osvaldo Mondelo ―with the advice of Abel Alexander―, the creator of this presentation, seeks to rewrite the «official history» with the most diverse documents [...]
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Dolores Piccardo
MUY INTERESANTE!
Manuel Luis Martí
(Doctor en Medicina, miembro de la Academia Nacional de Medicina, institución que presidió. Miembro de número de la Academia Belgraniana de la República Argentina y del Instituto Bonaerense de Numismática y Antigüedades, entre otras. Ha publicado más de veinte libros.) El número es, como siempre, un remanso de arte y de cultura. Muy bueno el Editorial y magnífico el trabajo de Abel Alexander sobre los fotógrafos masones, con datos muy poco conocidos. Parece que el "Sempre Avanti" se mantiene.
Luis Ballin
[Autor y compositor de tangos y milongas y, también del documental "Gente Necesaria". En colaboración con el Instituto Iberoamericano de Berlín concretó varios proyectos, como la recuperación y divulgación de grabaciones del antropólogo alemán Robert Lehmann-Nitsche (1905-1909). Tiene especial interés en la música indígena y afroargentina] Abel Alexander, un troesma a quien agradezco siempre su sabiduría y altruismo, pues sin solidaridad no hay nada. Gracias Abel, ¡sos lo más!
Fernando San Martín
(Fotógrafo, gestor cultural y autor de libros, entre ellos el más reciente, “Fotógrafos en Argentina”, partiendo del enorme trabajo realizado por Juan Gómez y, entre otros, Héctor Pezzimenti.) Como ya nos tiene acostumbrado en sus anteriores números, la nueva entrega de la revista digital contiene aportes que son de gran valor histórico – gracias.
Staff
Esta publicación no comparte necesariamente las opiniones de todos los autores de los textos editados.