CHAOS AND HOPE

No title. 1974.

Engraving on paper, signed, numbered -31/75- and dated. Measures. Engraving: 28.4 x 48.8 cm / 11.18 x 19.21 in. Paper: 53.7 x 71.5 cm / 21.14 x 28.15 in. Work in very good condition.

A girl runs trying to reach a butterfly, a symbol of her fragility and purity. He opens his eyes and mouth in front of the crowd that stands in his way: monstrous and caricatured characters, among whom we see soldiers of various ranks with helmets or caps, rifles, sabers, old tycoons next to a naked woman, a hand in rises like the Nazi salute, characters hidden under top hats that in turn have a face -as a symbol of espionage-, all hoisting an Argentine flag, on a vehicle and a mountain of bottles. Alonso's critical look at the political events of his time even knew how to go ahead in time. That same year, after the death of President Juan Domingo Perón on July 1, he was succeeded by his wife, Maria Estela Martínez de Perón. A deep socio-political and economic crisis was added to the great lack of control that reigned throughout the Nation.

Carlos Alonso (Tunuyán, Mendoza, 1929), painter, draftsman and engraver, at the age of fourteen he entered the National Academy of Fine Arts in the city of Mendoza. He had Sergio Sergi, Lorenzo Domínguez, Francisco Bernareggi and Ramón Gómez Cornet as teachers. He received his first prize at the Salón de Estudiantes in 1947, and in 1953 he exhibited at the Viau Gallery in Buenos Aires, which provided him with the financial means to travel to Europe a year later, where he exhibited in Paris and Madrid. In 1951 he won the first prize in the Painting Hall of San Rafael (Mendoza), the North Hall (Santiago del Estero) and drawing in the North Hall (Tucumán). He is a prolific book illustrator; Among other titles, El matadero, Balladro criollo, Juan's Anthology, the Divine Comedy, The Rabid Toy, Irene, Anatomy Lesson, and Hand in Hand stand out. In 1957 he was the winner of the contest organized by the Emecé publishing house to illustrate the second part of Don Quixote de la Mancha and Martín Fierro (1959). Currently, the National Museum of Fine Arts exhibits his works on Dante.

S.O. XVI-5 BLM