THREE FRIENDS

Pío Collivadino, Grassi-Díaz and Rafael Girondo. Buenos Aires. 1934.

Vintage gelatin silver photography on double weight paper, matte texture and no borders. Measurements: 18 x 23.5 cm. On the image, in the upper left corner and in black ink, the legend: "September 1934". On the right margin and vertically the three holographic signatures. On the back, below and to the left is the advertising stamp in silver and blue: "L. Sudak. Photographer of the Teatro Colón. Buenos Aires. UT 47-4196" and next to it in italics the legend: "Archivo Sigfrido Grassi Díaz". Slight damage at two angles, but work in good condition. It is displayed framed.

88 years ago these good friends decided to pose for the expert camera of L. Sudak, then a renowned photographer from the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. As a master of light, Sudak decided to illuminate them from the right and from the bottom up, creating suggestive ghostly shadows. That was a meeting of manly friendship and sealed by their own holographic signatures.

We appreciate from left to right the figures of the painter, engraver and set designer Pio Collivadino (1869-1945), the musicologist Grassi-Díaz and finally the art collector, Rafael Girondo (1880 - 1940), brother of the poet Oliverio Girondo. Of the first we will say that he was a member of the National Academy of Fine Arts and author of the famous painting "Lunchtime" (1903): his works are treasured in important national and international museums. Interestingly, very few portraits of this palette artist are known.

Rafael Girondo managed to gather an important art collection; Always linked to these expressions, he was president of the Directory of the Teatro Colón, a founding member of the Wagnerian Association of Buenos Aires and the Association of Friends of Art, and was designated a member of the National Academy of Fine Arts.

Abel Alexander

President Ibero-American Society of Photography History.

S.O.XVII-GSM