Noe Canjura (
Apopa
Apopa is a municipality in the San Salvador department of El Salvador. Probably the seventh biggest city in El Salvador with a little more than 150,000 people, the city has now collided with Soyapango and San Salvador, making it part of the Grea ...
,
El Salvador, August 14, 1922 -
Morienval
Morienval () is a commune in the Oise department in northern France.
See also
* Communes of the Oise department
The following is a list of the 679 communes of the Oise department of France.
The communes cooperate in the following intercommu ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
, September 29, 1970) was a Salvadoran
painter and a prominent figure in 20th century modern art in France. His art was 'imbued with a social conscience and laden with religious symbolism'.
Early life
Noe Canjura was born in 1922 in
Apopa
Apopa is a municipality in the San Salvador department of El Salvador. Probably the seventh biggest city in El Salvador with a little more than 150,000 people, the city has now collided with Soyapango and San Salvador, making it part of the Grea ...
, a village in the Republic of
El Salvador in Central America, to a humble family of landless peasants. The infertile soil of the region meant survival was difficult. Canjura worked in a sawmill- often spending the night there- to pay part of his school expenses and lessen the load on his father.
He developed an interest in drawing at the age of seventeen, subsequently studying painting at the Academy of Painting of Valero Lecha in San Salvador from 1942 to 1946. From 1942 onward, Canjura's work was exhibited throughout El Salvador, and later also in Guatemala. In 1948 he embarked on study in Mexico City; there, he was strongly influenced by
Diego Rivera
Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez, known as Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957), was a prominent Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the ...
, then at the height of his fame. Canjura later gained inspiration from the art of
Gauguin
Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...
, particularly his concepts of formal order in painting and the use of curves. That year also saw his first exhibition in the United States.
Life in Paris
In 1949, supported by a five-year government scholarship, Canjura went to France to study at the
École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts
The Beaux-Arts de Paris is a French ''grande école'' whose primary mission is to provide high-level arts education and training. This is classical and historical School of Fine Arts in France. The art school, which is part of the Paris Scienc ...
. Despite influence from the work of Courbet and Le Nain, he preferred to represent the sombre, harsh living conditions of his native country. He had his first one-man show in Paris in 1953, and lived there from then on. To support himself he undertook manual labour. His marriage to Madeleine Bachelet, also an artist, brought a greater financial security that allowed him to dedicate himself to his art. Returning briefly to El Salvador in 1957, the influence of his life in Paris led him to see his country from a new perspective, and colour and light came to play a greater part in his works. The city of Paris purchased four of Canjura's paintings between 1959 and 1965 for its permanent collection.
Canjura was a member of the
Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts
Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts (SNBA; ; en, National Society of Fine Arts) was the term under which two groups of French artists united, the first for some exhibitions in the early 1860s, the second since 1890 for annual exhibitions.
1862
Es ...
and the Salon de la Jeune Peinture. He was a regular exhibitor, and invited every year to
Maurice Boitel
Maurice Boitel (July 31, 1919 – August 11, 2007) was a French painter.
Artistic life
Boitel belonged to the art movement called "La Jeune Peinture" ("Young Picture") of the School of Paris,The School of Paris (1945–1965) by Lydia Harambourg. ...
's group in the Salon "Comparaisons". The National Museum of El Salvador and the Hamishka Leomanouth Museum at
Ein Harod
Ein Harod ( he, עֵין חֲרוֹד) was a kibbutz in northern Israel near Mount Gilboa. Founded in 1921, it became the center of Mandatory Palestine's kibbutz movement, hosting the headquarters of the largest kibbutz organisation, HaKibbutz HaM ...
, Israel also purchased his paintings. He was awarded the "Prune d'Argent" by the Salon Peintres de Provence in 1965.
Death and legacy
Canjura died in
Morienval
Morienval () is a commune in the Oise department in northern France.
See also
* Communes of the Oise department
The following is a list of the 679 communes of the Oise department of France.
The communes cooperate in the following intercommu ...
, France on September 29, 1970, aged 48, and buried at the cemetery of
Notre Dame de Morienval. He was survived by his daughter and granddaughter.
He is regarded as 'an almost mythical figure in El Salvador- the barefoot goatherd... who went on to be a successful artist in Paris'; his work is considered to be influenced by 'the memory of the dramatic colors and of the tropical light of El Salvador'. His time in France led to the development of 'an increasingly abstract style of luminous colours and diffused shapes'.
[Latin American Art, Edward Sullivan, Phaeton Press, 2000, p. 64]
References
*Wally Findley Galleries pamphlet from Noe Canjura's exhibition / Wally F. Galleries, New York, N.Y., U.S.A. / Date: Not available / Material provided by Mrs. Leticia Canjura.
*“Noe Canjura Paintings to Preview at Findlay” Article / Magazine: Not available / New York, N.Y., U.S.A. / Date: March, year: Not Available / Material provided by Mrs. Leticia Canjura.
*“Art by Canjura Receives Praise” Article by: Sandra Rosseau / Magazine: Not available / New York, N.Y., U.S.A. / Date: March, year: Not Available / Material provided by Mrs. Leticia Canjura.
*Newspaper Article from “La Prensa Grafica”, El Salvador / Date: August 27, 1968 / Material provided by Mrs. Leticia Canjura.
*Newspaper Article from “El Diario de Hoy”, El Salvador / Date: August 27, 1968 / Material provided by Mrs. Leticia Canjura.
*Newspaper Article from “El Diario de Hoy”, El Salvador / Date: September 10, 1968 / Material provided by Mrs. Leticia Canjura.
Specific
External links
Museum of Art of El Salvador MARTE*
Spanish Version - Version en Español
*
French Version - Version française
*
German Version - Deutsche VersionNotre Dame de Morienval*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Canjura, Noe
1922 births
1970 deaths
20th-century Salvadoran painters
Male painters
People from San Salvador Department
Salvadoran expatriates in France
École des Beaux-Arts alumni