Juan Carlos Castagnino (November 18, 1908April 21, 1972) was an

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, ...

painter, architect, muralist and sketch artist. Born in the rural village of Camet, near the city of

Mar del Plata Mar del Plata is a city on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the seat of General Pueyrredón district. Mar del Plata is the second largest city in Buenos Aires Province. The name "Mar del Plata" is a sh ...

, he studied in the ''Escuela de Bellas Artes'' in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

, and became a disciple of

Lino Enea Spilimbergo Lino Enea Spilimbergo (born Lino Claro Honorio Enea Spilimbergo; 12 August 1896 – 16 March 1964) was an Argentine artist and engraver considered to be one of the country's most important painters. Biography Lino Enea Spilimbergo was born i ...

and

Ramón Gómez Cornet Ramón Gómez Cornet (1 March 1898 - 9 April 1964) was an Argentine painter. He was one of the forerunners of the modern Argentine painting. Biography Ramón Gómez Cornet was the son of Ramon Gomez, former Minister of Interior on Hipólito Yrig ...

. By the end of the 1920s, he became a member of the

Communist Party of Argentina The Communist Party of Argentina ( es, Partido Comunista de la Argentina, also simply known as "PC") is a communist party in Argentina. The party now forms part of the Frente de Todos, the ruling coalition supporting President Alberto Fern� ...

. In 1933 he joined the first Argentine artists' guild, and later that year he exhibited at the National Fine Arts Hall in

. His work, predominantly realist in his earlier years, became more figurative, later on, and though his Communist affiliation was reflected in numerous works with social undertones, he painted a wide variety of subject matter.Welcome Argentina: Museo Castagnino
/ref> Along with Antonio Berni, Spilimbergo and Mexican muralist

David Alfaro Siqueiros David Alfaro Siqueiros (born José de Jesús Alfaro Siqueiros; December 29, 1896 – January 6, 1974) was a Mexican social realist painter, best known for his large public murals using the latest in equipment, materials and technique. Along with ...

, he created a series of murals for a villa belonging to local businessman Natalio Botana, in Don Torcuato. Castagnino traveled to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

in 1939, where he attended the

atelier An atelier () is the private workshop or studio of a professional artist in the fine or decorative arts or an architect, where a principal master and a number of assistants, students, and apprentices can work together producing fine art or ...

cubist Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...

painter

André Lhote André Lhote (5 July 1885 – 24 January 1962) was a French Cubist painter of figure subjects, portraits, landscapes and still life. He was also active and influential as a teacher and writer on art. Early life and education Lhote was born ...

, later traveling across Europe perfecting his art and in the company of

Georges Braque Georges Braque ( , ; 13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) was a major 20th-century French painter, collagist, draughtsman, printmaker and sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his alliance with Fauvism from 1905, and the role he play ...

Fernand Léger Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (; February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painter, sculptor, and filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism (known as " tubism") which he gradually modified into a more figurative, p ...

and

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

, among others. Castagnino returned to Argentina in 1941, where he enrolled at the

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires ( es, Universidad de Buenos Aires, UBA) is a public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Established in 1821, it is the premier institution of higher learning in the country and one of the most presti ...

and obtained a degree in

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...

. He received numerous awards in subsequent years, including the Grand Prize of Honor of the Argentine National Hall (1961), the Medal of Honor at Expo '58 (

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, 1958), and a special mention for his drawings at the II

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

Biennale Biennale (), Italian for "biennial" or "every other year", is any event that happens every two years. It is most commonly used within the art world to describe large-scale international contemporary art exhibitions. As such the term was popular ...

of 1962. His illustrations for a EUDEBA (University of Buenos Aires Press) edition of

José Hernández José Hernández may refer to: Arts and entertainment * José Hernández (writer) (1834–1886), Argentine writer * Pepe Hern (José Hernández Bethencourth, 1927–2009), American actor * José Hernández, American singer (born 1940), better known ...

's ''

Martín Fierro ''Martín Fierro'', also known as ''El Gaucho Martín Fierro'', is a 2,316-line epic poem by the Argentine writer José Hernández. The poem was originally published in two parts, ''El Gaucho Martín Fierro'' (1872) and ''La Vuelta de Martín Fi ...

'' (the national poem of Argentina), gained wide recognition.Arte Argentino: Juan Carlos Castagnino
/ref> Castagnino died in Buenos Aires in 1972. Following its relocation to the landmark Villa Ortiz Basualdo, the Municipal Museum of Art in his native Mar del Plata, to which the artist had contributed over 130 works, was renamed in his honor in 1982.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Castagnino, Juan Carlos 1908 births 1972 deaths Argentine artists Argentine muralists Argentine communists University of Buenos Aires alumni Argentine people of Italian descent People from Mar del Plata 20th-century Argentine painters 20th-century male artists Argentine male painters