José Sabogal (March 19, 1888, in
Cajabamba – December 15, 1956, in
Lima
Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...
) was a
Peru
Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
vian
painter
Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...
,
muralist
A mural is any piece of Graphic arts, graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage.
Word mural in art
The word ''mural'' ...
, and educator. He was "the most renowned early supporter" and thus a leader in the artistic
indigenist
Indigenism can refer to several different ideologies that seek to promote the interests of indigenous peoples. The term is used differently by various scholars and activists, and can be used purely descriptively or carry political connotations. Th ...
movement of his country. As Daniel Balderston, Mike Gonzalez, and Ana M. López assert, Sabogal "became Peru's militant indigenist and aesthetic nationalist, and led this movement for the next thirty years.
Biography
José Sabogal was born on March 19, 1888 in
Cajabamba,
Cajamarca
Cajamarca (), also known by the Quechua name, ''Kashamarka'', is the capital and largest city of the Cajamarca Region as well as an important cultural and commercial center in the northern Andes. It is located in the northern highlands of Per ...
, Peru.
He traveled extensively in Europe (particularly
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
) and North Africa from 1908 to 1913 before enrolling in the National School of Fine Arts in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...
,
Argentina
Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
where he studied for five years.
In 1922, he married a poet and writer
María Wiesse. The couple had two children: José Rodolfo Sabogal Wiesse (1923–1983), and Rosa Teresa Sabogal Wiesse (1925–1985).
Sabogal taught at the
National Superior Autonomous School of Fine Arts, Lima () from 1920 and onward.
He served as its director from 1932 to 1943.
Afterward Sabogal and
Luis E. Valcárel cofounded the
Instituto Libre de Arte Peruano (Free Institute of Peruvian Arts) at the
Museo Nacional de la Cultura Peruana (National Museum of Peruvian Culture).
His granddaughter,
Isabel Sabogal
Isabel María Sabogal Dunin-Borkowski (born October 14, 1958 in Lima) is a Polish-Peruvian bilingual novelist, poet, translator of Polish literature into Spanish and astrologer.
Biography
Her parents were José Rodolfo Sabogal Wiesse (Peruvia ...
(born 1958), is a bilingual (Spanish-Polish) novelist, poet, translator and astrologer.
Indigenism
Although Sabogal's own descent was Spanish rather than indigenous, he promoted pre-Columbian culture and esthetics.
A six month stay in
Cuzco
Cusco or Cuzco (; or , ) is a city in southeastern Peru, near the Sacred Valley of the Andes mountain range and the Huatanay river. It is the capital of the eponymous province and department.
The city was the capital of the Inca Empire unti ...
prompted his indigenism; he took an interest in depicting the city and its inhabitants.
In 1919 his Cuzco paintings attracted attention at an exhibition in Lima.
As Jane Turner explains, "in 1919 was the first exhibition of the work of JOSÉ SABOGAL at the Casa Brandes in Lima, an event that would be immensely influential on the future..."
Sabogal decided to promote Peruvian art to international audiences after a 1922 visit to Mexico where he met
Diego Rivera
Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957) was a Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the Mexican muralism, mural movement in Mexican art, Mexican and international art.
Between 1922 and 1953, Rivera painted mural ...
,
José Clemente Orozco
José Clemente Orozco (November 23, 1883 – September 7, 1949) was a Mexican caricaturist and painter, who specialized in political murals that established the Mexican Mural Renaissance together with murals by Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siquei ...
, and
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 ...
.
These efforts were so successful that in "the field of the visual arts, the most striking phenomenon of the 1920s was the rise of José Sabogal (1888–1956), founder and long-time leader of the so-called '
Peruvian School' of painting."
Written work
* ''
Mates burilados: Arte vernacular peruano'' (1945);
* ''
Pancho Fierro, estampas del pintor peruano'' (1945);
* ''El toro en las artes populares del Perú'' (The bull in the Peruvian popular arts) (1949);
* ''El "kero", vaso de libaciones cusqueño de madera pintada'' (1952);
* ''El desván de la imaginería peruana'' (1956, 1988);
* ''Del arte en el Perú y otros ensayos'' (About Peruvian art and other essays) (1975).
Tribute
On 19 March 2014, Google celebrated José Sabogal's 125th Birthday with a doodle.
Bibliography
* Shreffler, Michael J. and Jessica Welton. ''Garcilaso de la Vega and the "New Peruvian Man": José Sabogal’s frescoes at the Hotel Cuzco.'' Art History. (Jan/Feb 2010, Vol 33), 124–149.
References
External links
José Sabogal's work in the Peruvian Digital Art Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sabogal, Jose
1888 births
1956 deaths
People from Cajabamba province
Peruvian people of Spanish descent
20th-century Peruvian painters
20th-century Peruvian male artists
Peruvian essayists
Jose
Jose is the English transliteration of the Hebrew and Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph.
Given name Mishnaic and Talmudic periods
* Jose ben Abin
* Jose ben Akabya
*Jose the Galilean
* Jose ben Halafta ...
20th-century essayists
20th-century Peruvian writers
20th-century Peruvian male writers
Male essayists
Peruvian muralists
Peruvian male painters
Academic staff of the National Superior Autonomous School of Fine Arts, Lima