Nemesio Antúnez Zañartu (Born in Santiago, May 4, 1918 - May 19, 1993) was a Chilean painter and engraver who founded Workshop 99.

Biography

Born to Nemesio Antúnez and Luisa Zañartu, he was the eldest of three sons, all of whom became dedicated to art:

Enrique Zañartu Enrique Zañartu (1921 - 2000) was a Chilean printmaker and educator. Biography Zañartu was born on 6 September 1921 in Paris, France, moving to Chile in 1938. He moved to New York City in 1944 where he was associated with the Atelier 17 prin ...

(6 September 1921 - 13 June 2000) became a painter and Jaime Antúnez (6 March 1923 - 10 May 2010) a sculptor. The couple also had a daughter named Laura (2 September 1919 - 30 July 2010). He went to high school at the College of the Sacred Hearts of Santiago. At 17, he took first place at a French speaking competition and won a trip to France, where he learned about

Pablo Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

Juan Gris José Victoriano González-Pérez (23 March 1887 – 11 May 1927), better known as Juan Gris (; ), was a Spanish painter born in Madrid who lived and worked in France for most of his active period. Closely connected to the innovative artistic g ...

and

Joan Miró Joan Miró i Ferrà ( , ; ; 20 April 1893 – 25 December 1983) was a Catalan Spanish painter, sculptor and Ceramic art, ceramist. A museum dedicated to his work, the Fundació Joan Miró, was established in his native city of Barcelona ...

. In 1938 he enrolled in the school of architecture at the

Pontifical Catholic University of Chile The Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (UC Chile; ) is a traditional private university based in Santiago, Chile. It is one of the thirteen Catholic universities existing in Chilean university system and one of the two pontifical univ ...

, where he graduated in 1941. At the age of 25 he presented his first solo watercolor exhibition at the Chilean Institute of Culture. Thanks to a scholarship from the

Fulbright Program The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

, he traveled to

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

in New York. Upon completing his master's degree in 1947, he began working in the studio ''

Atelier 17 Atelier 17 was an art school and studio that was influential in the teaching and promotion of printmaking in the 20th century. Originally located in Paris, the studio relocated to New York City during the years surrounding World War II. It moved ...

'' with

Stanley William Hayter Stanley William Hayter (27 December 1901 – 4 May 1988) was an English painter and master printmaker associated in the 1930s with surrealism and from 1940 onward with abstract expressionism. Regarded as one of the most significant printmakers ...

, who applied the techniques of printmaking to

surrealist Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

art. He worked with his brother Enrique to explore the possibilities of old printmaking techniques from artists like

Yves Tanguy Raymond Georges Yves Tanguy (January 5, 1900 - January 15, 1955), known as just Yves Tanguy (; ), was a French Surrealist painter. Biography Tanguy was the son of a retired navy captain, and was born January 5, 1900, at the Ministry of Naval Aff ...

Kurt Seligmann Kurt Leopold Seligmann (20 July 1900, Basel – 2 January 1962, Sugar Loaf) was a Swiss-American Surrealist painter, engraver, and occultist. He was known for his fantastic imagery of medieval troubadors and knights in macabre rituals and inspi ...

Jacques Lipchitz Jacques Lipchitz (26 May 1973) was a Lithuanian-born French-American Cubist sculptor. Lipchitz retained highly figurative and legible components in his work leading up to 1915–16, after which naturalist and descriptive elements were muted, domi ...

and

. In 1950, the French branch of ''Atelier 17'' was moved.

Murals

Antunez painted fifteen murals in total, only five of which are in Chile. Four are in Santiago - ''Luna'', ''Quinchamalí'', ''Sol'' and ''Terremoto'' - while one, No. 16, ''Bailarines con volantinesis'', is in the Open-air museum of Valparaíso. Santiago's murals in Chile were declared national monuments in 2011, but their condition leaves something to be desired. ''Terremoto'' ('earthquake'), painted in 1958, is over 30 square meters, and covers the whole vestibule wall of the Nile Cinema. The mural has visible cracking produced during the Earthquake in 2010. In even worse conditions is ''Quinchamalí'' (1958) at the

Juan Esteban Montero Juan Esteban Montero Rodríguez (February 12, 1879 – February 25, 1948) was a Chilean political figure. He served twice as president of Chile between 1931 and 1932. He was overthrown in the 1932 military coup. Early life He was born in Sa ...

Gallery: the paint of the mural is peeling and warping due to the humidity. The art restorer Carolina Broschek maintains that the mural can be saved, but the owner of the building on which it is painted, Yusif Tala, opined that the Nemesio Antúnez Foundation should take care of the painting or move it to another place, as has no interest in preserving it. In the same gallery, besides the mural, Antúnez installed floor mosaics which are still in perfect condition. The murals ''Sol'' and ''Luna'' have been more fortunate. Commissioned in 1955, they adorn the space between the Gran Palace cinema and theater. The murals incorporate gold and silver threads and sheets. Pablo Novoa, manager of the Gran Palace hotel, says that restoration will begin in 2015.

Posthumous homage

The name of the painter is today held in exhibition halls, galleries, schools and streets in Chile. In 1993 a stamp was minted in his honour which depicts ''Tanguería en Valparaíso''. The following year, the Chilean Government created the "Commission Nemesio Antúnez", in charge of supervising laws concerning art.
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Gallery

File:Antunez, Nemesio - ceramios Quinchamali -20171204 fRF00.jpg File:Antunez Nemesio - ceramios Quinchamali 02.jpg File:Antunez Nemesio - ceramios Quinchamali 03.jpg File:Antunez Nemesio - ceramios Quinchamali 04.jpg File:Antunez Nemesio - ceramios Quinchamali 05.jpg File:Antunez Nemesio - ceramios Quinchamali 06.jpg File:Antunez Nemesio - Mural n16, MaCA detalle 04.JPG File:Antunez Nemesio - Mural n16, MaCA detalle 06.jpg File:Antunez Nemesio - Mural n16, MaCA detalle 07.jpg File:Antunez Nemesio - Mural n16, MaCA detalle 08.jpg File:Antunez Nemesio - Mural n16, MaCA detalle 09.jpg File:Antunez, Nemesio - Quinchamali -20171204 fRF01.jpg File:Antunez Nemesio - Quinchamali detalle 01.jpg File:Antunez Nemesio - Quinchamali detalle 02.jpg File:Antunez, Nemesio - Quinchamali -20171204 fRF04 detalle.jpg File:Antunez Nemesio - Terremoto 02.jpg File:Antunez Nemesio - Terremoto detalle 01.jpg File:Antunez Nemesio - Terremoto detalle 02.jpg File:Antunez Nemesio - Terremoto detalle 03.jpg File:Antunez Nemesio - Terremoto detalle 04.jpg

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Antunez, Nemesio 1918 births 1993 deaths Artists from Santiago, Chile 20th-century Chilean painters Chilean male artists 20th-century Chilean male artists Atelier 17 alumni Chilean male painters Chilean printmakers