Eduardo Sívori
Encyclopedia
Eduardo Sívori was an Argentine artist widely regarded as his country's first realist painter.
Born to Genoese
immigrants in Buenos Aires
, Sívori had harbored artistic leanings during childhood that, for family reasons, went unfulfilled. Asked by his father to join him on a business trip to Paris
in 1874, Sívori took the opportunity to frequent Parisian ateliers. Returning to Buenos Aires, the experience drew him to other local painters, including his brother, Alejandro, José Aguyari and Eduardo Schiaffino
, who would later become one of Argentina's best-known symbolist
painters. Together, they founded the Society for the Promotion of Fine Arts in 1875, an important early milestone in the development of artisan guild
s in Argentina.
Sívori earned recognition for his Dolce far niente ("Sweet Do Nothing"), for which he was awarded a gold medal at the 1880 Continental Art Salon of Buenos Aires. He returned to Paris in 1882, eventually earning an apprenticeship in the prestigious Jean Paul Laurens atelier, following which he created El despertar de la criada ("Waking of the Servant"), perhaps his best remembered work. Increasingly renowned, his travels took him to the United States
, where he was awarded a second gold medal at the St. Louis Exposition of 1884
for Dolce far niente.
Sívori thereafter focused his efforts on commercial art, creating portraits and landscapes for clients, among the best-known of which was local stockbreeder Godofredo Daireaux's in 1903. His bucolic landscapes soon earned him renown as the "portraiteur of the pampas." These relationships helped result in the designation of his guild as an official entity within the National Academy of Fine Arts in 1905, of which he was named president in 1910. Eduardo Sívori died in Buenos Aires in 1918 at the age of seventy, and was honored posthumously with the naming of the new Eduardo Sívori Museum
in his honor, in 1938.
Life and work
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
immigrants in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, Sívori had harbored artistic leanings during childhood that, for family reasons, went unfulfilled. Asked by his father to join him on a business trip to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in 1874, Sívori took the opportunity to frequent Parisian ateliers. Returning to Buenos Aires, the experience drew him to other local painters, including his brother, Alejandro, José Aguyari and Eduardo Schiaffino
Eduardo Schiaffino
Eduardo Schiaffino was an Argentine painter, critic, intellectual and historian. A member of a group known as the Generation of '80, he founded the National Museum of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires and sparked the development of painting in his country.-Biography:Schiaffino was born in Buenos Aires in...
, who would later become one of Argentina's best-known symbolist
Symbolism (arts)
Symbolism was a late nineteenth-century art movement of French, Russian and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts. In literature, the style had its beginnings with the publication Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire...
painters. Together, they founded the Society for the Promotion of Fine Arts in 1875, an important early milestone in the development of artisan guild
Guild
A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...
s in Argentina.
Sívori earned recognition for his Dolce far niente ("Sweet Do Nothing"), for which he was awarded a gold medal at the 1880 Continental Art Salon of Buenos Aires. He returned to Paris in 1882, eventually earning an apprenticeship in the prestigious Jean Paul Laurens atelier, following which he created El despertar de la criada ("Waking of the Servant"), perhaps his best remembered work. Increasingly renowned, his travels took him to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, where he was awarded a second gold medal at the St. Louis Exposition of 1884
Saint Louis Exposition (1884)
The Saint Louis Exposition or St. Louis Expo was a series of annual agricultural and technical fairs held in St. Louis' Fairgrounds Park, from the 1850s to 1902. In 1904, the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, a major World's Fair, was held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. The annual...
for Dolce far niente.
Sívori thereafter focused his efforts on commercial art, creating portraits and landscapes for clients, among the best-known of which was local stockbreeder Godofredo Daireaux's in 1903. His bucolic landscapes soon earned him renown as the "portraiteur of the pampas." These relationships helped result in the designation of his guild as an official entity within the National Academy of Fine Arts in 1905, of which he was named president in 1910. Eduardo Sívori died in Buenos Aires in 1918 at the age of seventy, and was honored posthumously with the naming of the new Eduardo Sívori Museum
Eduardo Sívori Museum
The Eduardo Sívori Museum is a municipal art museum in Buenos Aires, Argentina.-Overview:Founded on the initiative of city councilman Fernando Ghio, who proposed the creation of a municipal museum devoted to Argentine artists in 1933, the institution was inaugurated...
in his honor, in 1938.