Sérvulo Gutiérrez
Encyclopedia
Sérvulo Gutiérrez Alarcón (1914 – 21 July 1961) was a Peru
vian artist, described by The Times
as "Peru’s most celebrated painter". He was initially untaught and self-educated, but then trained under the artist Emilio Pettoruti
. Gutiérrez had a relationship with Doris Gibson
.
. He had little in the way of normal education and initially trained in Lima to be a boxer. He moved to Buenos Aires, where he focused on pottery of the Pre-Columbian period, establishing premises to both conserve such items as well as to manufacture new ones in the tradition of that style.
Gutiérrez was self-taught until he had the opportunity to study in
Buenos Aires for eight years with the major Argentine painter, Emilio Pettoruti
(1892–1971). He travelled to Paris in 1938, where the study of work by French artists broadened his approach away from an academic direction towards a delineated and sculptural Expressionist
style, which he pursued after his return to Peru in 1942. Gutiérrez' masterpiece is a depiction of a powerful and crude nude woman, The Andes (1943), representing "the unavoidable South American reality." He was not an intellectual and this may explain how the tenor of his work is that of a "direct, living testimony."
His interest in sculpture was stimulated by his apprenticeship under Pettoruti, and although he did not produce many works of this kind, his sculpture Amazonia won first prize in a competition in 1942.
The influence of other European avant-garde styles did not affect him, and for some time he incorporated the influence of the Peruvian Indigenist manner in his work. Subsequently his Expressionist tendencies intensified with techniques such as scoring the paint surface to create textural effects and heightening his colours with gestural marks of black, red, blue and green paint, leading at the beginning of the 1950s to such works such as Don Juan (1952). This direction intensified with a violent Fauvist
manner into mystical subjects, including St Rosa de Lima (c. 1960–61).
Gutiérrez had a relationship with Doris Gibson
, who was a muse to him as well as a lover. After an argument between them, he sold a full-size nude painting, which he had done of her, to a well-off businessman. Gibson arrived at the businessman's house with a photographer and, on the pretext of needing daylight for a photograph, took the painting outside and promptly drove away with it. When he later asked for its return, she responded, "I don't want to be nude in your house."
He died in Lima on 21 July 1961.
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
vian artist, described by The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
as "Peru’s most celebrated painter". He was initially untaught and self-educated, but then trained under the artist Emilio Pettoruti
Emilio Pettoruti
Emilio Pettoruti was an Argentine painter, who caused a scandal with his avant-garde cubist exhibition in 1924 in Buenos Aires. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Buenos Aires was a city full of artistic development...
. Gutiérrez had a relationship with Doris Gibson
Doris Gibson
Doris Gibson Parra del Riego was a Peruvian magazine writer and publisher. She is most noted as the founder and editor of the Peruvian weekly newsmagazine Caretas....
.
Life
Sérvulo Gutiérrez was born in IcaIca (city)
The city of Ica is the capital of the Ica Region in southern Peru. While the area was long inhabited by varying cultures of indigenous peoples, the Spanish conquistador Gerónimo Luis de Cabrera claimed its founding in 1563. As of 2005, it had an estimated population of over 219,856...
. He had little in the way of normal education and initially trained in Lima to be a boxer. He moved to Buenos Aires, where he focused on pottery of the Pre-Columbian period, establishing premises to both conserve such items as well as to manufacture new ones in the tradition of that style.
Gutiérrez was self-taught until he had the opportunity to study in
Buenos Aires for eight years with the major Argentine painter, Emilio Pettoruti
Emilio Pettoruti
Emilio Pettoruti was an Argentine painter, who caused a scandal with his avant-garde cubist exhibition in 1924 in Buenos Aires. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Buenos Aires was a city full of artistic development...
(1892–1971). He travelled to Paris in 1938, where the study of work by French artists broadened his approach away from an academic direction towards a delineated and sculptural Expressionist
Expressionism
Expressionism was a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas...
style, which he pursued after his return to Peru in 1942. Gutiérrez' masterpiece is a depiction of a powerful and crude nude woman, The Andes (1943), representing "the unavoidable South American reality." He was not an intellectual and this may explain how the tenor of his work is that of a "direct, living testimony."
His interest in sculpture was stimulated by his apprenticeship under Pettoruti, and although he did not produce many works of this kind, his sculpture Amazonia won first prize in a competition in 1942.
The influence of other European avant-garde styles did not affect him, and for some time he incorporated the influence of the Peruvian Indigenist manner in his work. Subsequently his Expressionist tendencies intensified with techniques such as scoring the paint surface to create textural effects and heightening his colours with gestural marks of black, red, blue and green paint, leading at the beginning of the 1950s to such works such as Don Juan (1952). This direction intensified with a violent Fauvist
Fauvism
Fauvism is the style of les Fauves , a short-lived and loose group of early twentieth-century Modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong colour over the representational or realistic values retained by Impressionism...
manner into mystical subjects, including St Rosa de Lima (c. 1960–61).
Gutiérrez had a relationship with Doris Gibson
Doris Gibson
Doris Gibson Parra del Riego was a Peruvian magazine writer and publisher. She is most noted as the founder and editor of the Peruvian weekly newsmagazine Caretas....
, who was a muse to him as well as a lover. After an argument between them, he sold a full-size nude painting, which he had done of her, to a well-off businessman. Gibson arrived at the businessman's house with a photographer and, on the pretext of needing daylight for a photograph, took the painting outside and promptly drove away with it. When he later asked for its return, she responded, "I don't want to be nude in your house."
He died in Lima on 21 July 1961.