| L'Amphion | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Henri Laurens |
| Year | 1953 |
| Location | Caracas |
| Owner | Central University of Venezuela |
L'Amphion is a work of art by Henri Laurens, located in the Plaza Cubierta of the University City of Caracas. It is described as his "most famous sculpture". [1]
The Venezuelan architect and designer Carlos Raúl Villanueva began designing the University City of Caracas campus in the 1940s, beginning construction in the 1950s [2] during a time of prevailing Modernism in Latin America. [3]
Villanueva hired many artists from around the world to contribute works to the campus, including Laurens. [note 1] Laurens had not had formal art training, and began his career as a stonemason, exploring Cubism from around 1912. [1]
Villanueva reportedly asked, in 1952, for Laurens to build him something "tremendous" for his campus project; later that year, he began creating L'Amphion. The sculpture is over 4 metres tall and rendered in bronze, sitting on top of a stone block. [1]
Laurens died in 1954, shortly after completing L'Amphion. [1] A copy of the sculpture exists at the Dallas Museum of Art. [4]
L'Amphion is seen as a product of Laurens' development of style, an evolution between Cubist and Curvilinear art forms. It is also indicative of the female form that many of Laurens' more curving sculptures represent. Though made of bronze, the sculpture is a "grayish-black" shade. The consistency of the material is solid, except for an area on the front where there are decorative stripes on the 'belly'. [1] The shape is based on the Greek mythological Amphion. [4] Annette Labedzki refers to the sculpture as a feminine form, but with smooth curves that give "a mermaid like appearance", and describes it as having "its two hands raised and joined to form a circular shape, resembling a dancing gesture". [1]
Henri Laurens was a French sculptor and illustrator.
The Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) is an art museum located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, along Woodall Rodgers Freeway between St. Paul and Harwood. In the 1970s, the museum moved from its previous location in Fair Park to the Arts District. The new building was designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes and John MY Lee Associates, the 2007 winner of the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal. The construction of the building spanned in stages over a decade.
Events from the year 1952 in art.
Jesús Rafael Soto was a Venezuelan op and kinetic artist, a sculptor and a painter.
Carlos Raúl Villanueva Astoul was a Venezuelan modernist architect. Raised in Europe, Villanueva went for the first time to Venezuela when he was 28 years old. He was involved in the development and modernization of Caracas, Maracay and other cities across the country. Among his works are El Silencio Redevelopment which included 7797 apartments and 207 shop premises and the Ciudad Universitaria, the main campus of the Central University of Venezuela. The Campus was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in the year 2000.
The University City of Caracas, also known by the acronym CUC, is the main campus of the Central University of Venezuela (UCV), located in central Caracas, the capital of Venezuela. It was designed by the Venezuelan architect Carlos Raúl Villanueva and was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2000. The Ciudad Universitaria de Caracas is considered a "masterpiece" of architecture and urban planning, and greatly influenced Venezuelan architecture.
Gertrud Louise Goldschmidt, known as Gego, was a modern Venezuelan visual artist. Gego is perhaps best known for her geometric and kinetic sculptures made in the 1960s and 1970s, which she described as "drawings without paper".
The Jesús Soto Museum of Modern Art is a museum of modern art in Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela. It is named after the kinetic artist and sculptor Jesús Rafael Soto, who was born in Ciudad Bolívar. The museum, which opened in 1973, is a late work of the Venezuelan modernist architect Carlos Raúl Villanueva. It contains 350 works of art, by a variety of artists, including Soto.
Francisco José Narváez was a Venezuelan sculptor and painter who is perhaps best known for "Las Toninas", a sculptural group that decorates the fountain of the Plaza O'Leary in Caracas. His work is characterized by a strong ethnic component and he made extensive use of local materials.
The Aula Magna is an auditorium at the Central University of Venezuela. It is located within the University City of Caracas, next to the University's main library building. The hall was designed by the Venezuelan architect Carlos Raúl Villanueva in the 1940s and built by the Danish company Christiani & Nielsen from 1952–53. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in November 2000 for being artistically and architecturally significant. The most notable feature of the hall is its acoustic 'clouds', which serve both aesthetic and practical functions. They are an element of the hall's design which contributed to the science of interior space acoustics, though the building exterior is also architecturally significant.
The Covered Gymnasium of UCV is a multi-purpose gym located in the University City of Caracas. Its spaces are public property that is administered by the Central University of Venezuela through the UCV sports department.
Conductores de Venezuela is a giant ceramic mural on a wall outside the Covered Gymnasium at the Central University of Venezuela, facing out to the Francisco Fajardo freeway. It was designed by cartoonist Pedro León Zapata and installed over a period of years in the late 1990s; it depicts cartoon Venezuelan people driving, with several vehicles having important Venezuelans from history behind the wheel.
The UCV Clock Tower, also known by its Spanish name Torre del Reloj de la UCV, or Reloj de la UCV, is a monument made of prestressed concrete. It is by the Rectory Plaza of the Central University of Venezuela in the University City of Caracas, and was built between 1953 and 1954.
Floating Clouds is a work of art by American sculptor Alexander Calder, located in the Aula Magna of the University City of Caracas in Venezuela. The 1953 work comprises many 'cloud' panels that are renowned both artistically and acoustically. The piece is seen as "one of Calder's most truly monumental works" and the prime example of the urban-artistic theory of campus architect Carlos Raúl Villanueva.
Francisco Narváez was commissioned to create pieces for the University City of Caracas campus in 1949, initially working between 1950 and 1953, with other pieces added later. The artworks include stone and metal statues, busts, reliefs, and various material of murals. Three of the statues are made of Cumarebo stone: El Atleta, a large statue in the sports complex, and La educación and La ciencia in the medical complex. The Cumarebo stone is a favourite material of Narváez. Two sculptures of the esteemed doctor José Gregorio Hernández and President José María Vargas grace the campus grounds.
Berger des Nuages, Pastor de Nubes, or Cloud Shepherd is a work of art by Jean Arp just outside the Plaza Cubierta of the University City of Caracas.
The Snow Flurry design was used by American artist Alexander Calder for at least seven mobiles between 1948 and 1959. A monumental design composed of white disks of varying sizes are connected on different branches and levels to reflect a snow flurry in Calder's distinct Modernist style.
María Lionza is a large statue depicting the titular goddess, María Lionza, riding a tapir. The original is located on Sorte mountain in Yaracuy, said to be the goddess' home. A replica is located between lanes of the Francisco Fajardo freeway next to the University City campus of the Central University of Venezuela, in Caracas. The original was created by Alejandro Colina in 1951 to sit outside the university's Olympic Stadium for that year's Bolivarian Games; it was moved to the highway in 1953 and, after several years in storage with the replica on display in its place, was illicitly relocated to Sorte in 2022. The replica is a cast made by Silvestre Chacón in 2004; it has received generally negative reactions, and its construction damaged the original.
Venezuelan artist Mateo Manaure was commissioned to create pieces for the University City of Caracas.
University City of Caracas World Heritage Site | ||
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designed by Carlos Raúl Villanueva | ||
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