Lot 124: ARMANDO REVERÓN(1889-1954)

ANCIANO, DESNUDO Y NIO signed lower right charcoal and pastel on paper laid down on cardboard 39 3/4 by 31 1/8 in. 101 by 79 cm Executed circa 1947.

Gift of the artist to the previous owner Private Collection, San Francisco by descent from the above

In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Reverón's paintings alternatively focused on the female nude and the landscapes near his Macuto home. He also painted landscapes in La Guaira, an active port serving Caracas. After being diagnosed with schizophrenia in the late 1940s, Reverón lived a more secluded life. He often grew a beard, acted and dressed strangely but his creative impulse never diminished. His models abandoned him. With Juanita, his longtime companion, he fabricated a dozen life size puppets to be used as props and obedient models in the studio. This large drawing closely relates to a painting representing the same old bearded man, Anciano, tres mujeres y niño, circa 1947, in the Collection of the Galería de Arte Nacional, Caracas. In both compositions the old man is represented with a staff, looking down as if indifferent to the nude model on his right who seems to reach out to him while she turns her distant gaze to the viewer. Behind him, a child with a strange wig is standing on the same stool and gently touches the man´s elbow. The execution of the drawing is complex. Very fine yellows, blues and reds animate the otherwise nervous touches of black charcoal which delineate the figures and the interior of the artist studio against the brown background. The anonymous photograph reproduced here shows the interior of the artist studio with group of dolls from which this composition derives. It also shows Reverón standing by a Self-Portrait with a high hat.