Lot 39: Jorge de la Vega (1930-1971)

Jorge de la Vega (1930-1971)
PRUEBA DE NUEVO (DE LA SERIE LOS MONSTRUOS)
signed on the reverse
oil and collage on panel
51 1/8 by 78 3/4 in. (130 by 200 cm.)
Painted in 1963.
Provenance:
Industrias Kaiser Argentina, Cordoba
Mme. Kosztelits, Paris
Acquired from the above by the present owner (1983)
Exhibited:
Cordoba, Universidad de Cordoba, II Bienal Americana de Arte, September 25-October 12, 1964
New York, The American Federation of Arts, Twenty South American Artists, April 1965-April 1966, no. 7
Literature:
Mercedes Casanegra, Jorge de la Vega. Catalogo Razonado, Buenos Aires, Editorial Alba, 1990, p. 192, no. 83, illustrated
From a non-formal artistic background, Jorge de la Vega took part in one of the most important movements in twentieth century Argentine art. As one fourth of the Nueva Figuracion group, this almost architect, and totally dedicated artist re-invented painting conventions to communicate a new idea of man. From 1961 until 1965, Ernesto Deira, Romulo Maccio, Luis Felipe Noe, and Jorge de la Vega constituted a driving force in the artistic expression of a very special decade.
1963 was a pivotal year for Jorge de la Vega's work. The artist produced Prueba de nuevo (Try again), one of the most important paintings from his Bestiario or Monstruos series. Key to understanding this series is the concept of metamorphosis or transfiguration. This is palpable in Prueba de nuevo in the crouching, poised to spring feline beast, or the human face which transforms itself into varied collaged elements to denote the different stages in human life. From right to left, the artist used different techniques to convey childhood, youth, adulthood (the prime of man, with mirroring collaged stones), and old age, which, not so curiously, resembles childhood. The same year, de la Vega stated in his presentation to the Instituto Di Tella International Prize: "I want my works to clash with the viewer with the same intensity with which all their parts clash against one another, no matter how small they are. A mother of pearl casino chip on top of a stain. The number next to a stone. A beast made of fool's gold.
A chimera of smoke."
De la Vega presented this work along with other two paintings at the 1964 celebrated but short-lived, Bienal Americana de Arte, which was sponsored by Industrias Kaiser Argentina. A triumvirate of curators from the Guggenheim Museum, the Oakland Art Museum and the Inter-American Foundation for the Arts selected de la Vega as one of the twenty artists selected to represent the Biennial in an exhibition to be held in the United States.
Almost forty years since its creation, and having been admired privately, this masterpiece emerges again, like its title, to the renewed challenge of proposing a new metamorphosis of man.