AT THE END OF THE DAY

Conversation.

Drawing and engraving of extraordinary quality. Etching. Measurements: Print: 19.9 x 20.5 cm. Sheet: 25.3 x 28.5 cm. Signed, numbered and dedicated by the author "Conversation" 1/10 - For the artist friend Miguel Pablo Borgarello".

Two strong fishermen talk after a day's work. The one on the left holds the day's harvest in a wicker basket, while the other, with gnarled, expressive hands, clings to another old companion: a large wine demijohn. Behind, three barges. The composition, compressed into the reduced format of a 20-centimeter square, is dynamic, full of curves, movement and expression.

Work of the plastic artist Cleto Ciocchini (San Vicente, 1899 – La Plata, 1974), remembered for his paintings linked to the port world of Mar del Plata, where he lived for more than forty years.

Barely twenty years old, this painter trained in La Plata and Buenos Aires, emigrated to Europe determined to perfect his artistic skills. In the Old World he ended up in Rome, Florence –where he exhibited in 1920–, Paris and Madrid, participating in his classic Autumn Salon in 1922. Back in Argentina, we find him presenting work at the National Salon of 1927; there he received the Prize Stimulus, in a clear recognition of his plastic qualities, which reached their zenith in 1951, when the jury of the National Hall awarded him the Grand Prize of Honor.

“But in Buenos Aires he was restless, his theme was the port of Buenos Aires, he wanted to paint his fishermen, working hard, chatting loudly and singing loudly. Those beings who in the port harbor remembered and missed Sicily, Trento, Ischia and all the corners of their Italy ”, recalls his daughter Graciela Ciocchini. (1)

Although Ciocchini's creations received fair prizes in different salons in Argentina and Europe, his greatest recognition was reflected in the city of Mar del Plata itself, one of whose museums was baptized "Museo del Hombre del Puerto Cleto Ciocchini". The works of this remarkable artist generally reflect the fishermen of the Happy City with a very luminous palette.

Note:

1. Graciela Ciocchini: Fire and color. Buenos Aires, Dunken, 2012, p. 47.