FROM THE CREATOR OF THE GAUCHESCA CARTOON

Back from the market. 1953.


Watercolor on paper, signed and dated. Measurements: 34 x 25.7 cm / 13.38 x 10.11 in. The work was given by the artist to his daughter María Amalia.


A young Colla advances with her youngest son held on her back with an awayo and behind her, the eldest follows her leading a mule that carries the load. She marches from the village to her home, surely she made the sale of her products in the market and supplied herself with what was necessary; on the back of the animal we see two bags full of articles and between them, a barrel. To the side the cacti emerge from the slope of the hill and in the distance, the snow-capped peaks of the mountain range. The diaphanous sky, characteristic of the Jujuy highlands.


Enrique Rapela (Buenos Aires, Mercedes, 1911 - 1978) was a draftsman, painter and illustrator. A man of the country, he learned those customs from personal experience, which he reflected in his artistic activity. In 1936 he drew for El Tony, “The dagger of the gauchos”, the beginning of a Creole theme that was enshrined in 1939 when “Cirilo el Audaz” appeared in the newspaper La Razón, considered the first gaucho comic published in the country. Rapela is the author in addition to other “Creole historics”, as defined by “El Huinca” -including in Patoruzito-, and “Fabian Leyes”, which was first published by the morning newspaper La Prensa and later in different newspapers in the country. These last two were later published as independent magazines, with great success, published by the author with the Cielosur seal.


In 1945 the Sindypress publishing house brought to light "Things from our gaucho land", of his authorship in texts and illustrations. The Kraft publishing house published “Superstitions of the Río de la Plata”, by Daniel Granada, illustrated by Rapela. And the author himself brought to light with his publisher Cielour, “Let’s know our things” in 1977 and 1978. This last work has just been reissued by the publishing house El Ateneo in a bilingual version. Rapela also illustrated one of the versions of “Martín Fierro”, produced by UNESCO, and numerous almanacs.


His watercolors were exhibited in individual exhibitions in Buenos Aires; in the 1930s they were presented by Viau in his art room, and in the following two decades the public enjoyed them in the Van Riel gallery.



S. On. 6. L4

AUTHOR ENRIQUE RAPELA

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