Tribute to José Hernández. Buenos Aires, 1967.

Pencil and fiber on paper, measures: 64.2 x 39.5 cm / 25.27 x 15.5 in. With dedication “To Otero at the beginning of the year of 1968 with gratitude. Libero Badii January 1968”.

Original poster made on the occasion of the exhibition "Tribute to José Hernández" at the Nexo gallery in the city of Buenos Aires, between September 18 and 30, 1967. Drawn, written and painted on paper with black pencil and fiber, it contains two stanzas of Martín Fierro. Of the present original poster, 50 zincography copies emerged, of equal size, and signed by the author, which were exhibited and sold in that exhibition, a fact that we can corroborate in the book-catalog of the exhibition José Hernández seen by Libero Badii, written by the artist himself and published by the same Nexo gallery, where the full-page printed poster is reproduced.

The poster shows points and lines as vectors and nodes, geometric emanations, mystical and classical astronomical writing in Badii's art, and the superposition of square blocks in reference to one of the two sculptures that made up this exhibition, of a totemic nature. Badii wrote about the sculpture: “(...) I had to think of ‘Martín Fierro’ by José Hernández, which was written in the historical period called ‘The National Organization’. The building symbol was latent. (...) I had the formalized vision of sculpture; its presentation in seven overlapping cubes; could be more as they go to infinity. As the mother form it was the representative from my point of view; it symbolizes organized construction. I saw each cube as if it were a sestine (...)”. (1)

Libero Badii (Arezzo, Italy, 1916 - Buenos Aires, 2001) was an Italian sculptor, draftsman, printmaker and painter, naturalized from Argentina. The son of a marble maker, his first approach to the noble stone was working in his father's workshop. He studied at the Ernesto de la Cárcova School of Fine Arts. Upon completion, his high grades earned him a South American travel scholarship. In 1962 he presented a retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, in 1968 he exhibited at the Di Tella Institute, in 1977 at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris. In 1959 he won the Palanza Prize, in 1971 the San Pablo Biennial National Prize, in 1982 the Grand Prize of the National Endowment for the Arts, and in 1987 the National Consecration Prize. He was appointed a member of the National Academy of Fine Arts. His work is represented in the most important national museums and at the MOMA in New York.

Notes:

1. Libero Badii: José Hernández seen by Libero Badii. Editorial Nexo, 1967.