VÃCTOR HUMAREDA GALLEGOS (Peru, 1920- Lima, 1986).
"Tavern scene".
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower left corner.
Size: 65 x 50 cm; 79 x 64 cm (frame).
Scene of interior in which the author picks up a scene extracted from the daily life. In what looks like a bar because of the furniture, the author gives prominence to the figure of a man who is placed in the centre of the composition, but who shifts his gaze towards the outside of the scene, without coming into direct contact with the spectator. His melancholy pose and the use of a cold colour range suggest that this is a depiction of a man belonging to an underprivileged class. However, the artist has conceived the portrait with great dignity. The manner of composing the scene aesthetically follows the precepts imposed by expressionism, with the use of a very heavy, diluted brushstroke that seems to fall or melt across the surface of the canvas, as well as the use of a highly expressive chromatic range and a symbolic rather than realistic choice. In such a way that, despite the great psychological capture of the scene, the finish of the work suggests the artist's interest in the exercise of painting over a documentary interest in reality.
Víctor Humareda was a renowned Peruvian artist, a reference in painting in his country and internationally. His interest in art began at an early age, discovering self-taught techniques and styles in his youth. In 1939, he entered the School of Fine Arts in Lima, where he was initiated in drawing and painting. However, his formal studies were interrupted due to a lack of financial resources to support his situation. After two years he returned to his artistic education under the tutelage of Juan Manuel Ugarte Elésperu. As the second in his class, Humareda was awarded a scholarship to continue his training at the Ernesto de la Cárcova School of Fine Arts in Argentina. In 1952, on his return to Lima, he had his first individual exhibition, held at the Instituto Cultura Peruano, since then he has participated in numerous individual and collective exhibitions internationally. Branded as an expressionist, Humareda often denied this label, in fact the artist himself defined his work in this way: "My painting is realist, expressionist, with influences from Goya, Murillo, Daumier, Tintoretto. Look at these reproductions. Starry Night by Van Gogh. The Third Class Carriage and Don Quixote by Daumier".