JULIO LARRAZ: PA I N T I N G & S C U L P T U R E Museum of Art - DeLand January 20 - April 2, 2017
Acknowledgments The selected works of art that comprise this exhibition are the vehicles of a mind attempting to see itself in its own light. Perhaps no such vision is possible. Can the eye ever see itself, save in a reflection? We say of the mind, too, that it reflects, and often enough it reflects on itself. Artists work in the hope of devising a direct image of mind, of consciousness, of themselves. This exhibition brings us face-to-face with Julio Larraz’s notation of his experiences, actual or not. It is the artist who has faced these subjects, not the viewer. Reading a diary, one does not live a life. One examines evidence that someone else has done so. Looking at the creations of this artist, the viewer does not look through his eyes and sees what he sees. One sees, instead, the record of his looking. One notes how he has interpreted certain experiences or evoked the peculiar nature of their “uninterpretability.” First and foremost, I would like to extend my gratitude to Julio Larraz. Through his friendship and shared knowledge, as well as his art, my own visual experience has been enriched. While selecting this show at the artist’s studio, it was a pleasure to have been assisted by Ariel Larraz and Nelly Gomez, whose help proved indispensable in organizing the myriad of logistical details inherent in planning this project. I personally would like to thank Luciano Paladini for sharing with me his ideas and advice. The following donors and businesses merit special appreciation for their support of this presentation and their commitment to this year’s exhibition schedule: Dennis Aylward, Dr. Bruce Bigman and Carolyn Bigman, Samuel and Donna Blatt, Bill and Terri Booth, Earl and Patti Colvard, Sal Cristofano and Laura Gosper, Manny De La Vega, Dr. Wayne Dickson and Jewel Dickson, Robert Dorian and Linda Colvard Dorian, Lee and Susan Downer, Dr. Susan Griffis, Christie G. Harris, John and Karen Horn, Ed Jackson and Pat Heller-Jackson, Betty Drees Johnson, Ray and Betty Johnson, Ed and Pauline Lacey, Barney and Linda Lane, Doni Lennon, Tim and Mary Jeanne Ludwig, Van and Frances Massey, Eugene May, Robin May, William May, Greg and Beth Milliken, Linda Pinto, Dagny and Tommy Robertson, Stephen and Claudia Roth, Patricia Schwarze, Fred and Jeanne Staloff, Harry Sugarman, Judith Thompson, Dr. Ian Williams and Dr. Nancy Hutson, Dr. John Wilton and Nancy Wilton, Dorothy M. Gillespie Foundation, Daytona Auto Mall, DeLand Breakfast Rotary, DeLand Fall Festival of the Arts, DeLand Rotary Club, Inc., Boulevard Tire Center, Collaborative WEALTH, E.O. Painter Printing Company, Krewe Nouveau, Fleishel Financial Associates, Lane Insurance, Inc., Lacey Family Charitable Trust, Mainstreet Community Bank, Massey Services, Inc., Museum Guild, Publix Supermarket Charities, United Parachute Technologies, West Volusia Beacon, W. W. Gay Mechanical Contractor, Inc., State of Florida Division of Cultural Affairs and the County of Volusia. I would like to recognize our Museum’s Board of Trustees, led by President Judy Thompson, for their support in enabling the staff to realize its ambitious exhibition programming. Finally, I would like to praise my professional staff who provided indispensable assistance in bringing this project to fruition. George S. Bolge Chief Executive Officer Museum of Art - DeLand, Florida
Study for Comienza La Noche, 2012 Oil on canvas, 24 1/2” x 30 1/4”
Julio Larraz: A Spiritual Sojourn In the creative process, Julio Larraz and the scientist are parallel to a certain point, and then inexorably they go off into separate worlds, one to the reality of the physical world, the other to the reality of the world of ideas, beginning and ending at opposite poles but using the same means for their respective ends. For Larraz, the act of historical understanding has always been of the highest importance, not only as a means for himself, as a Cuban and an American, to recuperate his heritage for use in the present but also as a way of distancing himself from the past even as he acknowledges it. History becomes the means of attaining a universal and past historical present. Such is the dilemma of anyone acting with full A Bahia dos Espelhios, 2004 Oil on canvas, 82 3/4” x 60 1/2” consciousness within the extremely old and rich cultural tradition of Europe; it is a situation that imposes an exceptional burden on all but the most gifted and dynamic individual. There is a constant temptation to resort to the primitive, the romantic, or to the simple modes of a younger and less encumbered cultural consciousness, such as that of America, as a means of bypassing the accumulation of the past. Earlier in our century when Expressionists and Surrealists explored the subjective and the “subconscious,” it was in a spirit akin to the then-new science of psychoanalysis and in an age of rational ideals. Jules Larraz has different motives. Acting out the compulsions of the psyche physically instead of dissecting them analytically, he is attempting to retrieve or, at least to represent atrophied instincts as well as critiquing the images bequeathed us from styles of the traditional past. His work seems to be less involved with abstract forms than with representing the externalized images of abstract forms. Julio Larraz’s art is both difficult and hopeful - it offers the possibility of personal triumph but not its certainty, and suggests that true heroism, to use unapologetically so romantic a term, comes not from the resolution of conflict, but from the will and resourcefulness to engage in it. From this unity of artistic method and meaning derives the strength of Larraz’s conception, the alliance of the implicit organizing power of chaos and inspired human choice. G.S.B.
The Nautilus, 1998 Bronze, 15 5/8” x 81 3/4” x 13 5/8”
The blind poet and his canto, 2012 Watercolor and pastel on paper, 39” x 53” The poet King in the wilderness, 2009 Oil on canvas, 60” x 72”
La escolta de un poeta, 2010 Oil on canvas, 72” x 60”
Primera Clase “First Class”, 2000 Oil on canvas, 39” x 50 3/4”
Biography Julio Larraz was born in Havana, Cuba, on March 12, 1944. The son of a newspaper publisher, he began to draw at a very early age. In 1961 his parents moved to Miami, Florida, taking the whole family with them. In 1962 they moved to Washington, D.C., and in 1964 to New York City, where Larraz lived for the next five years. There he began to draw political caricatures which were published by the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune and Vogue magazine, among others. In 1967 Larraz began working full time as a painter. He credits several New York artists, including Burt Silverman, for teaching him various painting techniques. In 1971, his first solo exhibition was held at the Pyramid Galleries in Washington, D.C., and in 1972 he had an exhibition at the New School for Social Research in New York. One year later, his paintings were shown at the FAR Gallery in New York. In 1976 Larraz won awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the National Institute of Arts and Letters. The same year he also was awarded the Cintas Grant from the Institute of International Education. The next year later Larraz moved to San Patricio, New Mexico, fascinated by the light and atmosphere of the barren hills of the Hondo Valley. It was there that he met Ron Hall, his future dealer, who is based in Texas. In 1978 Larraz bought a house in Grandview, New York. There he met Nohra Haime whose New York gallery represented him until 1994. In 1983 he moved to Paris, remaining there for two years. In 1986 Larraz moved to Miami, Florida, with his family. Julio Larraz is best known for his precise and detailed technique, his imagination and his unique subtle touch, all of which have helped affirm his reputation as one of the most important contemporary Latin American painters. In 2014 Larraz began working with Ameringer, McEnery & Yohe Gallery in New York; Galleria d’Arte Contini in Italy; Contini Art UK in London; Ascaso Gallery in Miami; and Art of the World Gallery in Houston.
Impact, 1996 Oil on canvas, 69” x 115”
Awards 1975 Cinta Grant, Instituto de Educación Internacional, New York 1976 American Academy of Arts and Letters and National Institute of Arts and Letters, New York 1977 Purchase Prize, Childe Hassam Fund Purchase Exhibition, American Academy of Arts and Letters and National Institute of Arts and Letters, New York 1997 Plastic Arts, Facts About Cuban Exile, FACE, Miami
Public Collections Archer M. Huntington Art Gallery, University of Texas, Austin Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, Florida Cintas Foundation, New York Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca Miami Dade Public Library, Miami Museo de Arte Moderno, Bogotá Museo de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico Neuberger Museum, State University of New York, Purchase Perez Art Museum, Miami, Florida University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Vassar College Art Gallery, Poughkeepsie Westmoreland Museum of Art, Greenburg, Pennsylvania
On the Cover, Time (detail), 2015 Oil on canvas, 60” x 72”
Catalogue All dimensions in inches
“... Et Lux Perpetua Luceat Eis” A Bahia dos Espelhios A Peaceful Meeting at La Tremebunda A visit from Catherine de’ Medici Chain Reaction Desplante Diva El Padre de la Patria Nueva Head of Secret Police Hunters in the Storm Icarus Falling Impact Jonah & the Whale La escolta de un poeta Lost at Sea Moon Noah’s Ark On Earth as it is in Heaven Planeta Verde Primera Clase “First Class” Sea of Storms Southern Skies Strong Man Study for “Comienza La Noche” Study for “Khampa Dzong” The blind poet and his canto The Bone Collector The Diver The Floating Gardens of the Queen of Hearts The King The Magician of Punta Agravox The Nautilus The poet King in the wilderness The Queen of Hearts The Spanish Hat The Wake of Orpheus Time Transatlantic Two hundred years in power Up Near Rutland UP TO NG Whales in sight Woman on The Roof Museum of Art - DeLand Staff George S. Bolge, Chief Executive Officer Dorothy Dansberger, Director of Finance and Operations Pattie Pardee, Director of Development Lisa Habermehl, Director of Marketing Pam Coffman, Curator of Education David Fithian, Curator of Art and Exhibitions Tariq Gibran, Registrar Teri Peaden, Manager of Downtown Museum Suzi Tanner, Manager of Guest Services, Membership and Special Events Mary Anne Rogers, Public Relations and Communications Specialist Copyright 2016 Museum of Art - DeLand, FL
2012 2004 2011 2013 2013 2013 2001 1984 2011 2006 1999 1996 1996 2010 1986 1995 1994 2002 1998 2000 1978 1998 2005 2012 1999 2012 2006 1994 2016 2015 2011 1998 2009 2011 1991 2014 2015 2001 2013 1990 2012 2016 2015
Oil on canvas 72 x 60 Oil on canvas 82 3/4 x 60 1/2 Oil on canvas 60 x 72 Oil on canvas 40 x 50 Oil on canvas 50 x 40 Oil on canvas 72 x 60 Oil on canvas 39 1/2 x 31 1/2 Oil on canvas 72 1/2 x 82 1/2 Oil on canvas 50 x 60 Oil on canvas 60 x 72 Oil on canvas 39 1/2 x 51 Oil on canvas 69 x 115 Oil on canvas 51 1/2 x 82 1/2 Oil on canvas 72 x 60 Oil on canvas 77 X 77 Oil on canvas 50 x 74 Bronze (Ed. of 6) 16 3/8 x 25 x 17 3/8 Oil on canvas 51 1/4 x 63 1/8 Pastel on paper 27 x 39 Oil on canvas 39 x 50 3/4 Oil on canvas 30 x 72 Oil on canvas 57 x 74 Bronze 31 X 17 X 9 Oil on canvas 24 1/2 x 30 1/4 Oil on canvas 20 x 24 Watercolor and pastel on paper 39 x 53 Oil on canvas 56 3/4 x 64 Oil on canvas 22 x 28 Oil on canvas 60 x 72 Oil on canvas 84 x 78 Oil on canvas 78 x 60 Bronze 15 5/8 x 81 3/4 x 13 5/8 Oil on canvas 60 x 72 Oil on canvas 60 x 78 Oil on canvas 52 x 63 5/8 Oil on canvas 40 x 52 Oil on canvas 60 x 72 Oil on canvas 72 7/8 x 59 3/16 Oil on canvas 60 x 72 Oil on canvas 53 x 84 Watercolor and pastel on paper 45 x 59 Oil on canvas 72 x 60 Oil on canvas 72 x 60
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