Helena Almeida: 'Seduzir' [To Seduce, 2002] (detail)

Collection

Cascada [Waterfall]

Image caption
EDGAR NEGRET

Cascada [Waterfall]

  • 1988
  • Painted bronze
  • 151 x 87 x 80,5 cm
  • Cat. E_149
  • Acquired in 2013
By:
Beatriz Espejo

Waterfall (1988) is a version of the Great Waterfall sculpture installed in El Virrey Park in Bogota in that same year. This smaller version is made out of aluminium, in the red that is so characteristic of Edgar Negret’s work. He pressed the curves in aluminium and decided to use clearly visible rivets and nuts instead of welding to support the brightly coloured panels.

This work alludes to the ideas of waterfall and knotting that he also used in Agustinian Landscape (1989). Although there are differences in the symbolism used, both works refer to a natural phenomenon, which is very common in the San Agustín region: the scent of the many waterfalls cascading from a great height, nearly all of which are hidden by the lush tropical vegetation of this area of the Andes, so that the only indication of their presence is the strong scent of wet earth. The mythical connotation comes from the fact that the pre-Colombian natives of that region considered water as a symbol of death and fleetingness, along with serpents and the moon. In this mechanical Waterfall Negret seems to seek the strange symbiosis between nature and myth that the indigenous people believed existed in those mysterious waterfalls rooted in local memory.

This work was a forerunner of Negret’s output from the 1990s onwards. He worked tirelessly on a copious oeuvre focused on machines, the spiritual, nature and ancestors, in which he returned to his indigenous roots by exploring the cultures of San Agustín, the Tierradentro culture of his native Popayán and, in particular, the aesthetics and architecture if the Inca culture of Machu Picchu.

Beyond the symbolic meaning, he was searching for emotional components and reactions, which are a central motif in his work: "I believe that the emotional prevails in me. Everything is made with a logical structure, but with gestures that interest me". Waterfall is an example of how the artist handles form and materials in structural, rational fashion to achieve a sensitive, dynamic effect in sculpture.

Beatriz Espejo

 
By:
Beatriz Espejo
Edgar Negret
Popayán 1920 - Bogotá 2012

Edgar Negret Dueñas is considered to be one of the most distinguished sculptors of geometric abstract works in Colombia. He was greatly influenced by Jorge Oteiza following his time at the Cali School of Fine Arts. Thanks to Oteiza, Negret adopted new aesthetic ideas and learned from books on and reproductions of the work of leading contemporary sculptors, particularly Henry Moore. His 1953 trip to Paris to see a posthumous retrospective of Julio González was also a revelation. In Paris, he also visited the workshops of Constantin Brâncuşi and Jean Tinguely. In 1963 he moved to New York, where he started the Magical Devices series, comprising constructions made using occasionally mobile metal pieces in which he evokes complex, modern industrial technology. It was on this series that he began to work with the coloured sheet metal and bars that were to become fundamental in his aesthetic quest.  His materials at that time included plaster, ceramics, steel and iron. At the end of the 1960s, back in Colombia, his focus shifted again has he committed to the historical, political and social reality of the country, drawing inspiration from a large number of sources ranging from the natural exuberance of the Andes to its myths, with a direct commitment to prehistoric culture. Aluminium then became a fundamental part of his work. In 1963 he took part in the 15th National Salon of Artists in Colombia and took First Prize for Sculpture. In 1966 he was awarded the Silver Medal at the São Paulo Biennial and he won First Prize again at the National Salon of Artists in 1967. In 1968 he received the Sculpture Prize at the Venice Bienniale.

He staged many solo shows at museums and galleries around the world, including the Bogota Modern Art Museum (1965), the São Paulo Modern Art Museum (1966), the Caracas Fine Arts Museum (1973), the Puerto Rico Fine Arts Museum (1974), the Center for Inter-American Relations (New York, 1976) and the Conde Duque Cultural Centre (Madrid, 1996). 1985 saw the opening of the Edgar Negret Museum in Bogota, which houses a large part of his legacy. In 2010, the Colombian Government awarded him the Great Order of the Ministry of Culture and a major retrospective exhibition was held at the Congress of the Republic of Colombia to mark the occasion.

Beatriz Espejo

 
 
Vv.Aa. Colección Banco de España. Catálogo razonado, Madrid, Banco de España, 2019, vol. 3.