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Maker(s):Alpuy, Julio
Culture:Uruguay (1919- )
Title:El árbol de la Vida: Maqueta Preliminar ( The Tree of Life: Preliminary maquette)
Date Made:1982
Type:print
Materials:Pen and black ink on medium weight, smooth, white paper
Measurements:sheet: 18 3/4 in x 16 1/8 in; 47.6 cm x 41 cm; image: 17 3/4 in x 15 in; 45.1 cm x 38.1 cm
Accession Number:  SC 2016.56.19
Credit Line:Gift of Marius and Suzanne Sznajderman in memory of Bernard Barken Kaufman
Museum Collection:  Smith College Museum of Art
2016_56_19.jpg

Description:
nude couple seated under a tree with birds in the tree and sky

Label Text:
Although two versions of the same subject, one a study in pen, the other the finished lithograph, the two tell a somewhat different story. In the pen study of The Tree of Life (El Árbol de la Vida), the stylized bulbous tree is paired with a large, rose-like vortex. The two figures, a man and a woman, sit casually in the foreground. The finished lithograph, with its brown, somewhat textured surround, places the couple on an isolated, paradisiacal island reminiscent of the biblical Eden. The pen study, however, does not include the brown enclosure and more importantly omits the iconic gesture of Eve giving the apple to Adam.

Julio Alpuy was a student of Joaquín Torres-García, the Uruguayan artist who developed a new philosophy of art that he called “Constructive Universalism.” This art form combined geometric forms with universal spiritual―“intuitive”― subjects.

These two works demonstrate this concept quite eloquently. The vortex, a universal geometric symbol found in nature and many non-western religions, is considered to be a metaphor of the cycle of life and death. Here Alpuy references the biblical story of the Fall in which mankind is punished for disobedience and thrust into the abyss (or vortex) of mortal existence.

Tags:
biblical; landscapes; men; women; birds

Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=SC+2016.56.19

Research on objects in the collections, including provenance, is ongoing and may be incomplete. If you have additional information or would like to learn more about a particular object, please email fc-museums-web@fivecolleges.edu.

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