page_title: Art of Francisco Narváez in the University City of Caracas
section_title: Style
hierarchical_section_title: Art of Francisco Narváez in the University City of Caracas / Style
caption_attribution_description: El conjunto urbanístico de El Silencio es obra del insigne arquitecto Carlos Raúl Villanueva y con más de 60 años de historia se ha convertido en simbolo de las transformaciones profundas que ha sufrido nuestro país. Las esculturas en la fuente O'Leary, en el centro del conjunto, son de Francisco Narváez. Más sobre esta importante obra de planificación urbana aquí.
context_page_description: Francisco Narváez was commissioned to create pieces for the University City of Caracas campus in 1949, initially working between 1950 and 1953, with other pieces added later. The artworks include stone and metal statues, busts, reliefs, and various material of murals. Three of the statues are made of Cumarebo stone: El Atleta, a large statue in the sports complex, and La educación and La ciencia in the medical complex. The Cumarebo stone is a favourite material of Narváez. Two sculptures of the esteemed doctor José Gregorio Hernández and President José María Vargas grace the campus grounds.
  Three of the murals are also in the medical complex, and were the first artworks to be installed on the campus; their imagery combines science and religion. Eleven of the works are considered part of the campus living museum; the other, a wooden bust called Torso, was created in 1956 and is currently displayed in the dean of the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning's office. Narváez works in various materials, with an artistic style based in his own Venezuelan identity as well as influenced by European modes and classical sculptures from antiquity, from his background in Paris.
context_section_description: Narváez' art often depicts human nudes, being a prevalent theme in his paintings and present in his various sculptures. He was first taught principles of sculpture in Caracas – though the art school there was progressive in its painting classes, it was antiquated in terms of sculpting – which focused on female nudes, and later gained an appreciation for the artistry of the human form in ancient sculptures he saw in Europe. His human forms, unlike those he had seen, often represented ethnic peoples of Venezuela, including criollos, mestizos, native people, and black Americans, while maintaining Mediterranean elements. 
  His monumental works produced for Villanueva's public spaces are said to embody "the majestic spirit and poses of classical art, but proudly displaying the features and fibrous bodies of a mixed race", a theme also prevalent in social processes during the aftermath of Juan Vicente Gómez' dictatorship being toppled in 1935. His works are identified as part of the advent of modernity in Venezuela, and in the style of the "first phase" of the University City. His art of the period straddles the native identity of early modernism and the abstract art of more mature modernism in the country; his artistic style developed during the creation of the campus artworks. While continuing to depict the human form, it became more abstract (with works like La Cultura) compared to his earlier adherence to anatomical accuracy.
  The institutes of Experimental Medicine and Anatomy form part of the medical complex, and are in the style of Villanueva's initial plan for the campus to be perfectly symmetrical (a design later abandoned). The buildings are connected by a tunnel and are designed around an axis of symmetry lying between the two, with "similar masses" reflected on each side. Two each of Narváez' murals and sculptures are part of this design.
caption: Detail of Las Toninas, 1945,  El Silencio's Plaza O'Leary. Made by Francisco Narváez  for Carlos Raúl Villanueva.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Make": "KONICA MINOLTA", "Image Model": "DiMAGE Z3", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "DiMAGE Z3 v1.02", "Image DateTime": "2007:05:05 18:29:30", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "532", "Image SubjectArea": "[640, 480, 158, 158]", "Image CustomRendered": "Normal", "Image ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "Image WhiteBalance": "Auto", "Image DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "Image FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "286", "Image SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "Image GainControl": "None", "Image Contrast": "Normal", "Image Saturation": "Normal", "Image Sharpness": "Normal", "Image SubjectDistanceRange": "3", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 50, 53, 48, 0, 0, 0, 5, 0, 1, 0, 22, ... ]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "34330", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3277", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/640", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "50", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:05:05 18:29:30", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:05:05 18:29:30", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "51/5", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "217/50", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "12011/256", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "960", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "848"}