Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-10-21
ART NEWS
---
Reveron
Paintings
On View
By FLORENCE BERRYMAN

~ EAOASANO0 A11ANAs NAfAAN
The first foreign exhibition
Of paintings by the late Ar
mando Reveron Of Venezuela,
is concluding an American
tour at the Corcoran Gallery
Of Art. James s. Plaut, direc-
tor of Boston's Institute Of
Contemporary Art, who select
ed the show from a memorial
exhibition of some 400 works
in Caracas a year ago, said
of the artist. that among
painters.
"Reveron is to Venezuela
what Munich has been to Nor
way, or Orozco to the Mexi-
cans, or Ensor for Belgium
and John Marin for u.s."
Acquaintance with the biog-
raphy Of Reveron, who died
only two years ago, discloses
aspects of his life reminiscent
of Gauguin's, and Of his tenn
permanent and mentality re-
calling Van Gogh's. These are
entirely fortuitous; Reveron
patterned himself on on one.
And whereas Gauguin a n d
Van Gogh were tormented by
unsympathetic relatives and
associates, Reveron seems to
have been fortunate in this
respect. His unconventional
life and choice of comparative
isolation in Macute, a village
near the Caribbean port of La
Guaira, where he devoted him.
self to his painting for more
than 80 years, had their in
ception in childhood illness
which left him with a brain
injury.
Attack on Canvas
Throughout his life he
painted with such fervor, pas
sion and energy. that friends
who watched him at work
sometimes during his "parox-
ysms of insanity') describe
his painting as an attack on
the canvas Cor paper or bur-
lap. The act of painting was
more important to him than
the result. Consequently, since
he paid no heed to perma-
hence. but used perishable ma
terials at times. many paint
ings Of his middle period are
extremely fragile and literally
disintegrating.
In view Of his feverish life
and frenzied technique, the
serenity of many of his land
scapes at the Corcoran Gallery
is surprising. Encouraged by
his family to study painting
in his mid-'teenS. he attended
the Academy in Caracas, later
went to Spain and France, and
returned home impressed with
the Spanish masters but I'M
touched by the modern
French, from the Impression
lists through the Cubists, who
were in the ascendency at the
time Reveron was in Paris.
Primitive Painter
He remained a primitive,
naturalistic painter with strong
personal feelings about design,
textures and symbols. For the
sake Of convenience, critics
have divided his work into
three periods named for the
colors which predominated.
The Corcoran show has ex-
ampleS of each: from his first
formative blue period" which
lasted until about 1924; his
white period" resulting from
his life at Macute, when he
was dazzled by the blazing
light of the Caribbean scene
in which colors seemed to fade
away; and finally, when he
was apparently surfeited with
the subtle whites and creams
he had used some IL years, he
turned to a new range of
ochres. browns, greens, grays
and carmines (sepia period.
He painted many subjects,
entirely from the world around
him-landscapes, marines, por-
traits, studies of the city and
docks of La Guaira, and wom-
en-. Some of his landscapes
are simple and beautiful, for
he lived in picturesque and
beautiful country. His many
figures Of women are nearly all
full face, staring disconcert-
ingly at the beholder.
This exhibition will remain
through November 4. Some
factual data was published in
The Star September "a, and
further details are in the cat
alog available at the gallery.
4 \ +