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“Some paintings deliver their message through a story, often representing a profound feeling or emotion. Here, an anecdote is introduced; sometimes the painting doesn’t live up to the anecdote and sometimes the anecdote doesn’t live up to the painting, sometimes the two are intimately connected and become deeply touching.

Some paintings, however, derive their meaning solely from the interplay of color, materials, and other elements in the composition, and no discernable narrative is ever revealed. Here, the painter performs like a trumpeter or saxophonist free-styling off a piece of sheet music or full-on improvising, drawing from life impressions and experiences so deeply ingrained within us that they have become part of who we are.”

—ROBERTO L. PIGNATARO

On abstract art, from a family letter exchange, Aug. 2004

 
 

About

Roberto Lucio Pignataro (1928-2008) was an Argentine abstract artist. He was known for his extensive work within Argentine Informalism. He worked a full-time job at the Argentine Central Bank most of his adult life, yet he managed to forge an exceptional artistic career in his personal time ranging from the early 1950s to the mid-1980s, period during which he held twenty-eight art exhibitions, participated in two collective art shows, and published three art books.

Legacy

Roberto Pignataro’s artistic legacy can be categorized into two periods:

1) The Art School Period (1953-1960)
2) The Exhibition Period (1957-1982)

Both yielded similar bodies of work in terms of quantity and significance. However, they were distinctive in nature, with the former being more formative and self-defining and the latter more evolutionary and transcendental.

1. The Art School Period (1953-1960)

Over 500 paintings have been cataloged from this period, primarily oil paint on paper but also collage. This collection represents his work at the “Manuel Belgrano” and “Prilidiano Pueyrredon” schools of art and reflects his early influences from Post-Impressionism, Fauvism, Cubism, and Concrete Art, followed by a progression towards Informalism byways of exercises in gestural painting, calligraphic abstraction, and action painting among others.

The significance of this period can be measured in terms of historical records of his artistic formation, but also by the unique window it opens into the curriculums being imparted at the two most important art schools in Buenos Aires in the years leading to the revolutionary 1960s art scene.

2. The Exhibition Period (1960-1982)

During this time, Roberto Pignataro exhibited over 400 unique art pieces in twenty-eight shows and produced hundreds more, primarily oil paint on hardboard, paper collage, assemblage, or any combination of the three.

The significance of the period may be observed in terms of Pignataro’s contributions to Argentine Informalism, but it must also be understood in the context of the larger, collective phenomenon of the art movements that took place in 1960s Argentina. While this decade in the country’s art was characterized by the rise of political art, Pignataro’s exhibition work represents a more intellectual and inward-looking current to emerge from it, one less interested in denouncing the world around it than it was in exploring it from deep within.

His exhibitions were typically held at traditional art venues in downtown Buenos Aires, including“Galería J. Peuser”, “Galería Van Riel”, “Galería Lirolay” and “Asociación Estímulo de Bellas Artes”. He also experimented with less conventional venues, such as pop-up exhibits at galleria malls and self-publishing abstract books.

Career Record-keeping

Pignataro’s meticulous record-keeping of his career is an important supplement to his legacy. Letters, photographic records, notes, transcripts, newspaper clips, and other archival material not only document his entire journey as an independent artist spanning four decades but also provide rare insight into the circumstances that shaped his career with a level of detail and personal experience that broader historical narratives of this period rarely pause to portray.

Further Reading

While I intend to expand on this topic in future publications, below are some resources to help understand the extraordinary 1960s Argentine art scene.

Understanding 1960s Argentina (printable PDF):

  • Everyday Life in Argentina in the 1960s by Isabella Cosse

    This article may not focus primarily on the art scene but it provides valuable context about the turbulent politics and complex socio-cultural events that ultimately led to its rise.

Understanding the 1960s Argentine Art Scene (books):