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Nemesio Antúnez Zañartu | |
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 Bailarines con volantines (detail); mural nº16 of thees:Museo a Cielo Abierto de Valparaíso | |
| Born | (1918-05-04)May 4, 1918 Santiago, Chile |
| Died | May 19, 1993(1993-05-19) (aged 75) Santiago, Chile |
| Known for | Painting,engraving |
Nemesio Antúnez Zañartu (Born in Santiago, May 4, 1918 - May 19, 1993) was a Chilean painter and engraver who founded Workshop 99.
Born to Nemesio Antúnez and Luisa Zañartu, he was the eldest of three sons, all of whom became dedicated to art:Enrique Zañartu (6 September 1921 - 13 June 2000) became a painter and Jaime Antúnez (6 March 1923 - 10 May 2010) a sculptor. The couple also had a daughter named Laura (2 September 1919 - 30 July 2010).
He went to high school atthe College of the Sacred Hearts of Santiago. At 17, he took first place at a French speaking competition and won a trip to France, where he learned aboutPablo Picasso,Juan Gris andJoan Miró.
In 1938 he enrolled in the school of architecture at thePontifical Catholic University of Chile, where he graduated in 1941. At the age of 25 he presented his first solo watercolor exhibition at the Chilean Institute of Culture.
Thanks to a scholarship from theFulbright Program, he traveled toColumbia University in New York. Upon completing his master's degree in 1947, he began working in the studioAtelier 17 withStanley William Hayter, who applied the techniques of printmaking tosurrealist art. He worked with his brother Enrique to explore the possibilities of old printmaking techniques from artists likeYves Tanguy,Kurt Seligmann,Jacques Lipchitz andJoan Miró.
In 1950, the French branch ofAtelier 17 was moved.
Antunez painted fifteen murals in total, only five of which are in Chile. Four are in Santiago -Luna,Quinchamalí,Sol andTerremoto - while one, No. 16,Bailarines con volantinesis, is in the Open-air museum of Valparaíso. Santiago's murals in Chile were declared national monuments in 2011, but their condition leaves something to be desired.
Terremoto ('earthquake'), painted in 1958, is over 30 square meters, and covers the whole vestibule wall of the Nile Cinema. The mural has visible cracking produced during theEarthquake in 2010.[1]
In even worse conditions isQuinchamalí (1958) at theJuan Esteban Montero Gallery: the paint of the mural is peeling and warping due to the humidity. The art restorer Carolina Broschek maintains that the mural can be saved, but the owner of the building on which it is painted, Yusif Tala, opined that the Nemesio Antúnez Foundation should take care of the painting or move it to another place, as has no interest in preserving it.[2]In the same gallery, besides the mural, Antúnez installed floor mosaics which are still in perfect condition.
The muralsSol andLuna have been more fortunate. Commissioned in 1955, they adorn the space between the Gran Palace cinema and theater. The murals incorporate gold and silver threads and sheets. Pablo Novoa, manager of the Gran Palace hotel, says that restoration will begin in 2015.
The name of the painter is today held in exhibition halls,[3] galleries,[4] schools and streets in Chile.[5]
In 1993 a stamp was minted in his honour[6] which depictsTanguería en Valparaíso. The following year, the Chilean Government created the "Commission Nemesio Antúnez", in charge of supervising laws concerning art.[7]
