Латиноамериканский исторический альманах (Nov 2023)
Monumental art in the context of historical memory: the fate of the works of Juan de Avalos in Spain and Paraguay
Abstract
Monumental art is a special sphere of plastic art, a fusion of architecture and sculpture, which is closely related to the ideological guidelines of the era. In the second half of the 20th century. monumental art began to be expressed not only in individual sculptural and painting works, but also embodied in ensembles bearing the corresponding ideological qualities. Acting in synthesis with sculpture, architectural ensembles reflected the ideological content of the era and became an example of visual fixation in the public space of the key ele-ments of the ideology of the ruling regime. One of the striking examples in the Ibero-American space was the Valley of the Fallen (el Valle de los Caídos) in Spain. One of the creators of this project was the Spanish sculptor Juan de Avalos, whose name became a kind of bridge connecting the monumental sculptural traditions of Spain and Latin American countries. When the Paraguayan dictator A. Stroessner visited the Valley of the Fallen, the complex impressed him greatly by the syn-chronization of the Spanish and Paraguayan ideological narratives. The result was an invitation from J. de Avalos to partic-ipate in the creation of the Victorious Peace Monument (A la Paz Victoriosa) in Paraguay. Turning to the sculptor’s work and the fate of his projects, one can see semantic parallels in the monumental sculpture of the authoritarian periods in Spain and Paraguay, as well as the metamorphoses occurring both with the works of J. de Avalos themselves and with the attitude towards them. The transformation of his Paraguayan sculptural group by Carlos Colombino created a new meaning in the Square of the Missing, and the monument itself, instead of the triumph and glory of the leader, paradoxically acquired a new decolonial meaning - the memory of the Indian peoples. In Spain, in debates about memory, the state of conflict becomes more important than memory itself, which cannot but cause concern for the future of the legacy of J. de Avalos in his homeland.
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