Delesio Antonio Berni was a neofigurative artist, born in Rosario, province of Santa Fe, Argentina, on 14 May 1905, died on 13 October 1981. He worked as a painter, an illustrator and an engraver. His father, Napoleón Berni, was an immigrant tailor from Italy. His mother, Margarita Picco, was an Argentinian, daughter of Italians settled in Roldán, a nearby town. Figurative art describes artwork - particularly paintings - which are clearly derived from real object sources, but are not necessarily representational. ... Rosario viewed from a point above the Paraná River Rosario is the largest city of the province of Santa Fe, Argentina, and the third most populous in the country, after Córdoba and Buenos Aires. ... Argentina consists of 23 provinces (provincias, singular - provincia), and 1 federal district (Capital Federal *). Capital Federal * Buenos Aires Catamarca Chaco Chubut Córdoba Corrientes Entre Ríos Formosa Jujuy La Pampa La Rioja Mendoza Misiones Neuquén Río Negro Salta San Juan San Luis Santa Cruz Santa Fe Santiago... Categories: Argentina geography stubs | Argentine provinces ... May 14 is the 134th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (135th in leap years). ... 1905 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... October 13 is the 286th day of the year (287th in leap years). ... 1981 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Immigration is the act of moving to or settling in another country or region, temporarily or permanently. ... A tailor is a person whose occupation is to sew clothes custom-fit to individuals, and to repair clothes. ...

In 1914 he became an apprentice in the Buxadera and Co. vitraux factory, receiving instruction from its founder, a Catalan craftsman. He spent only a short time here, since his father returned to Italy, and Berni was sent to his grandparents' house in Roldán. Napoleón Berni died in World War I. 1914 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... Catalan can mean: the Catalan language inhabitant of Catalonia Eugène Charles Catalan the mathematician a Catalan solid Catalan numbers the Catalan Opening, a chess opening the Catalan forge, a type of open hearth furnace that was a precursor to the blast furnace There is also information on Catalan names. ... World War I was primarily a European conflict with many facets: immense human sacrifice, stalemate trench warfare, and the use of new, devastating weapons - tanks, aircraft, machineguns, and poison gas. ...

Early years

He studied painting at the Centre Català in Rosario. In 1920, fifteen-year-old Berni had his first exhibition: 17 oil paintings of suburban landscapes and flowers. He exposed every year from 1921 to 1924; in 1923 it was at the Witcomb Gallery in Buenos Aires, earning flattery from critics. At this stage he was a follower of impressionism. 1920 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January January 7 - Forces of Russian White admiral Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk. ... Mona Lisa, Oil on wood panel painting by Leonardo da Vinci Oil painting is done on surfaces with pigment ground into a medium of oil - especially in early modern Europe, linseed oil. ... 1921 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... 1924 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1923 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Impressionism was a 19th century art movement, that began as a loose association of Paris-based artists who began publicly exhibiting their art in the 1860s. ...

Europe: surrealism and politics

In 1925 Berni was granted a scholarship to study in Europe by the Jockey Club of Rosario, and travelled to Madrid, Spain, whose artistic scene had been en vogue for some time in Argentina. A short time in Madrid made him realize that the source of Spanish painting was Paris, France, so he moved there, where he met other Argentine artists, like Xul Solar. He stayed only a few months, then moved to nearby Arcueil, and then back to Argentina when his scholarship ended. He obtained a subsidy from the provincial government of Santa Fe, and returned to Paris. In 1928 he and other artists took a exhibition to Buenos Aires, which was attended even by President Marcelo T. de Alvear. 1925 was a common year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... Plaza de Cibeles (Cibeles square) and the Palacio de Comunicaciones (Communications Palace) Coat of arms. ... The Eiffel Tower has become a symbol of Paris throughout the world. ... Xul Solar was the adopted name of Oscar Agust n Alejandro Schulz Solari (December 14, 1887 - April 9, 1963), Argentinian painter, sculptor, writer, and inventor of imaginary languages. ... 1928 was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Current President Néstor Kirchner The President of Argentina (full title: President of the Argentine Nation, Spanish: Presidente de la Nación Argentina) is the head of state of Argentina. ... Máximo Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear Pacheco (Buenos Aires, 4 October 1868 - Don Torcuato, 23 March 1942), better known as Marcelo T. de Alvear was an Argentina politician that was President of Argentina from 12 October 1922 to 12 October 1928. ...

In Paris he became acquainted with a number of people, such as Louis Aragón, a French writer and one of the leaders of Dada and surrealism, who influenced him artistically and introduced him to André Breton, poet and critic. He also befriended Henri Lefebvre, who initiated him in the reading of Karl Marx. With the combined influence of his friends in politics, and of Giorgio de Chirico's works and René Magritte in the arts, he finally embraced surrealism and Communism. He began helping Aragón in his anti-imperialist struggle in Paris, where Chinese, African, Vietnamese and other minority people were abundant. Berni distributed a newspaper for Asians and illustrated other publications. In the meantime, he studied surrealist painting and poetry, and the work of Sigmund Freud. One of his illuminating moments came when he met Tristan Tzara in 1930. Cover of the first edition of the publication, Dada. ... Surrealism is a philosophy, a cultural and artistic movement, and a term used to describe unexpected juxtapositions. ... André Breton (February 18, 1896 – September 28, 1966) was a French writer, poet, and surrealist theorist. ... Henri Lefebvre, born June 16, 1901, died 1991 was a French Marxist sociologist, intellectual and philosopher. ... Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5, 1818 Trier, Germany – March 14, 1883 London, UK) was an influential German philosopher, political economist, and revolutionary organizer of the International Workingmens Association. ... Love Song 1914 Giorgio de Chirico (July 10, 1888 – November 20, 1978) was an Italian painter born in Volos, Greece founded the scuola metafisica art movement. ... The Treachery Of Images (La trahison des images) (1928-1929) René François Ghislain Magritte (November 21, 1898 – August 15, 1967) was a surrealist artist, born in Lessines, Belgium. ... This article is about communism as a form of society and as a popular movement. ... A cartoon portraying the British Empire as an octopus, reaching into foreign lands A cartoon showing the U.S. growing up and growing girth. ... Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud (May 7, 1856 – September 23, 1939) was an Austrian psychiatrist and the founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychology, based on his discovery that unconscious motives control much behavior, that particular kinds of unconscious thoughts and memories, especially sexual and aggressive ones, are the source of... Tristan Tzara (April 16, 1896 - December 25, 1963) is the pseudonym of Sami Rosenstock, born in Moineşti, Bacău, Romania. ... 1930 is a common year starting on Wednesday. ...

His style of surrealism does not resemble Miró's automatism or Dalí's onirism; he instead took Chirico's style and gave it a new content. Joan Miró Woman and Bird (Barcelona) Joan Miró (April 20, 1893 – December 25, 1983) was a painter, sculptor and ceramist born in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. ... Salvador Dalí as photographed in 1934 by Carl Van Vechten Salvador Felip Jacint Dalí Domènech (May 11, 1904 – January 23, 1989) was an important Catalan painter, best known for his surrealist works. ...

Back to Argentina: social realism

By 1930 Berni was married and had a daughter. Shocked by the news of a military coup d'etat in Buenos Aires, he decided to go back, and settled first in the countryside, and then in Rosario, where he worked in the town hall. He organized an association of artists and students, and was briefly a member of the local Communist Party. A coup détat, or simply a coup, is the sudden overthrow of a government, usually done by a small group that just replaces the top power figures. ...

In 1932 he exposed his surrealist paintings. It was the first display of this art movement in Latin America, and the public was not accustomed to it; the critics condemned it. 1932 is a leap year starting on a Friday. ... Latin America consists of the countries of South America and some of North America (including Central America and some the islands of the Caribbean) whose inhabitants mostly speak Romance languages, although Native American languages are also spoken. ...

Argentina was under the rule of a conservative dictatorship, a problematic time full of social struggle, workers' strikes and unemployment. Rosario was a picturesque display of decadence, prostitution and mafia gangs. The world as a whole was moving towards darker times, with totalitarism, the rise of Nazism in Germany, the Spanish Civil War, etc. Berni felt surrealism was far removed from this, and started moving away into social realism, starting in 1934 with two paintings called Desocupados ("Unemployed people") and Manifestación ("Demonstration"). Dictatorship, in contemporary usage, refers to absolute rule by a leadership (usually a single dictator) unrestricted by law, constitutions, or other social and political factors within the state. ... Dorothea Langes Migrant Mother depicts destitute pea pickers in California during the Great Depression. ... Prostitution is the sale of sexual services, such as oral sex or sexual intercourse, for money. ... // Background The Mafia, also referred to in Italian as La Cosa Nostra (variously translated as This Thing Of Ours or Our Thing), is the name for a secret, criminal organisation which evolved in mid 19th century Sicily, and led to an offshoot on the East-Coast of the United States... The concept of Totalitarianism is a typology or ideal-type used by some political scientists to encapsulate the characteristics of a number of twentieth century regimes that mobilized entire populations in support of the state or an ideology. ... The term National Socialism has been used in self-description by a number of different political groups and ideologies, some of which have no connection with the Nazis; see National socialism (disambiguation). ... History of Spain series Prehistoric Spain Roman Spain Muslim Conquest of Iberia Timeline of Muslim Occupation Medieval Spain Age of Reconquest Age of Expansion Age of Enlightenment Reaction and Revolution First Spanish Republic The Restoration Second Spanish Republic Spanish Civil War The Dictatorship Modern Spain Topics Economic History Military History... 1934 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ...

In the 1940s Berni met and studied Pre-Columbian art during a journey through Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru and Colombia, whose influence can be felt in a painting, Mercado indígena ("Indian market"). This decade was one of revolutions and coups d'etat in Latin America, including Argentina in 1943. Between 1948 and 1951 he painted Masacre ("Massacre"), El obrero muerto ("The dead worker"), and another "Demonstration", with people carrying symbols of peace, on the year of the first hydrogen bomb test by the United States. 1940 was a leap year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1943 is a common year starting on Friday. ... 1948 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1951 was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945 lifted nuclear fallout some 18 km (60,000 feet) above the epicenter. ...

From 1951 to 1953 he lived in Santiago del Estero, a province in the Argentine north-west which had suffered and was still suffering massive ecological damage, mainly overexploitation of the quebracho tree (for its tannin and its hard, durable timber) by a few landowners who exploited their workers. In the following years, Berni's works reflected this natural and social tragedy. In 1955-1956 he painted the series Chaco, depicting the similar situation in Chaco; it was exhibited in Paris, Berlin, Warsaw, Bucarest and Moscow. 1951 was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ... 1953 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... Map of Argentina highlighting Santiago del Estero province Flag of Santiago del Estero Province Santiago del Estero is a province of Argentina, located in the north of the country. ... Tannins are astringent, bitter-tasting plant polyphenols that bind and precipitate proteins. ... Timber Timber is a term used to describe wood throughout its processing from the time it is planned for use in industrial products to the time it is used as a structural material or in other industrial product, such as wood pulp for paper production. ... 1955 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1956 was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Map of Argentina highlighting the province Chaco Province is in the north of Argentina, near the border of Paraguay. ...   Berlin? (pronounced: , German ) is the capital of Germany and its largest city, with 3,426,000 inhabitants (as of January 2005); down from 4. ... Warsaw (Polish: Warszawa, see also other names, in full The Capital City of Warsaw, Polish: Miasto StoÅ‚eczne Warszawa) is the capital of Poland and its largest city. ... Bucharest (population 2. ... Moscow (Russian: Москва́, Moskva, IPA:   listen?) is the capital of Russia, located on the river Moskva. ...

By this time he also painted some suburban landscapes, and then he invented two stock characters that would make his works recognizable worldwide, Juanito Montiel and Ramona Laguna.

Later years

In 1976 Berni went to live in New York City, where he painted, did engraving and collage, and exhibited some works. He painted 58 works that were meant for an exhibit in Texas, but were never displayed there, and were recovered and brought back to Argentina after his death, in 1982. New York struck him as luxurious, consumistic, materially wealthy but spiritually poor. His works showed this with a touch of social irony. 1976 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... Midtown Manhattan, looking north from the Empire State Building, 2005 New York City (officially named the City of New York) is the most populous city in the United States, the most densely populated major city in North America, and is at the center of international finance, politics, entertainment, and culture. ... ... 1982 is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Han Solos line, Jabba, youre a wonderful human being, is ironic—Jabba the Hutt, pictured here, is neither wonderful nor a human being. ...

In 1981 his paintings became more spiritual and reflective. He painted apocaliptic murals for a chapel in General Las Heras, Buenos Aires; a Cristo en el garage ("Christ in the garage"), and the opposition of nature and humanity through a naked woman lying in the sand under the moon, this harmonious night disturbed by the passing of an airplane. Berni died that same year, on 13 October. 1981 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...