Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Florencio Molina Campos





Florencio de los Ángeles Molina Campos was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the 21 August 1891 and died 16 November 1959.
He was an extraordinary painter of gaucho life with a sardonic wit and a great love for his subject. In 1942 worked for Disney as a consultant and can be seen at work in his studio in "Saludos Amigos". He is mostly recognised for his calendar illustrations for "Alpargatas", which today are collector's items. These paintings are from the thirties and forties.
The copyright of these works belong to their rightful owners. they are posted here for educational and admirational purposes only.

21 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Capo total.
Anecdota al márgen: me contaron que trabajó con gran éxito en Estados Unidos y que allí fue muy amigo de Rodolfo Valentino.

2:26 pm  
Blogger Oscar Grillo said...

No se si amigos o algo mas intimo...Pero considerando que Rodolfo Alfonzo Raffaelo Pierre Filibert Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguolla murio en 1926 y Don Florencio fue a Hollywood en los cuarenta, dudo que hayan podido consumar algo.

4:34 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Es que mi informante ( seguramente un individuo mas mentiroso que yo ) me contó que Molina Campos había estado triunfando en Hollywood durante los años veinte, de ahí que me sorprendiera un poco su dato de que Molina C. desembarcó por allí recién en los años cuarenta.
¿Quién de los dos miente?...¿Por qué me mienten como a una criatura?...masí, yo sigo mirando las pinturas de Molina Campos y me olvido de Hollywood y de Valentino....

6:59 pm  
Blogger Oscar Grillo said...

Aqui hay una biografia decente de este gran artista:
http://www.soygaucho.com/
espanol/
artes/molinacampos.html

7:38 pm  
Blogger Patricia said...

Lo cual demuestra que hay que tener mucho cuidado con prestar oído a dimes y diretes.

8:42 pm  
Blogger limbolo said...

Oscar, perhaps you could spare a minute to explain to we gringos what is going on here.

9:24 pm  
Blogger Oscar Grillo said...

Where,Limbó. In the pictures or the comments? Gustavo wrote that he heard that Molina Campos was a friend of Rodolfo Valentino and I told him that Valentino died in 1926 and Molina went to the US only in 1937 (But he met Rooseevelt!)...Molina Worked for Disney but left because he hated what they've done to his artwork (Gaucho Goofy...The Flying Burrito) he had a contract for 4 movies but resigned before they completed them..
Frank Thomas' son is currently working on a documentary about Disney in Argentina and hopefuly will clarify the situation. Marc Davis met Molina and told me "He was CUTE"!!

10:00 pm  
Blogger Matthew Cruickshank said...

So he worked as a consultant but nobody listened to him?

The paintings have a great staged feel to them. What is the red word in the bottom right corner if it's not his signature? I guess its the magazine publication.

10:02 am  
Blogger Oscar Grillo said...

It says "Alpargatas"..It was the name of the company that sponsored the calendars. Alpargatas manufactured footwear.

10:17 am  
Blogger limbolo said...

What's going on at the top? Does the gaucho have to pay his taxes...Or worse?
Why is the caballero riding away with a beautiful young lady?
The two guitarists...Is the one on the left black?

1:55 pm  
Blogger Oscar Grillo said...

The man at the top is being told by the gendarme for whom he should vote...Allusion to fraudulent elections. The corporal orders him: "You vote for the government!"

The man on a horse is escaping with his "China" (Gaucho Woman) from a brush fire and the title is "(running away)Just with what he had on"...Comment on the woman as a property.

The two guitar players are having a "payada", an improvised singing duel were one of the singers asks an intricate seudo-philosophical question and the other has to answer cleverly and wittily..
It seems that the gaucho is not able to reply properly and insults the black man calling him: "Blight from hell!"

3:12 pm  
Blogger limbolo said...

The duelling guitarists are fascinating.
Is this type of musical duel part of their tradition?
Like the 'Dirty Dozens' in black jazz and blues and the (mis-named) Calypsos of Trinidad.
Right up into the late 20th. century West African musicians like Fela Kuti in Nigeria and Franco Luambo Makiadi in Congo-Zaire were jailed for going too far with this kind of satirical-musical game.

4:42 pm  
Blogger Oscar Grillo said...

That is correct!...They used to accompany themselves with a simple musical pattern called "Milonga". Harlequin records published a CD in the UK called "Before the Tango" and has some recordings of "payadores" from Argentina at the beggining of the Twentieth Century..In the web I found some Anarchists "payadas" from the thirties with political connotations.

4:56 pm  
Blogger Oscar Grillo said...

Limbolo...This is getting exciting!...I found in the web modern payadas done through the internet. You challenge a payador and he or she answers back in his/her site. Alas they are all in spanish. Just amazing!
Something like sung comments in the blogs (Wow, cool, neat-o, awesome, etc.)

5:24 pm  
Blogger Oscar Grillo said...

Limbolo...This is getting exciting!...I found in the web modern payadas done through the internet. You challenge a payador and he or she answers back in his/her site. Alas they are all in spanish. Just amazing!
Something like sung comments in the blogs (Wow, cool, neat-o, awesome, etc.)

5:24 pm  
Blogger limbolo said...

Indeedy!
Howard Jacobson did a brilliant TV series a year or two ago on the nature of comedy. Among other things he attacked 'high-mindedness' in contemporary comedy. He also featured black teenagers in NY playing the 'dozens'. Bravely he took them on at their own game and got back a string of hilarious insults about his paunch and the size of his nose. He didn't dare when it came to the experts in Trinidad. Tragically, I dont believe this exquisite musical poetry is ever recorded in the West Indies. Victorian prudery prevails.

7:45 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Es impresionante FMC...
Oscar, acá puse un par de fotitos, un FMC auténtico y uno de la realidad... ¿quién dijo que los caballos son deformes?
click aqui

1:58 pm  
Blogger Oscar Grillo said...

Lindisimas las fotos!!...Y las preciosuras esas son unos pequeños milagros!...Mil gracias por mostrarlas, Brindis, y un beso a todo el mundo.

Naturalmente la foto del arte imitando la vida es formidable!

2:15 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Molina Campos!!! It's a great and wonderfull pictures about the live of gauchos. Here, in Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil, we have the iqual costums whith Florencio paint.

5:42 pm  
Blogger Unknown said...

Hola Oscar! Estoy armando una clase de arte argentino online y encontré este material tuyo. Molina Campos es un artista milagroso. Gracias por mostrar su enorme talento. Ojalá nos volvamos a ver pronto cuando vuelva de Buenos Aires. Estoy hace un tiempo. Gran abrazo

6:38 pm  
Blogger Unknown said...

Soy Fernando Guibert

6:39 pm  

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