Sergio Larrain

Sergio Larrain: The Valparaiso Series

Born in Santiago, Chile, Sergio Larrain was an experimental photographer, considered to be the most important of the Chilean photographers. His depictions of his homeland in the 1950s and1960s were taken with a documentarian’s instinct, the scenes creatively presented with vertical frames, deep shadows and low angles. Most notable were Larrain’s intense images of the children of Santiago living on the banks of the Mapocho River and his series of images which captured the mood of late 1950s London.

After studying music and forestry in the United States, Sergio Larrain, with the assistance of a British Council scholarship, traveled to Europe and the Middle East, working for various European magazines, joining the staff of the Brazilian magazine “O Cruzeiro” in 1956. The images he shot in London during his travels caught the attention of photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, who, a founding member of Magnum Photos, invited Larrain to join the international photographic collective.

Sergio Larrain joined Magnum Photos in 1959 as an associate, becoming a full member in 1961. After that, Larrain worked in photography professionally for only ten years until 1972. A follower of the Bolivian philosopher Oscar Ichazo, he retreated from public and professional life to live in the remote mountain village of Tulahuén, where he took up meditation and the art of calligraphy. Sergio Larrain died in Tulahuén on February 7th of 2012.

Of the four photographic books published in Larrain’s lifetime, “Valparaiso”, published in 1991, made the greatest impression on the public and fellow photographers. Sergio Larrain began photographing the famous Chilean port of Valparaiso throughout the 1950s. In 1963, he returned, accompanied by Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, to spend more time in the city, exploring and photographing the bohemian lifestyle of the port-side neighborhoods.

Sergio Larrain’s “Valparaiso” was republished in 1993 as an extended edition of the work, which included photographs from the series he had taken in the 1950s. In 2016, a new edition of the work was released by Xavier Barral Editions of Paris which included eighty unpublished images and Larrain’s handwritten and typed notes, letters, and drawings. Through these texts, Sergio Larrain expressed his emotions and his faith in the importance of yoga meditation, revealing the sensitivity extended throughout his work.

Note: Upon being developed, a set of Sergio Larrain’s photographs shot in the 1950s outside Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris revealed that a couple, unnoticed at the time of the shoot, was in the frame. This discovery provided the inspiration for Argentine novelist Julio Cortázar’s 1959 short story “The Devil’s Drool”, which in turn inspired Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1966 classic mystery thriller “Blow-Up”.

Top Insert Image: Sergio Larrain, “School Boys, Santiago, Chile”, Date Unknown, Gelatin Silver Print, Magnum Photos

Middle Insert Image: Rene Burri, “Sergio Larrain, Paris”, 1967, Gelatin Silver Print, Magnum Photos

Bottom Insert Image: Sergio Larrain, “El 45, Bar in Balparaíso. Chile”, 1963, Gelatin Silver Print

Guillermo Lorca

Guillermo Lorca, Self Portrait

Guillermo Lorca was born in Santiago, Chile and began his artistic training at the age of 16, with Chilean painter Sergio Montero. In 2002 he participated in a group exhibition at the National Fine Arts Salon (Salón Nacional de Bellas Artes). After that show he started Arts studies at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, just to leave it very soon in pursue of his own personal training.

After college he studied for a while with Matías Movillo who taught him some important techniques – and from then on Lorca started to “simply observe a good painters like Velázquez”. Lorca is not hiding his fascination by classical painters such as Rembrandt and Diego Velazquez and that influence can be observed in his Baroque influenced work which is dealing with sensitive issues such as violence, sensuality, innocence and childhood.

After his first solo exhibition at Gallery Matthei, in 2007, Lorca had the opportunity to spend some time as an apprentice and assistant at the studio of the Norwegian artist Odd Nerdrum, near Oslo. Lorca was his first Latin American protégé.

Magic Mountain Lodge

Magic Mountain Lodge, Huilo Huilo, Chile

This hotel is located in Huilo Huilo, a Natural Reserve in Chile. The rustic appearance ends with the exterior however, as the interiors are done up in luxury. There are only 9 rooms, named after bird species found in the area. Each of them overlooks the thick forest and wildlife outside. Guests even get a glimpse of a real-life volcano from the hotel. Hot tubs made out of huge tree trunks, overlooking the forest are a major tourist attraction at Magic Mountain, as is the world’s longest zip line running through the grounds.

Roberto Matta

Paintings and Pastels by Roberto Matta

Roberto Sebastián Antonio Matta Echaurren (November 11, 1911 – November 23, 2002), better known as Roberto Matta, was one of Chile’s best-known painters and a seminal figure in 20th century abstract expressionist and surrealist art.

Matta’s travels in Europe and the USA led him to meet artists such as Arshile Gorky, René Magritte, Salvador Dalí, André Breton, and Le Corbusier. It was Breton who provided the major spur to the Chilean’s direction in art, encouraging his work and introducing him to the leading members of the Paris Surrealist movement. Matta produced illustrations and articles for Surrealist journals such as Minotaure. During this period he was introduced to the work of many prominent contemporary European artists, such as Pablo Picasso and Marcel Duchamp.