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Finding aid for the Emilio Pettoruti letters to Julio Payró, 1924, 1943-1957
2001.M.18
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Title: Emilio Pettoruti letters to Julio Payró
Date (inclusive): 1924-1957 (bulk 1943-1957)
Number: 2001.M.18
Creator/Collector:
Pettoruti, Emilio, 1892-1971
Physical Description:
57.0 items
(80 leaves)
Repository:
The Getty Research Institute
Special Collections
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, California, 90049-1688
(310) 440-7390
Abstract: The collection contains letters from the Argentine artist Emilio Pettoruti to the art historian and critic, Julio Payró (1943-1957).
One of the 52 letters is to Pettoruti, 3 letters are from Pettoruti's wife. A one page inventory lists Pettoruti's paintings
exhibited at the Witcomb Gallery, Buenos Aires, 1924. Four newspaper clippings are reviews of Pettoruti's exhibition at the
San Marco gallery in Rome (October 1953). The letters document Pettoruti's Buenos Aires exhibition in 1924, his European exhibitions
in the 1950s, and his move to Paris. They reflect in their content the experience of a Latin American artist amidst the European
modernism art movement of the time.
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Language: Collection material is in
Spanish; Castilian
Emilio Pettoruti was born in La Plata, Argentina, of Italian parents. In 1913 he went to Italy, where he came in contact with
the Italian avantgarde (F. T. Marinetti, and later the group around Giacomo Balla and Giorgio de Chirico). In 1921 he went
to Munich and in 1923 was invited to exhibit at Der Sturm gallery in Berlin. He returned home in 1924, opening an exhibit
of his work in Buenos Aires at the Witcomb gallery. Pettoruti taught at the university and served as director of the Fine
Arts museum in La Plata while continuing to paint. In 1952 he returned to Europe and in 1953 he settled in Paris, where he
lived for the rest of his life.
Open for use by qualified researchers.
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Library Rights and Reproductions .
Emilio Pettoruti letters to Julio Payró, 1924, 1943-1957, Research Library, The Getty Research Institute, Accession no. 2001.M.18.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2001m18
Acquired in 2001.
Scope and Content of Collection
Forty-seven letters are addressed to Julio Payró from Emilio Pettoruti. Pettoruti's wife, Maria Rosa, typed many of the letters
and sometimes added a note at the end, signing with her initials. Four letters are entirely hers. One letter is to Pettoruti
from the Comisión Argentina de Artistas Plásticos por la Paz.
Most of the letters are dense with information about modern art and artists, artistic events, and their echo in the media.
Pettoruti informs Payró about Argentinian artists working abroad, and discusses European artists and the impact of politics
on exhibition reviews. His patriotic euphoria at the downfall of the Peronist dictatorship is soon followed by disenchantment
and criticism. The artist and his wife try to explain his new work and innovative colors to Payró, who is writing about Pettoruti
for
Studio magazine.
A typed inventory lists the paintings in Pettoruti's 1924 exhibit at the Witcomb gallery; 4 clippings review his 1953 exhibit
in Rome.
Because of the fragility of the letters, the entire collection was scanned by the repository in 2003. The numbering for each
item refers to the individual digital images.
The collection is arranged in two series and each item is numbered, 1-57:
Series I. Letters to Julio Payró, 1943-1957;
Series II. Miscellanea, 1924, 1953
Curatella Manes, Pablo, 1891-1962
Elgar, Frank
Payró, Julio E., 1899-1971
Pettoruti, Emilio, 1892-1971
Art criticism--France
Art criticism--Italy
Art exhibitions--Argentina
Art exhibitions--France
Art exhibitions--Italy
Art, Abstract--Argentina
Art, Abstract--France
Art, Argentine--20th century
Paris (France)--Intellectual life--20th century
Plástica (Buenos Aires, Argentina) Studio (London)
Correspondence
Payró, Julio E., 1899-1971
Pettoruti, Rosa Maria