Murals Appreciation: Carlos Páez Vilaró’s underground masterpiece at the OAS
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(Leer abajo en español)
In a hidden tunnel running beneath the Organization of American States’ Washington D.C. headquarters lies a little known work of art: Carlos Páez Vilaró’s 525-foot-long mural, “Raíces de la paz” (Roots of Peace).It was hailed as the world’s longest mural when it was completed in 1960 in the underground passageway connecting the Organization of the America’s administrative building and main building. Commissioned to represent the Organization’s ideals, Páez drew on many sources of inspiration for the work that symbolizes peace between all the peoples of the Americas. It displays the vibrant colors to the abstract expressionism that helped defined the internationally renown painter’s work.
Born in 1923 in Monetvideo, Uruguay, Carlos Páez Vilaró was an abstract artist, a painter, potter, sculptor, muralist, writer, composer and constructor. A Jack-of-all-trades, Vilaró lived in Europe as a young artist, finding inspiration in the modern art revolution underway at the time. The Latin American modern art movement, from the 20th century until the 1960s, was influenced by the European avant-garde, and such influence can be seen in Páez’ work including abstract shapes reminiscent of the cubism of his friend Picasso.
However, Páez also took
influences from pre-Columbian and African art, evident in mural’s flat two-dimensional faces shown only in profile, similar to the imagery found in Aztec temples and Egyptian hieroglyphics. The sharp edges of the two-dimensional faces that look up and down, forward and backward, seem to reference both Picasso and the African art he studied in Senegal.
“Roots of Peace” helped launch his career when it opened to much fanfare more than half a century ago. Páez went on to paint other murals all over the world including, Argentina, Brazil, Chad, Chile, Gabon, the Polynesians Islands, and his native Uruguay, where Carlos Páez Vilaró passed away one year ago today, on February 24th, 2014 in his Casapueblo home, in Punta Ballena, Maldonado, Uruguay. (Image on the left: Páez painting the mural in 1960 from the original brochure produced for its inauguration in 1960. Click to download brochure)
“Roots of Peace” flows through ten themes including cooperation and combating racism, the preservation of culture and its peaceful exchange. These themes are expressed in faces, shapes, animals, and symbols that can be found in the mural, and are supposed to symbolize the cultural unity of the Americas as well as the acceptance of their differences. He creatively made use of the tunnel by utilizing pipes and vents on the wall. Some symbols reappear throughout the mural. One is the fish, for instance, which represents unity and the road towards peace, according to Adriana Ospina, a curator at the Art Museum of the Americas, which is housed in the same Constitution Avenue compound as the OAS main building.
Unfortunately, the tunnel is not frequently used, so the mural is seen by few people beyond the occasional OAS staffer. What’s more, the passage of time and the narrow space of the tunnel, in combination with the fickle nature of plumbing, has damaged the artwork. Leaky pipes have left water damage in some places, blurring the paint. In a couple of spots, the plaster has fallen off the wall completely due to excess moisture. (Pictured on the right is Adriana Ospina, collections curator at the OAS’ Art Museum of the Americas, which shares the same compound near the National Mall where the tunnel is located.)
It’s been restored twice since it was originally painted. The most recent overhaul was in 2001 but keeping up with repairs is challenging for the museum, which has one of the foremost collections of Latin American art in the United States but limited funds for essential upkeep and restoration work, according to museum officials.
—Airica Thomas, Kristin Thompson + John Levandofsky
Photos by Edgar Gaona
Un mural con raíces
¿Imagínense Uds. un mural abajo de la tierra que cruza de un lado a otro Virginia Avenue NW? Una pintura de gran formato al que muy pocos tienen acceso y que no está expuesto a la luz del sol. Una pieza de arte que en su momento fue aclamado como el mural más largo del mundo cuando se terminó en 1960 (162 metros de largo) y que conecta el edificio principal de la Organización de Estados Americanos con el edificio administrativo denominado Pan American Annex. Una obra de arte que surge de entre los tubos del agua, los conductos de ventilación, el drenaje y la calefacción, aunque no deja de ser inspiracional y bello.
Este mural, se denomina “Raíces de la Paz” y su autor es el recién fallecido artista uruguayo Carlos Páez Vilaró (1923 – 2014). Como su nombre lo indica, el tema de esta pieza es la convivencia entre los pueblos de América Latina, la armonía continental y el panamericanismo. Las libertades individuales y la dignidad plena del hombre. Pero sobre todo, la cooperación intelectual, la lucha contra el racismo y la preservación de la cultura; que es la semilla fundamental del futuro hombre de las Américas.
En “Raíces de la Paz”, es evidente la influencia africana, precolombina y cubista, que en su momento estaban de moda en el arte contemporáneo, del que Carlos Páez Vilaró es un gran exponente.
Semillas de colores que germinan en formas arborescentes, frutos y flores. Peces que simbolizan la idea matriz de la paz; la hermandad, basada en las ideas de comprensión, tolerancia y generosidad. Y rostros, cientos de ellos, de todos nosotros, los que hablamos español aquí, allá, desde la Patagonia hasta Alaska y de regreso.
Carlos Páez Vilaró pintó otros murales en otras partes del mundo, incluyendo, Argentina, Brasil, Chad, Chile, Gabón, las Islas Polinesias y su Uruguay natal. Este importante artista latinoamericano, falleció el año pasado justamente el día de hoy, es por eso que HC se complace en compartir con ustedes este mural que puede ser visitado a través del Museo de Arte de las Américas que se encuentra en el mismo complejo de Contitution Avenue en DC, haciendo previa cita claro. Aquí algunas imágenes para que ustedes se den una idea de esta pieza que ha sufrido algunos estragos, dado la humedad del lugar y el paso del tiempo.
El Museo de Arte de las Américas cuenta con una de las colecciones más importantes de arte latinoamericano en los Estados Unidos.
Art Museum of the Americas, 201 18th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20006
Alberto Roblest
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