The multiple personalities of Óscar Domínguez

There are many Oscar Dominguez (Tenerife, 1906-Paris, 1957). «He is many painters at the same time, he opens many drawers and there are many periods in his career. He is a dissatisfied author. Isidro Hernández, curator of the TEA Tenerife Espacio de Artes collection, thus spoke about the multiple facets of the remembered Tenerife artist, who stars in the new exhibition project of the contemporary art room dependent on the Cabildo of Tenerife.

The Room A of the capital facility hosts starting this Tuesday, May 7, starting at 7:00 p.m. –and until November 24– the exhibition Óscar Dominguez, Two that intersect. This exhibition is the result of the aspiration of the insular Department of Culture that in the TEA there will always be a space dedicated to the brilliant tacorontero.

The name of the exhibition refers to the only poetic notebook that Domínguez wrote. In total, some eighty works by the surrealist painter now populate the walls of the museum and arrive accompanied by texts, photographs and works by other artists who also crossed his life, influenced and encouraged him. «This definition, that of two that intersect, defines the author but also speaks of all of us. Sometimes we say one thing but do another. Contradictions are part of our lives and our multiple personalities,” Hernández explained.

The tour offers the opportunity to get closer to Domínguez, who had recently arrived in Paris and his initial fascination with that city. “It was a city that was opening up, a place of welcome, a place of life,” said the commissioner. This space, located in the first of the rooms, offers the opportunity to enjoy a self-portrait that Domínguez dedicated to his friend, the poet Domingo López Torres. In the work, an open window offers a view of the Eiffel Tower and the profile of a small plane, both symbols of the international avant-garde at that time. His paintings share space with creations from other island firms such as those of Néstor de la Torre or Álvaro Fariñamarried to Domínguez’s sister and with whom the artist initially moved to Paris.

Oscar Dominguez. Two that intersect is the seventh exhibition that TEA dedicates to what is, without a doubt, one of the most universal canaries. Not in vain, he is part of the Spanish shortlist in the surrealist movement along with Joan Miro and Salvador Dalí.

The project also includes a complete chronology and a documentary and photographic review of the author’s different stages.

Many of these works are part of the center’s collection. Others, however, reach TEA thanks to the collaboration of public and private institutions and collections, most of them located in the Islands. To make this exhibition possible, the center’s team has counted on pieces from the Government of the Canary Islands, the CajaCanarias Foundation, the Municipal Museum of Fine Arts of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Grupo Numero Uno, the Canarian Foundation for Training and Patronage of Las Palmas of Gran Canaria, the Madrid gallery José de la Mano, LM Arte Coleccion and the Westerdahl Collection, among others.

The visitor who comes to TEA will be able to enjoy four of Domínguez’s self-portraits: Self-portrait (1926), the already mentioned Parisian self-portrait (1928), Suicidal self-portrait (1933) and the very famous Self-portrait with bull’s head (1941). TEA also highlighted the fact that most of the works that are part of this exhibition have been exhibited in public on very rare occasions. This is the case of several of Domínguez’s paintings from that pre-surrealist period, such as the oil on canvas called The musicianspainted in 1928.

However, Domínguez is not alone in this project. His works are presented in dialogue with those of other surrealists such as Eileen Agar, Hans Bellmer, Claude Cahun, Georges Hugnet, Marcel Jean, Dora Maar, Gordon Onslow Ford, Man Ray, Yves Tangoy and other creators close to this movement such as Picasso. , Maud Bonneaud or Anton Prinner. Works that contemporary Canarian artists such as José Abad and María Belén Morales have dedicated to Domínguez and that are proof of the importance of her legacy have also been selected.

The presentation of the exhibition was attended by, in addition to Hernández, the island’s Minister of Culture, José Carlos Acha; and the vice president of the Cabildo of Tenerife, Lope Afonso. “It is absolutely essential to have a permanent place in TEA for Óscar Domínguez, a space that will be renewed and new readings established,” said the counselor. For his part, Afonso highlighted that the exhibition can be visited for free and described it as “the most important cultural milestone on the Island of the year.” “This exhibition is a key step in order to guarantee the fixation of the figure of Óscar Domínguez to his Island and to this space,” he added.

The ‘Manifesto of Surrealism’ celebrates a century since its publication

The inauguration of Oscar Domíguez. Two that intersect It also coincides with the celebration of the first centenary of the publication of the Surrealism Manifestowhich was written in Paris in 1924. Specifically, it was published on October 15.

This is the perfect moment to praise the figure of Domínguez, who was the true thread of connection between this important cultural movement and the Canary Islands.

Not in vain, the presence of the Tenerife native in Paris and his friendship with André Breton –and the work done by the team Art Gazette– led to the historic visit to Tenerife and the celebration of the surrealist exhibition at the now-defunct Ateneo de Santa Cruz.

At that historic event, a total of 77 works were brought together from a list of authors who could well be part of the wish list of any curator in the world: Picasso, Ernst, Dalí, Miró, Tanguy, Hugo, Bellmer, Man Ray, Dora Maar, Oppenheim, Domínguez, Magritte, Chirico, Giacometti and Jean, among others.

Bretón’s visit to the Island left a deep mark on him and led him to write a book that he titled The starry castlewhere he precisely recounted his stay in the Archipelago.

“Óscar Domínguez was not only born in Tenerife but left a constant pattern of island motifs in his work,” explained the curator of the new TEA exhibition, Isidro Hernández. «And he is present in an almost telluric, geological way. He was an innate surrealist because in the Canary Islands all those elements that accompanied him in his childhood or adolescence, such as the dragon tree or the cliffs of Guayonge, refer to a time outside of time, to the non-time that Bretón speaks of.

Originally written as a preface to the book Soluble Poissonhe Surrealism Manifesto took on a life of its own. Together with Paul Éluard, Bretón later wrote a Second manifesto of surrealism which was published five years later. Starting in the 1960s, both texts and other related ones were united to form a book that was published under the title Manifestos of Surrealism.