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Bodegón, 1919

The painting has been referred to on occasion as Vibrationist Still-life

Along with the peculiarities of his plastic language, those who are familiar with the work of Rafael Barradas immediately associate it with intense street scenes, with café interiors, with the enraptured appearance of popular folks or with representations of the artist's own family environment. Throughout his career, Barradas produced very few still lifes, and the ones we know today, even dating from the same period, are quite different from this oil on cardboard signed in 1919. Though not in a very substantial way, the objects on the fabric resemble those that appear in some of the representations of Pilar (Simona Laínez), the artist's wife. The representations of Pilar to which I am referring and of which there are also few, place her in the kitchen. A kitchen in which we see the tiles, the window, the pitcher, the earthenware jar, the bowl, the bottle, and the coffeepot. A primitive kitchen, or at least a modest kitchen. The still life painting and poverty have only been related in the figurative Spanish tradition. This relationship would surely seem to be a senseless contradiction or at least a paradox in need of unraveling in the figurative European tradition. Barradas did not adhere to the tradition of Spanish painting. He passed through Spain precisely to change this tradition. But his aesthetic ideology (into which I include his political vision of things) in fact, gave precedence to the plastic homage to that which lacked resources other than the will to exist. Therefore, in this still life of a humble kitchen, there are sociological keys as well as those related to genre. They exist if one wishes to highlight them, because what is evident is that what interests the artist more than the motif -- no matter how identified he may be with it -- is the pictorial exercise in itself. Barradas always painted what he had near him. Near in the strictest sense of the word.

The first impact of the work is chaotic, but after the viewer dwells on it for a while, he/she discovers just the opposite: a composite, accurate and meditated structure. The multicolored bottle serves as an axis between two diagonals that end up composing a strong and directional arrowhead. The composite sketch makes the work solid and dynamic at the same time. But along with this very simple though quite intricate composite sketch, the disparity in the iconic treatment of the objects represented is noteworthy. Some objects, especially those in white, unequivocally demonstrate the forcefulness of their form while others seem to fade into planes of color sketched with fleeting pressed brushstrokes. This figurative diversity bestows a special intensity on the work. For that reason we are dealing with a singular piece in Barradas's total production, not only due to its theme, but more importantly, to its stylistic traits.

When Barradas painted this Still life, his personal finances, which were always somewhat precarious, may have been entering a brief moment of relief. The painter had moved from Barcelona to Madrid in August of 1918. Upon arriving in the capital city he found immediate acceptance of his work as a graphic illustrator and toy maker, and aimed to achieve similar success as costume and set designer for Martínez Sierra's company in the Eslava Theater the following year. The Barradas family was able to move from León Street to Atocha: though far from luxurious, they gained a little space and a room with a large window and more than ample sunlight. The artist's intense and numerous activities gradually ended up weakening his health. Fortunately, his production of paintings did not suffer the ill effects of this entirely, at least not for the moment. However, his move and improved living conditions were accompanied by a certain change in the relationship of his painting and avant-garde art. The Still life of 1919 that we are dealing with has occasionally been called Vibrationist Still life. Vibrationism was the pictorial modality with which Barradas was presented to the public in 1917. Some of the pieces that were presented at the Mateu bookstore in Madrid in April of 1919 were catalogued as vibrationist. Nevertheless, by this time the artist has begun to elaborate another application of his production which he himself, according to Manueal Abril , named cubist.

As is well known, Barradas liked to attach an ism to each of his artistic creations between the years 1917 and 1925: vibrationism, cubism, clownism, "planismo" (a Uruguayan style of painting which is realized using planes of color), "faquirismo", previously written with a "k " were among his chosen denominations. However, in reality the artist presented himself as a vibrationist, leaving useful written references to establish a possible definition of the trend. At an ultraist fete, which took place in Madrid in 1921, he apparently presented his clownism to those in attendance, although there is little written evidence about the supposed plastics in this modality. The existence of the remaining isms associated with Barradas were made known through the contemporary writings of Manuel Abril and through subsequent inquiries and comments. The mania for the exhaustive list of isms associated with Barradas, can only be compared to that of Ramón Gómez de la Serna.

In clarifying retrospect, the work of Barradas between 1917 and 1925 could, in fact, be understood in two fundamental moments: a moment of personal understanding and reconsideration of the first European avant-garde, and the other moment, emergent in 1920, during which the painter gradually abandons iconic fragmentation and returns to the visually complete figurative style, perhaps affecting the impact of the premise of a return to order that was beginning to penetrate the growing plastic Spanish renovation. It is certain that the spirit of Barradas never conformed to the global nature of what the return to order implied. For him the issue involved many nuances.

In any case, as a plastic proposal, vibrationism is habitually associated with futurism. The reference to Barradas and vibrationism in the well-known show Futurismo & Futurismi, which was sponsored by Pontus Hulten and took place in Venice in 1986, consecrated this possibility. Of course the term vibration as well as the concept of universal vibrationism were present in the futurist pronouncement in a decisive way, and at the same time the vibrationist works of Barradas are clearly linked to plastic solutions that are characteristic of the futurist context. However, if we were demanding and rigorous, or if at least we did not succumb to oversimplification, the debts or relationship between vibrationism and futurism would deserve to be clarified. Rarely did Barradas affirm the futurist filiation of his painting, despite the fact that during his first stay in Barcelona his activity seemed to favor this possibility. Nor did Torres-García, when transcribing Barradas's possible definition of vibrationism, offer a clear suggestion of the futurist filiation of the plastic modality of the Uruguayan.

Regarding the definition of vibrationism , contemporary criticism always creates the same zigzig: the obvious debt of vibrationism to futurism is suggested, to later clarify the enormous differences, if not contradictions, between the futurist conception of the world, art, and the esthetic ideology and humanity of Barradas. Of course Barradas was never lured by the worshiping of modernism, mechanization, and certainly not by power or violence. Along with specific plastic materials, if anything could interest Barradas about futurism it was the way in which the esthetic vitalism was taking shape in the new century. Furthermore, the pictorial solutions that Barradas came up with at the time about futurism--and that he continued to elaborate when Italian futurism had already practically disappeared--were resources or solutions that, at the same time, the futurists had taken from cubism. Keeping this in mind, we could almost believe that his first contemporary art critic, Guillermo de Torre, who spoke specifically about vibrationism, was accurate in proposing the issue. Stylistically, the text of the then quite young expert on avant-garde art bordered on the inadmissible, but his understanding of the matter was, undoubtedly, well-founded. Although De Torre speaks of vibrationism, he does not place Barradas in a concrete ísmica position, but instead makes him the link between the cubist, futurist, and simultaneist languages that had sprouted in European painting during the years in which World War I was developing. The Barradas of those years is not inconsistent with the influence of Robert Delaunay. And this synthesis, we could add, had encouraged a sort of international style that was used or utilized by numerous artists at the time.

It is from this perspective that I believe we should highlight the fact that Barradas, once he was living in Madrid, put an end to his vibrationist moment to enter a supposedly new mode of painting that he called cubism. Raquel Pereda , in her indispensable biography of the artist, estimates that the cubism of Barradas began early, in 1918. Pereda asserts that it is very important to distinguish between vibrationism and cubism. The difference would relate to style as much as content and would imply various fundamental changes. Barradas would go from the use of pure colors to a tonal study of color, from the fragmentation of the object to its figurative reconsideration, from the prioritized geometric structure to softness in contrasting straight lines and curves, from vibrant color to a basic moderation of color and, in short, this type of passageway would also imply the move from urban themes to predominantly more intimate and personal ones. All of these considerations are pertinent and interesting; however, according to these considerations, how should works such as Todo a 0,65 and the series De Pacífico a Puerta de Atocha be viewed? The modality that Barradas employed in these can be identified with what the artist called cubism and, yet the themes that they welcome are characteristic of the vibrationist trend. In spite of the fact that the stylistic and thematic features ended up distinguishing themselves, there may never have been a radical change, but rather a gradual evolution which makes it difficult to establish crystal clear dividing lines. Moreover, in some pieces, which were painted between the years 1918 and 1920, the two styles reached a point of coexistence. It is quite true that at first Barradas preferred to work, though not exclusively, with abstract color schemes that later metamorphosed into groups of syncopated spots. However the will to understand the surface of the fabric as a rhythmic and homogenous surface achieved through the use of color is the same as a plastic principle, which is similar, though in a different register, to the search for the formal synthesis of the figurative quality by utilizing substantial schematic features. In a letter to Torres-García, dated somewhere between 1918 and 1919, Barradas referred to his compositions of that period as cubo-vibrationist .

To a certain extent, and with all due respect to the artist and his work, we should take into account that his proclivity to name, by means of successive isms, the variations in his production has complicated more than clarified the contemporary understanding of his work. An understanding that, in my judgment, is more adequately resolved if we consider Barradas from the aforementioned perspective; that is if we consider Barradas as a true creator of esthetic vitalism who combined the languages of the first avant-garde creating a formal repertoire which serves as a reference, according to the needs of his own pictorial practice. The Bodegón (Still Life) of 1919 that we are commenting upon, can be seen as a synthesis of cubist, futurist and simultaneist sources, which are echoed in the works of the Polish-born Marjan Paskiewicz, who was residing in Madrid at the time. However, when we speak of the synthesis of isms attached to Barradas, we must not lose sight of our focus. We are not in the presence of a mere emulator of isms; we are in the presence of something that can only be defined as an exclusively Barradas style. His case was not so different from that of other modern masters who had reached the historic avant-garde just as World War I was about to break out. His fate, however, was quite different from theirs. Neither Barcelona nor Madrid were favorable settings for the development of what was considered new at the time. E.C.

Signed in the lower right corner of the painting."BARRADAS--1919"

The artist's heirs

Jorge Mara Gallery, 1992, reproduced on page 39 / Barradas. Exposición Antolóligca. 1890-1929, Madrid, Zaragoza and Barcelona, Community of Madrid, Department of Culture of the Generalitat de Cataluyna, Government of Aragón, 1992-1993, reproduced on the cover (fragment) and inside the catalog of exposed works. (s/p)

(1) Abril, Manuel , «El arte de Rafael P. Barradas», Revista de Casa América Galicia (subsequently Alfar ), nº 27, marzo de 1923, pp. 205-208.

(2) Regarding the clownism of Barradas, see: SANTOS TORROELLA , Rafael , «Barradas y el clownismo, con Dalí y Lorca al fondo», Rafael Barradas , Madrid, Galería Jorge Mara, 1992, pp. 25-33.

(3) Op.cit., nota 1.

(4) A este respecto véase: Carmona , Eugenio, «Rafael Barradas y el "Arte Nuevo" en España, 1917-1925», Barradas. Exposición Antológica, 1890-1929 , Madrid, Zaragoza, Barcelona, Comunidad de Madrid, Gobierno de Aragón, Generalitat de Catalunya, 1992-1993, Edición a cargo de Jaime Brihuega y Concha Lomba, pp. 125-129.

(5) Torres-García, Joaquín , Universalismo constructivo , Buenos Aires, Poseidón, 1944, pp. 556 y 557.

(6) Torre, Guillermo de , «El «vibracionismo» de Barradas», Perseo , Madrid, 1919. Recogido en García-Sedas, Pilar , Joaquim Torres-García i Rafael Barradas. Un diàleg escrit: 1918-1928 , Barcelona, Publicacions de l'Abadia de Montserrat, 1994, pp. 216-221.

(7) Pereda, Raquel , Barradas , Galería Latina, Montevideo, 1989, pp. 91 and followingy.

(8) García-Sedas , op. cit ., p. 117. The exact date of the letter may not be accurate but it does not affect the content which is expressed here.