Over spring break, I took a trip with my family to Arizona, where we happened to visit Phoenix’s Desert Botanical Garden, which currently houses an exhibit highlighting the works of Fernando Botero. The late Colombian artist and sculptor was best known for his uncanny depictions of human and animal subjects, which he typically painted with exaggerated proportions. His voluptuous characters possessed incredible volume, in addition to a lack of saturation, which enhanced their rotund nature. While Botero’s artworks were typically created with the intent of providing amusement, Botero experimented with serious themes such as aristocratic corruption, humanitarian violation, and domestic terrorism in an attempt to start meaningful conversations through his work. Despite Botero’s respectable dedication to social ethics, he was primarily criticized for his cartoonishly round depictions of the characters in his paintings. Early in his career, Botero was ostracized by the art world for his rejection of traditional artistic values. Although Botero eventually gained recognition for his artwork, many still questioned his contributions to the contemporary artistic movement, and rightfully so. Although I find Botero’s artworks to be incredibly entertaining and playful, I believe that his lack of adherence to certain traditional artistic principles hinders his portrayal of his subjects.
One of the most influential expressionist illustrators of the 20th century was Egon Schiele, an Austrian modernist who is best recognized for his dedication to raw expression and clever exaggeration of the human figure. Schiele severely contorted his subjects and over-expressed their characteristics, which provided a more fluid portrayal of the human figures depicted in his works. While Schiele did not stay entirely true to the anatomical proportions of his subjects, this dynamic approach allowed for a better understanding of the emotion and movement of the characters in his illustrations. Take, for example, Schiele’s piece “Self Portrait with Arm Twisting Above Head.” Schiele aggressively displays the curvature of his body as he contorts himself into the pose, which adds dimension to the illustration. Additionally, Schiele’s use of geometry and shadow provides layers to the pose and sense of movement. Unfortunately, where Schiele succeeds, Botero falls flat.
While some of his paintings feature more expressive scenes, many of his characters feel inelastic, emotionless, and muted. Although this can be attributed to their inflated nature, this does not balance well with the flatness of the landscape and the subjects. A good example of this imbalance could be observed in his Matador series. Although I appreciated many pieces from this collection, such as “The Matador,” which depicts a matador in an eccentric blue outfit with delicately painted gold trims, I found some of the paintings to be absurdly disproportionate. In his painting “Derechazo.” a matador is fighting a bull in an amphitheater. While the matador is featured in a dynamic pose, the bull he is fighting has far less definition and takes on very circular proportions. Additionally, the amphitheater looks as though it’s very far away from the subjects. While this successfully pulls the viewer’s attention to the battle between the matador and the bull, it is still difficult to get over the odd dynamic between the millions of tiny dots portraying the audience and the immeasurable height of the amphitheater walls. Regardless of my contemporary approach to analyzing artwork, I cannot discount how much this detracts from a viewer’s understanding of Botero’s scenes.
While I believe that Botero’s use of volume in portraying his subjects seriously inhibits the fluidity of his pieces, I respect Botero for his unhindered dedication to his style, his exploration of his identity as a Colombian, and his dedication to social ethics. While Boterismo may not be the most respected style in terms of its uncanny forms, Botero did not let criticism change his perspective on society and his approach to creation. Botero accurately portrayed the social landscape of his home country through both satirical and serious portrayals of its values, events, and traditions. Additionally, Botero did not abuse his success. While his fame brought material gain, Botero continued to contribute to the arts, establishing multiple galleries and even donating many of his collected pieces to museums internationally. What I respect most about Botero is his undeniable devotion to challenging convention. Even though his paintings may have lacked qualities that proved successful in traditional artistic movements, his unwavering dedication to his personal style made his work both recognizable and influential.
