“Luján, la quinta y el rancho hacia 1835”

During the 1930s, Argentina was undergoing a nationalist movement. Some artists used images, symbols and landscapes to show their Argentine national identity. Mural paintings were important under this movement. “San José de Flores, Luján, the country house and the ranch in 1835” was painted by an Argentine artist Alfredo Guido in 1936. Guido started his art career in Rosario, and later continued his study in the Fine Arts School of Buenos Aires. His works were based on Spanish American themes. Buenos Aires was the first city in Latin America to build the metro system with the first line inaugurated in 1913. Guido was asked to paint for the city metro in 1936 while Line D was under construction from 1935 to 1940. Guido initially drew everything on cardboard. Later, a ceramic company in Buenos Aires converted his work into a mural painting. Mural paintings have made Buenos Aires city metro very distinguished from other metros. Art has become very accessible to all Buenos Aires residents instead of an exclusive luxury.

Guido presented a daily scene in San José de Flores and Luján during the 19th century. Farmers were selling fresh produce in the streets, carts were half-loaded and gauchos were taking a break from work. San José de Flores and Luján were busy cities since the colonial era, as many trade goods were passing through these two cities in Buenos Aires Province. People usually took breaks in these two cities before reaching the capital. Another part of the painting incorporated architectures to express national identity. The Church of San José de Flores was on the left side of the painting, which highlighted the role of Catholicism as an Argentine identity. The City Council of Luján on the right side of the painting was a municipal building with prisons and offices since the Spanish colonial era. This mural painting is an example of a traditional Argentine city. A Catholic Church and a municipal building are the ore of a city, which the Spanish colonial legacy still impacts Argentine society.

This mural painting recovered post-colonial life in the countryside of Argentina with traditional art. Guido’s work is regarded as one example of nationalist movement for art historians. It is clear that art is a tool of building national identity. Moreover, art could be a way of learning about history. Other mural paintings that were created during the 1930s in the Line D metro stations such as “Luján, its Cereals and La Plata River in 1936”, “Buenos Aires in 1830” and “Buenos Aires in 1936”showed Argentine identity by combining the countryside and the capital together. From this series of work, we could see a division between the civilized and barbaric part of the country. One party wanted to emulate Europe while the other maintained the Spanish American tradition. Buenos Aires as the capital was an economic and political center that shipped goods to Europe, whereas the rest of the country engaged in agricultural activities to keep the supply chain. Some Argentines think that the capital with European style represents the country while others believe that the Spanish American and gaucho cultures are the core of their identity. However, it is hard to represent Argentina with only one part or another. Buenos Aires could not thrive without the countryside, neither vice versa.

References:

“Cabildo de Luján”. Revisionistas, accessed April 29 2020, http://www.revisionistas.com.ar/?p=16020

Luis Avellaneda. “San José de Flores: Reseña histórica”. San José de Flores blog post, 2006, accessed April 29 2020, http://sanjosedeflores.blogspot.com/p/la-basilica-y-su-historia.html.

“Línea D”. Buenos Aires Ciudad, accessed April 30 2020, https://www.buenosaires.gob.ar/subte/galeria/linead.

Art in the Buenos Aires Subway. Buenos Aires: Buenos Aires City Government, 2017.