Eolo Pons (1914–2009) was an Argentine painter. Eolo Pons was born in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

. He studied from 1935-38 in the studio of the influential Argentine painter and teacher

Lino Enea Spilimbergo Lino Enea Spilimbergo (born Lino Claro Honorio Enea Spilimbergo; 12 August 1896 – 16 March 1964) was an Argentine artist and engraver considered to be one of the country's most important painters. Biography Lino Enea Spilimbergo was born i ...

; among Pons' fellow students were his close friends figurative painters Leopoldo Presas (b. 1915) and Luis Lusnich (1911–1995). Subsequently, Eolo Pons worked in the printmaking studio of

Surrealist Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

graphic artists Jose Planas Casas (1900–1960), Juan Batlle Planas (1911–1966) and Pompeyo Audivert (1900–1977). Eolo Pons' work is sometimes associated with that of his philosophical mentor Carlos Giambiagi (1887–1965), a native of

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

who was known for his writings on art and aesthetics and for his small paintings of

Misiones Province Misiones (, ''Missions'') is one of the Provinces of Argentina, 23 provinces of Argentina, located in the northeastern corner of the country in the Mesopotamia, Argentina, Mesopotamia region. It is surrounded by Paraguay to the northwest, Brazil ...

landscapes. From 1958-1964, together with indigenous painter Medardo Pantoja (1906–1976), Jorge Gnecco (1914–1965), and Luis Pellegrini, Eolo Pons established and taught at the Provincial Fine Arts School of

Jujuy San Salvador de Jujuy (), commonly known as Jujuy and locally often referred to as San Salvador, is the capital and largest city of Jujuy Province in northwest Argentina. Also, it is the seat of the Doctor Manuel Belgrano Department. It lies near ...

, in the

Andean The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long and wide (widest between 18°S ...

northwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west— ...

of Argentina. Tightly structured with carefully orchestrated color, Eolo Pons' landscapes, cityscapes and figurative works evoke, rather than describe, the nature and culture of his native Argentina. Eolo Pons' paintings and drawings retain the influence of Surrealism. "Long ago in the year 1939, Eolo Pons introduced himself into the surrealist garden with the same discipline and respect he had given his academic training. The surrealism of Pons made incursions into the world of dreams, into the Freudian subconscious, being there he delved deeply into all the nooks and crannies of its purest orthodoxy. But afterwards these sub-real images remained in the background ignored because the artist chose not to borrow his fantasies from others. Still, the exercise that had driven Pons to excavate the mysterious served him in seeking out the soul of things, smoothing the way for him, by virtue of his technical resources and his never-abused and never-forgotten manual education. This man, who had spent time in the stillness and in the depths, knew that not all mystery is a dream. And thus, he set himself to look for that which hides in the landscape, that which floats in the unbounded atmosphere of a happy day, that which slips between words in order not to state aloud an intention or a sentiment. In the landscapes of Eolo Pons, and in his figures, come and go the evocation of a mystery—a mystery that, perhaps, opens to us the doors of the landscape and brings us into the souls of the people. The sure thing is that we see it and feel it, as we see and feel the night in its most profound silence, as we see and feel the advance of a shadow as it crosses the path of a dream."Rodrigo Bonome, ''Eolo Pons'', Buenos Aires, 1973 (translated from the original Spanish). He died in Buenos Aires on October 28, 2009.El Arte Argentino: Eolo Pons

Bibliography

*Fabiana Mastrangelo, “Dialogo con Eolo Pons” and cover image, ''PROA, Edicíon Especial en Las Letras y en Las Artes'', 2007, No.67. *Diana B. Wechsler, “Eolo Pons”, ''La Vida de Emma en El Taller de Spilimbergo'', (Buenos Aires: Fundacíon Osde, 2006) 76-78, 84-89. *María Laura San Martín, ''Breve Historia de la Pintura Argentina Contemporanea'', (Buenos Aires: Editorial Claridad, 1993) 273. *Carlos Giambiagi, ''Reflexiones de un Pintor'', (Buenos Aires: Editorial Stilcograf, 1972) 294-310. {{DEFAULTSORT:Pons, Eolo Naïve art Painters from Buenos Aires Argentine people of French descent 1914 births 2009 deaths 20th-century Argentine painters Argentine male painters 20th-century Argentine male artists