Felipe Seade (1912 – 18 January 1969) was a

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

and teacher of Lebanese descent who spent most of his life in Uruguay. Seade was born in

Antofagasta, Chile Antofagasta () is a port city in northern Chile, about north of Santiago. It is the capital of Antofagasta Province and Antofagasta Region. According to the 2015 census, the List of cities in Chile, city has a population of 402,669. After t ...

, the elder son of a Lebanese immigrant family. Eleven years later his whole family moved to

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

, Uruguay. At the age of 12 Seade began working as an assistant to the Muralist

Enrique Albertazzi Enrique () is the Spanish variant of the given name Heinrich of Germanic origin. Equivalents in other languages are Henry (English), Enric (Catalan), Enrico (Italian), Henrik (Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian), Heinrich (German), Hendrik, Henk ...

and the

Guillermo Rodríguez. Under Rodríguez' influence Seade took some painting courses at the Fine Arts Circle school. He had his first show in 1925. From 1931 well into the 1950s Seade presented work in many national and city

hall In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age and early Middle Ages in northern Europe, a mead hall was where a lord and his retainers ate and also slept. Later in the Middle Ages, the gr ...

s. In 1944, Seade began his parallel career as a teacher. He first work as teacher of drawing at the

Liceo de Colonia The Gran Teatre del Liceu (, English: Great Theatre of the Lyceum), known as ''El Liceu'', is an opera house in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Located in La Rambla, Barcelona, La Rambla, it is the oldest running theatre in Barcelona. Founded in ...

, where he managed to paint the large mural, '' Alegoría al Trabajo'' (1936), and later as a professor of the

Montevideo Fine Arts School Montevideo () is the capital and largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . Montevideo is situated on the southern co ...

, where he taught for 25 years. It is impossible to understand Seade's artistic life without a reference to his political life. He wanted to paint for "the people, not for the walls of the bourgeoisie". He aspired to paint murals, the preferred way for his generation to reach the masses, but the only murals he managed to finish were the one in Colonia and the ''La marcha del Pueblo à la Piedra Alta'' (1939) at the Conference Hall of the Liceo de Florida. However, a significant part or Seade's work is formed by his sketches of murals and preparity sketches for murals. Thematically, Seade mostly sought to represent the characters of Uruguayan life – washing women, ''Gauchos'', soccer fans, kids and women. Not from a tourist perspective, which he despised, but with the passion of a convinced social realist. Seade was also an expert draughtsman. His most public work was a long series of illustrations for a key local magazine, ''Mundo Uruguayo''. His more private drawings were mostly sketches for paintings. Although Seade had an active participation in Salons and through his teaching was one of the more visible artists of Uruguay in his time, he disliked and avoided the world of galleries and art critics. This is probably one reason why after his death he has remained in relative obscurity. Important critics and historians such as Gabriel Peluffo Linari, Fernando García Esteban and Atahualpa del Cioppo have recognised Seade's cultural importance.

References

External links

Felipe Seade Web Site
including many examples of his work. {{DEFAULTSORT:Seade, Felipe 1912 births 1969 deaths Chilean emigrants to Uruguay Chilean people of Lebanese descent Uruguayan people of Lebanese descent Chilean illustrators Social realist artists 20th-century Uruguayan painters 20th-century Uruguayan male artists Uruguayan male artists Male painters 20th-century Chilean painters Chilean male artists 20th-century Chilean male artists

See also

References

External links