«Figuras»

GERTRUDIS CHALE

Born Gertrudis Schale in Vienna in 1898, her links with Argentina led her to change the phonetics and spelling of her surname, with the artist herself turning it into Chale.

Gertrudis Chale worked and rubbed shoulders with artists like Hector Basaldúa, Horacio Butler, Aquiles Badi, Raquel Forner, Luis Seoane, Raúl Soldi, Leopoldo Presas, Juan Batlle Planas and Leopoldo Torres Agüero, among others.

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  Figuras, 1945

  Figures
  Gertrudis Chale
  Tempera on cardboard
  62 x 40 cm

  Ralli Collection

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  “Mercado y fiesta”

  Market and festivities
  Gertrudis Chale
  Fresco
  In the Santa Fe Gallery in Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires had an extensive artistic and cultural scene between the 1930s and 1950s, and despite the fact that Chale stands out for her links with groups and proposals that emerged on the periphery of this, her relationships and collaborations with those that emerged in Argentina’s capital city were equally notable and decisive.

In addition to working as an illustrator on the magazine Martín Fierro on more than one occasion, it is also worth highlighting Chale’s participation in the growing muralist movement that emerged in Buenos Aires between 1940 and 1950, led by Lino Spilimbergo and Castagnino, who founded the Mural Art Workshop.

Within this movement, Chale took part in creating the collective mural in Buenos Aires’ Santa Fe Gallery with her work “Mercado y fiesta” (Market and festivity), which is located in the centre of the dome, crowning the mural. There are also many illustrations of this work and different versions of preparatory drawings, such as the one on display in this exhibition.

Silvia Sánchez Ruiz
Curator