June 26,2019: RT Day—aRT and foRT, Montevideo

The very young Picasso

All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. 
Pablo Picasso

   Before I get into our tourist activities, let me give a list of things I have learned about Montevideo.

1.       People are nice.

2.       Literally everyone you meet, whether you ask them or not,  will tell you not to go to the port at night. Even they seem scared.

3.       Most of Montevideo, the “Paris” of Uruguay is first world, but it gets down to at least 2.5 and an example is the neighborhood in front of the fort.

4.       Montevideo prison from which a major mafia kingpin escaped Sunday night while waiting extradition is apparently a lot like Mayberry RFD with Barney Fife at the helm. The prison is in the tourist area and the prisoners went across the roof and through an old lady’s apartment. Before checking into your hotel, see who is on the international extradition list.

5.       The water in front of Montevideo is not the ocean. It’s the mouth of the Rio Plata. Think brown.

6.       It’s not the temperature. It’s the wind. Trust me on this.

7.       It’s so humid, your socks will never dry.

8.       If you go out to take a walk on the Rambla, it’s a 50 mile round trip. Have fun!

We learned that the Museo Nacional de Belles Artes was having a Picasso in Uruguay exhibit. So, of course, we had to go. The museum itself is nondescript and near a main park. The exhibit was a retrospective of sixty years of Picasso’s work taking him from approximately age 18 until his death in 1972.  His initial works do smack of master artist prior to cubism. He seems to have had an epiphany about art after his friend and fellow artist , Carles Casamengas,  committed suicide shortly after spending Christmas with his family in Malaga. I can only imagine how disheartening that would have been. He also seems to have been influenced by World War I and the Spanish Civil War greatly in his painting and his approach to it. It was interesting to see his approach, all the way to his final painting made the year he passed away. This show leaves Montevideo on June 30, and I am not sure where it goes from here (if anywhere), but we recommend to anyone with opportunity. I really enjoyed the show. But I wouldn’t want to be his girlfriend 😊

Paul's favorite Picasso work of this exhibit: the burrowing owl. There's maybe a theme here? There's also an owl on the ceramic plate behind.

In the other holdings of this museum is a large and exquisite sixty year retrospective of an artist I have never heard of, and now, can’t imagine why: Jose Pedro Costigliolo. His career also spanned sixty years and he was about 20 years younger than Picasso. His work, except for the very early years, was also in abstract, mostly geometric forms. It was fascinating to walk chronologically through the galleries of prolific paintings by this artist and see how his work evolved over the years. He also did a lot of graphic such as playbills and magazine covers in addition to traditional painting. Jose Costigiliolo—where have you been all my life?

Geometric work of Jose Pedro Costigliolo

A more abstract piece of Costigliolo. 

From this point, we walked to the Torres-Garcia Museum. Torres-Garcia was a contemporary of Picasso and at one time they were friends in Paris together. At some point there was a “falling out”—details unknown. Torres-Garcia seems very into the “theory of art,” seemingly thinking it needed to be “local” and also that it was only for those who could transcend individuality to a higher plane of imagination and existence.

Late in life photo of Torres-Garcia

More art theory of Torres- Garcia

Abstract work by Torres-Garcia

He wrote prolifically on art theory. Much of his work is abstractions of cityscapes, but at one point he decided to manufacture toys on a large factory scale. There is a small collection in the museum. Apparently, it wasn’t a very profitable enterprise and lasted only a few years. His factory in New York City burned to the ground destroying the toy, made of wood, with it.

 

Original toys by Torres-Garcia

At the top of this museum was an exhibit by members of the Liu Family from China who have a long tradition of artwork, especially pen and ink. Many beautiful pieces from three generations of painters.

Tools of the trade

Lunch today, since it was our last full day in Montevideo, was a search for a good chivito. Chivito is the national dish and is essentially a steak (usually filet mignon) sandwich with melted cheese and a variety of accompaniments. We chose La Pasiva. It’s a chain, but it was great. Take our word—even if you aren’t a sandwich lover—Don’t leave Montevideo without eating a chivito.

The best place to eat a chivito: La Pasiva

We then grabbed an Uber and went across the bay of Montevideo to the Forteleza de Cerro, a fort in place since the earliest occupation to protect the city. It has been used by all its “conquerers”—Spain, Portugal and England.  The fort honors General Artiga who liberated Montevideo from the British. To me the best part of the visit was the incredible view of Montevideo from the high hill, but some folks might enjoy the military museum and the large display of weaponry. The weapons, mostly guns and artillery cover at least four centuries of engineering—a reminder that the human species has donated a lot of brain power and economics to find ways to kill one another. But it was an impressive collection.

Okay. Guess where the pirate is?

Improvised third world type housing in first world Montevideo

Forteleza de Cerro

An amazing view of Montevideo skyline from the opposite shore

Ways to kill each other

This evening we ate at a nice steakhouse called Restaurante Garcia. We find the beef here, almost all grass fed, to be extremely tasty but a slightly different texture than US beef. Temperature (rare, medium, etc) seems to be pretty hit or miss.

All in all, an artful day (or should I say fortuitous?) in Montevideo.

Montevideo is a beautiful city with a very European style. It's a small city, but with a lot of cultural movement and a lot of personality. At the same time, it's a very chill city.

 Juan Campodonico

Paul's Ponderings:  This was our final day in a great laid back city.   I'd love to come back here given the opportunity, since I feel like we only scratched the surface.    The info above gives a pretty good overview of the variety of things to be found here.    This might not have been the best time of year to come due to the weather, but we had a great time.    Highly recommended as a great close-by contrast to Buenos Aires.