Artefacte Per A La Pau I O Artefacte Al 25 | MACA - Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Alicante

Manuel Millares

Artifact for Peace I or Artifact at 25

1964

Technical data

Authorship:

Manuel Millares

Title:

Artifact for Peace I or Artifact at 25

Date:

1964

Dimensions:

101 x 165 x 102 cm

Collection it belongs to:

Collection 20th Century Art

Inventory no.:

XX.096

Photographs

Artwork text

Artifact for Peace I is one of three sculptures that Millares created in 1964 and which he initially called Three Artifacts at 25, vehement and barely disguised counter-commemoration of the "25 years of Francoist peace." The three pieces were presented for the first time on May 18, 1965 at the Edurne Gallery in Madrid, in a one-day exhibition shared with Alberto Greco and featuring a performance by the ZAJ group. The work entered the collection as a gift from the artist himself to Sempere, who installed it in the entrance hall of his house in Cuenca in the late 1960s.

A strange sculpture. A mass of black burlap folds, twists, tears, and opens toward the viewer: a structure that has something of a barricade, something of a mummified painting corpse, something of a flayed framework. Between neo-Dada, Fluxus and the arts of the poor, Millares constructs a wooden skeleton lined with burlap sewn and tensioned with ropes to which he incorporates a cardboard tube. For the first time in Millares' work, the burlap abandons the wall and settles in real space, conquering three dimensions with all its drama.

This Artifact is one of the most eloquent testimonies of the political dimension of Millares' art and of the profound friendship that united him with Sempere. In addition to this large sculpture, the collection preserves The Holy Face, a burlap work that Millares dedicated expressly to Sempere, and the portfolio of silkscreens Discoveries in Millares 1671, from 1971, the last one the artist created before his death.

Exhibitions

- "Millares. Three artifacts at 25 (1963-64). Greco, Paintings. Hidalgo/Marchetti", Madrid, Edurne, Art Studio, May 18, 1965.

- "First Forma Nueva Exhibition. The Building. Palazuelo, Millares, Oteiza, Chillida, Sainz de Oiza, Fernández Alba, Fullaondo", Madrid, Forma Nueva Magazine-HISA Exhibition Spaces, from May 1 to June 30, 1967.

- "Tribute Exhibition to Manolo Millares, Madrid, Juana Mordó Gallery, from January 11 to 27, 1973.

- "First International Exhibition of Street Sculpture", Santa Cruz de Tenerife, College of Architects of the Canary Islands, from December 1, 1973 to January 31, 1974.

- "Millares", Madrid, Edurne Gallery, 1974.

- "Millares", Madrid, Halls of the General Directorate of Artistic and Cultural Heritage, Spanish Museum of Contemporary Art (University City), 1975.

- "Experimentation in Art", Madrid, Conde Duque Cultural Center, from October 1 to 30, 1983.

- "To Joana Francés", Alicante, Gravina Palace, 1990. Touring: "To Joana Francés Tribute. El Paso Group and Art-South", Alcoi, Cultural Center from January 25 to February 25, 1991.

- "Millares. Paintings 1951-1972", Madrid, National Museum Reina Sofía Art Center, 1992. Touring: Bielefeld, Kunsthalle / Rome, Galeria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna.

- "Restoration of the Artifact for Peace (1)", Valencia, IVAM, Valencian Institute of Modern Art, from October 1 to 30, 1998.

- "From Municipal Collections. The Heritage of the City of Alicante", Alicante, Municipal Fish Market Hall, from December 16, 2000 to February 25, 2001.

- "Libert@dexpresión.es. 25th Anniversary of the Spanish Constitution", Valencia, Museum of Charity, from December 9, 2003 to March 13, 2004.

- "Manolo Millares. Destruction and Love", Coruña, Headquarters of the Caixa Galicia Foundation, from July 14 to October 20, 2006.

- "Plastic Creation in the Millares-Sall", Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Caja Canarias Cultural Space, from January 26 to July 20, 2024.

- "Light and Shadow. Goya and Spanish Realism", 30th Europalia Festival, Brussels, Bozar, from October 8, 2025 to January 11, 2026.

Bibliografía

- Moreno Galván, José M.ª: "Millares. Neither with the beautiful nor with the sublime", Madrid/Barcelona, Magazine Triunfo, year XXI, no. 205, May 7, 1966, p. 35.

- First Nueva Forma Exhibition. The Building. Palazuelo, Millares, Oteiza, Chillida, Saenz de Oiza, Fernández Alba, Fullaondo, Madrid, Forma Magazine, 1967, il, p. 16.

- Crespo, Ángel: "The First Nueva Forma Exhibition", Madrid-Barcelona, Magazine Nueva Forma-The Building, no. 18, July 1967, p. 42.

- Moreno Galván, José M.ª: "On the Death of Manolo Millares", Madrid/Barcelona, Magazine Triunfo, August 26, 1972, p. 54.

- Tribute Exhibition to Manolo Millares, Madrid, Juana Mordó Gallery, 1973, il. p. 38.

- First International Street Sculpture Exhibition, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, College of Architects of the Canary Islands, 1973, cat. 10, illustrative sketch in the exhibition fold-out catalog.

- Millares, Madrid, Edurne Gallery, 1974, p. 13 (image from the series "Three Devices at 25" during the exhibition at Edurne, Art Studio in 1965).

- Millares, Madrid, Spanish Museum of Contemporary Art, 1975, cat. 36, p. 115:il.

- França, J.A.: Millares, Barcelona, Polígrafa, 1977, p. 127, cat. 225; il.

- Anonymous, "New Life for Old Houses in Cuenca", Art and Home Magazine no. 363-364, September 1977, pp. 18-32.

- Bonet Correa, Antonio: Municipal Museum "Casa de la Asegurada", 20th Century Art Collection, Alicante, Ed. Municipal Museum "Casa de la Asegurada", 1981, il b/w. p. 48.

- Experimentation in Art, Madrid, Conde Duque Cultural Center, 1983, cat. no. 26, il.

- Calvo Serraller, Francisco: Spain Half a Century of Avant-Garde 1939-1985, Madrid, Ministry of Culture/Santillana Foundation, 1985, il. p. 858.

- To Joana Francés, Ministry of Culture and Education of the Valencian Regional Government, Alicante, 1990, il. p. 71.

- To Joana Francés Tribute. El Paso Group and Art-Sud, Alcoy, Alcoy Cultural Center 1991, il. p 39.

- Millares. Paintings 1951-1972, Madrid, National Museum Reina Sofía Art Center, 1992, p. 172-173, cat. 51: il.

- Bonet, Juan Manuel: "Millares, Classic of a Dark Time", in Millares, Saura, Tàpies. Spanish Informalism. The IVAM Collections, León, Provincial Council of León, 1991, p. 16.

- Millares, CAAM, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 1992, p. 24-25 and 137-138.

- Senante, Fernando and Gutiérrez, Luis: "Culture Pages", Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Diario de Avisos, year II, no. 6, February 14, 1992, il. p. X.

- Rivas, Francisco Alberto Greco, Valencia-Madrid, Ed. Valencian Institute of Modern Art-Mapfre Vida Cultural Foundation, 1992, cit. p. 332.

- Juan Hidalgo (1957-1997), Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, CAAM Atlantic Center of Modern Art, 1997, p. 309 and 326.

- AA.VV.: 20th Century Art Collection. Casa de la Asegurada Museum / Alicante, Alicante, City Council, 1998 (1st edition, p. 66 and 87); (2nd edition, p. 34, 62 and 83).

- Bozal, Valeriano: "20th Century Art in Spain. Painting and Sculpture 1939-1990", Summa Artis. General History of Art, Vol. II, Ed. Espasa Calpe, Madrid, 1998, p. 415.

- Torre, Alfonso de la: "Round Trip" in Eusebio Sempere. An Anthology 1953-1981, Valencia, IVAM Valencian Institute of Modern Art, 1998, il. p. 36 (photograph by Jaume Blassi: view of the vestibule of Eusebio Sempere's house in Cuenca).

- Castells González, Rosa M.ª: "New Stage at the Casa de la Asegurada Museum", Madrid, Magazine Guadalimar, Year XXIV, October-November 1999, il. p. 9.

- Castells González, Rosa M.ª: From Municipal Collections The Heritage of the City of Alicante, Alicante, City Council of Alicante, 2001, p. 250.

-Castells González, Rosa M.ª (Coord): Municipal Heritage. 5 Years of Restoration in Alicante, Alicante, Municipal Culture Board, City Council of Alicante, 2002, p. 203, il.

- Libert@dexpresión.es. 25th Anniversary of the Spanish Constitution, Valencia, Museum of Charity/Provincial Council of Valencia, 2003, il. p. 313.

- AAVV: Millares. Mourning of East and West, Madrid, Ed. Ministry of Foreign Affairs. State Society for External Cultural Action, 2003, il. col. p. 154.

-Torre, Alfonso de la; Bonet, Juan Manuel, Fernández Moreno, Miriam: Annotated Catalog Paintings. Manolo Millares, Madrid, National Museum Reina Sofía Art Center and Azcona Foundation, 2004, cat. 535, il, p. 611.

- Manolo Millares. Destruction and Love, Madrid, Caixa Galicia Foundation, 2006, cat. 31, p. 215-216. Galician edition, p. 110-111.

-Trading Card Album. 20th Century Art Collection. 40th Anniversary, Alicante, Museum of Contemporary Art of Alicante, 2017, p. 12, card no. 25.

- Castells González, Rosa Mª: "Eusebio Sempere Collector. The 20th Century Art Collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Alicante" in Atlas Sempere Canelobre no. 69, Alicante, Alicante Institute of Culture, 2018, p. 280-291.

- Light and Shadow. Goya and Spanish Realism, 30th Europalia Festival, Madrid, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2026, p. .

Artist

Manuel Millares

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain , 1926 - 1926

Born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in 1926, he died in Madrid on August 14, 1972 suffering from an incurable disease. He moved to Madrid in 1955. In 1957 he founded with Rafael Canogar, Luis Feito, Juana Francés, Antonio Saura, Manuel Rivera, Pabl...

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