Dignora Pastorello Argentine, 1913-2001
Caballo de madera de Donatello [Donatello's wooden horse], 1960
Oil on canvas
40 x 60 cm
15 3/4 x 23 5/8 in
15 3/4 x 23 5/8 in
Torpor and Fantasy by Sofía Dourron 'Yes, she is an observer of reality, but she is not a neutral interpreter; she plunges into the darkest and stickiest depths unreached by...
Torpor and Fantasy by Sofía Dourron
"Yes, she is an observer of reality, but she is not a neutral interpreter; she plunges into the darkest and stickiest depths unreached by light, then to emerge on the other side, with an image that is barely discrepant. Her motives, which at a first glance seem almost bland and stemming from the boredom or the laziness of someone whose bridges have been burned down, instead burst forth with the determination of someone who looks at everyday nature daringly and inquisitively. As if she were seeking to affirm her own existence in painting, Dignora devoted herself to portraying, over and over, almost obsessively, altered versions of the settings around her. She portrayed her own place, other people’s houses, her trips, her walks, views of balconies, birds, cats, people, interiors, alleys, fields, beaches."
"Yes, she is an observer of reality, but she is not a neutral interpreter; she plunges into the darkest and stickiest depths unreached by light, then to emerge on the other side, with an image that is barely discrepant. Her motives, which at a first glance seem almost bland and stemming from the boredom or the laziness of someone whose bridges have been burned down, instead burst forth with the determination of someone who looks at everyday nature daringly and inquisitively. As if she were seeking to affirm her own existence in painting, Dignora devoted herself to portraying, over and over, almost obsessively, altered versions of the settings around her. She portrayed her own place, other people’s houses, her trips, her walks, views of balconies, birds, cats, people, interiors, alleys, fields, beaches."
Provenance
Estate of Dignora Pastorello, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Exhibitions
Dignora Pastorello: A Strange Modernity, Cecilia Brunson Projects, London, UK, June-July 2026.
Literature
Ernesto B. Rodríguez, Apuntes para una historia de la pintura argentina[Notes for a history of Argentine painting] (1966), 195.
Publications
Dignora Pastorello: Un Lugar, Un Sueño. Pinturas 1958-1991 (Rosario; Buenos Aires: Galería Calvaresi, 2022), 88.Lily Sosa de Newton, Diccionario biográfico de mujeres argentinas, aumentado y actualizado [Biographical Dictionary of Argentine Women: Enlarged and Updated] (Buenos Aires: Plus Ultra, 1980).
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