Under the title 'César Manrique (1919-2019): 100 years of living memory', the University of La Laguna has programmed a series of cultural activities on the occasion of the centenary of the artist's birth. The events began last Friday, April 26, with the celebration of a ceremony in homage to the figure of Manrique.
The event was attended by the Vice-Rector for Relations with Society, Francisco García; the president of the César Manrique Foundation, José Juan Ramírez; and the director of the César Manrique Cultural Chair of the University of La Laguna, the professor of Art History Francisco Galante. The event concluded with a small jazz concert by saxophonist Kike Perdomo and bassist Carlos Costa.
During the opening ceremony, Francisco García reflected on the validity of Manrique's message if the different testimonies about the relationship with nature, the landscape and the need for its conservation are reviewed.
For his part, Francisco Galante made a semblance of César Manrique whom he described as a "total artist" whose analysis forces to face all his work as a whole, because it is impossible to separate one facet from another, although he recognized that the common nexus to all is painting. Likewise, Galante emphasized Manrique's human closeness and his facet as an activist, which, he explained, led him to cultivate an attitude independent of any ideological or political current to always put the defense of the territory against speculation first.
The president of the César Manrique Foundation, José Juan Ramírez, valued that the University of La Laguna has been one of the first institutions to organize a tribute to this creator for his centenary and recalled that Manrique felt "devotion" for the island of Tenerife, in which some of his most relevant works are erected and, therefore, "suffered" with the speculative interventions that were carried out on his landscape. He stressed that the Lanzarote artist is, without a doubt, the most present artist in the popular Canarian imaginary, in part because of his great personal closeness.
Conferences, a scientific debate and a traveling exhibition
Between May 6 and 8, the University will hold the conference cycle 'Tradition, Modernity and Utopia. Encounters around the work of César Manrique' and on May 10 will take place the scientific debate 'César Manrique and his cultural legacy'.
Likewise, a traveling exhibition will be carried out that will address the figure of the artist and, finally, on April 24, 2020, a book will be presented that will collect all the previous activities and that will be illustrated with works by Manrique that have been ceded by the Foundation. All activities are organized by the César Manrique Cultural Chair in collaboration with the César Manrique Foundation.
