9 July – 20 September, 2020 Rooms 4 and 5. First Floor
Exhibition: Maruxa Seoane: aproximación a Mª Elvira Fernández López
9 July – 20 September, 2020
Rooms 4 and 5. First floor
Maruxa Seoane: aproximación a Mª Elvira Fernández Lópezis an exhibition project that explores the life of María Elvira Fernández López (A Coruña, 24 January, 1912 – 25 March, 2003), Maruxa, Luís Seoane’s inseparable partner. She was a key figure in his career and, after the artist’s death in 1979, she dedicated her life to reviving and gathering his legacy for Galicia, in a process that culminated in 1996 with the establishment of the Luís Seoane Foundation in A Coruña.
Curated by the artist and art teacher Juan Martínez de la Colina, the exhibition arose from a desire to highlight and pay tribute to the personality of Maruxa Seoane and, at the same time, to recognise and make her work visible, since she was often reduced to playing the role of an “artist’s wife.” To that end, the exhibition features a selection of oils, photos, graphic work and miscellaneous documentation, as well as several testimonies, with the objective of painting the portrait of a woman of her time; she dedicated her life to Luís Seoane of her own free will, sharing the artist’s vocation of service to Galician culture.
Luís and Maruxa knew each other from a young age since they were cousins. Their relationship began during their adolescence and lasted until the artist’s death in 1979. After the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, Seoane went off into exile to live in the city of Buenos Aires. Maruxa would accompany him shortly thereafter, after marrying him by proxy. There they frequented Galician, Spanish, European and Latin American intellectual circles. Maruxa took care of the bookkeeping, the artist’s agenda and negotiated with galleries, museums and collectors, being responsible for maintaining the materials, setting up the small- and medium-sized canvases, and printing the cloths. Starting in 1942, she worked as a proof-reader in all of Luís’ publishing projects. She thus became his indispensable collaborator, participating actively in some of Seoane’s most important initiatives in his work as a promoter of Galician culture in exile, such as the journal Galicia Emigrante, published out of their home, to which she contributed small critical texts and cooking recipes, which also appeared in the journal Correo Literario.
Fully committed to the “Laboratorio de Formas del Castro y Sargadelos” from 1964 onwards, in 1967 they started dividing their time between Galicia and Buenos Aires. Finally, in 1969, they bought an apartment in the city of A Coruña, with views of the Hercules Tower that Luís Seoane featured in one of his most famous works, the album of drawings entitled Homenaje a la Torre de Hércules.
After Seoane’s premature death in 1979, Maruxa undertook the task of gathering the artist’s work in order to build a legacy that would stand out in his homeland. In 1996, thanks to her efforts, the Luís Seoane Foundation was established and opened provisionally in A Coruña’s Durán Loriga Street.
Maruxa died in 2003 and, three months later, the Foundation was moved to its current location in the former Macanaz Barracks, a building in A Coruña’s Old Town that was restored by the architects Juan Creus and Covadonga Carrasco.
The exhibition includes largely unknown or hitherto unheard-of material related to Maruxa Seoane, such as letters, books and other documents, in addition tooriginal Luís Seoane oils and drawings that are dedicated to or inspired by her, as well as a documentary that was made for the occasion.
FOLLETO