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Restoration
work on the building of the Casa de la Cultura in Arrecife
has brought to light two long forgotten mural of Cesar
Manrique, painted in 1947. Accidentally discovered
by builders chipping off layers of old paint from the
wall, the mural depicts a scene which includes elements
that with time have turned into icons of his work,
writes Gazettelive.
These unexpected treasures,
has delighted the Fundacion Cesar Manrique (FCM) which
continues to uphold the artistic, cultural and tourism
inheritance of Lanzarote’s most famous son. Arrecife
Cultural official Miquel Angel Ferrer has agreed to
requests from FCM to contract a restoration expert
to make a report about its state of conservation. The
works in the areas where both murals were found has
been stopped until the above report comes to light.
Painted in 1947 by the Lanzarote artist when this building
was the old Casino of Arrecife, ignorance of its cultural
importance and neglect led to the ‘loss’ of
these important pieces of art They belong to a time
during which Cesar Manrique was forming his unique
artistic style. In one of the murals a pictorial scene
of Lanzarote is depicted using modern lines and cubic
shapes and displays what would become Manrique’s
most famous motifs: the camel, local beauty, (la campesina)
the ladies working on the land, the leafs of the grapes,
the volcano and the black land.
Also appearing in this representation of flat and simple
figures is a strange masculine figure, wearing a carnival
and carrying a cubic guitar. A possible influence of
Juan Gris or Piscasso, according to the FCM.
The finding of this untitled Manrique mural will delay
the building works at the Casa de La Cultura while
restoration work is completed, approximately 18 months.
At the end of that term the old building will be ready
for a new stage of life and use.
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