José Venturelli Centennial

• José Venturelli Eade (Santiago, Chile, 1924 – Beijing, China, 1988) is one of the fundamental artists of the second half of the 20th century in Chilean and Latin American art, painter and leading figure in engraving and muralism.

In his itinerant life, he traveled the country and the five continents in search of the identity and social reality of the peoples, through personal experience and confrontation with nature and the achievements of other creators in a poetic of exchange of knowledge and cultures. Driven by his social commitment and the revolutionary processes of the moment, he takes the name of Chile to various countries, residing and working for long periods, in addition to his homeland, in China, Cuba, and Switzerland, following great artistic, social, and political projects and leaving a great legacy in them. When the 1973 coup plunged Chile into dictatorship and ideological persecution and torture brutally emerged, Venturelli went into exile in Switzerland and his desire to return was cut short by his death on September 17, 1988, 17 days before the plebiscite that put an end to the continuity of dictator Pinochet’s government.

About the foundation

• Fundación José Venturelli | Constituted in 1999 by Paz Venturelli Baraona, daughter of the artist and currently directed by his granddaughter, Malva Venturelli, this non-profit institution is dedicated to the dissemination and conservation of the work of artist José Venturelli, generating activities aimed at preserving his work and thought. This has materialized in a series of catalogs, research, publications, and national and international exhibitions, among which stand out: the exhibition “Masters of Latin America: José Venturelli” (2016) in China, the Fondart project “José Venturelli, 30 years: humanist and traveler” (2018), “50 years of diplomatic ties between Chile and China. The intercultural contribution of José Venturelli” (2021), among other instances.

In addition, this institution is dedicated to the implementation of cultural and educational projects for the integration of vulnerable sectors as a contribution to the country’s development, such as: “Who if not You. Artistic Education and Human Rights: a proposal from the work and commitment of José Venturelli” (2014) and “Murals of life: creative and collaborative project of young artists and the community of Cerrillos, inspired by the values of muralist José Venturelli” (2022).

About the curators

• Inés Ortega-Márquez | Independent curator and Spanish researcher based in Chile. She studied Psychology at the University of Paris VIII-Vincennes, being heir to the spirit of May 68. Later, she studied law, curatorship, and museography and has a Master’s degree in Cultural Management from Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, Madrid. During the last 15 years, she has curated more than 25 exhibitions in the US, Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Chile, Italy, and Spain, curating great masters and national award winners, in addition to emerging artists. Invited as a curator at 4 Biennales: Bolivia, Bienal Sur in Lima, and Artes Mediales in Santiago. In Bolivia and Peru, she has proposed themes for reflection on internal migration and border overflow, an open study of the possible readings of our South.

• Christian Leyssen Silva | Curator of José Venturelli Foundation, with whose team he has carried out, since 2013, exhibition, educational, writing, and publishing projects on this historical Chilean artist and others related to him, such as Santos Chávez and Julio Escámez, at Centro Cultural GAM, Museo de la Memoria, Pinacoteca de Concepción, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Museo de la Academia de Bellas Artes de Beijing, China, and in educational and municipal spaces, among others. Similarly, he has been a speaker in several instances, has exercised advisory and critical writing for projects with emerging visual artists in Chile and abroad, and has integrated the specialist committees of Fondart in the former National Council of Culture and the Arts.