Baldomero Pestana

Pseudonym: Pestana
Category: Photographer and painter
Birth Date: 1st January 1918 (7 july 2015)
Birth Place: Pozos, Pena, Castroverde (Lugo)

   Cultura
 Curriculum

He emigrated to Buenos Aires when he was four. In 1923 his family settled in Argentina, where he grew up both personally and intellectually. He was also keen on literature, history, music and drawing and all these activities accompanied him to a certain extent throughout his life. In that city he started his activity as a professional photographer, first as a press photographer and then as an artistic one.

In 1957 he went away from the Argentinean dictatorship and emigrated to Peru, where he got the Peruvian nationality without losing his original one. During his stay in Peru, he travelled around the country and made reports for FANAL Y CARETAS (he usually collaborated in this magazine). He developed an extensive photographic activity in Lima, making works for UNICEF, ONU, INTERNATIONAL PETROLEUM COMPANY and for the magazines TIME, LIFE e ESQUIRE.

His professional work regarding advertising was also wide and included works for McCANN-ERIKSON. He was the official photographer of the supplement of the official newspaper in Peru. He focussed his artistic activity on portraits of painters, writers and politicians from Peru: Ciro Alegría, Vargas Llosa, Arguedas and Pablo Neruda. Finishing that stage, he carried out his first individual exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Lima (1966). In 1967 he travelled to Paris, where he went on with his photographic activity but he soon centred on his great passion since he was a child: painting.

He always worked with his own documents and his technique adapted perfectly to his way of seeing themes from the photographic point of view. He draws using simple graphite pencils on bristol paper. His drawings usually deal with Peru, underprivileged people, emigrants, refugees and people living in the streets of Paris, surrounded by dead natures. The silence of whiteness dialogues with blackness of the pencil.

In April 2012, he became honorary citizen of Castroverde.

 Work & Activities

INDIVIDUAL EXHIBITIONS

1979. Fred Lanzenberg Gallery. Brussels.

1979. Etienne de Caussans Gallery. Brussels.

1981. Etienne de Caussans Gallery. Paris.

1982. Camino Brent Gallery. Lima.

1982. International Biennial of Drawing. Rijeka (Yugoslavia).

1984. Chosun Art Galery. Seoul (South Korea).

1984. 40 artists from America. Washington Art Gallery.

1985. Copenhague (Dinamarca) Galería Nicola: Paris Tour-Retour.

1986. Vicolo Quartivolo Gallery. Bologne (Italy).

1987. Contemporary Art Gallery. Chamalieres (France).

1988. Braun Vega Gallery. Paris.

1988. Olimpiade des Arts. Seoul (South Korea).

1991. Galerie Henry. Pau.

2008. Provincial Museum. Lugo.

 

COLLECTIVE EXHIBITIONS

1977. Grands et Jeunes d'aujourd'hui. Grand Palais, Paris. Travaux sur papier Villaparisis. France.

1978. XXVI Salón du dessin et de la peinture à l'eau, Grand Palais. Paris. Salon de Montrouge. Foire dàrt actuel. Palais des Beaux-Arts. F. Lazenberg Gallery. Brussels. Grands et Jeunes d`aujourd`hui, Grand Palais. Paris. Tours Multiple 78, Tours. France.

1979. Peindre et le réal. Musee de Chartres. Salón de Montrouge. Grands et Jeunes d'aujourd'hui, Grand Palais. Paris. L'art Vivant à Paris. Mairie annexe du XVIII arrondissement.

1980. Les ateliers Imaginaires. Mairie annexe du V arrondissement. Peindre et le réel. Musée de la Saintre-Croix. Poitiers. France. Salon de Montrouge. Grands et Jeunes d`aujourd'hui, Grand Palais. Paris. Salón Marcel Pouvreau. Ville de Dammarie-Les-Lys.

1981. Centre d'action Culturelle de Mâcon, France. Figurations Actuelles Salle Pablo Neruda, Haulchin - France. Salón de Montrouge. Grands et Jeunes d'aujourd'hui, Grand Palais. Paris. Salon L'art Vivant à Paris. Mairie annexe du XVIII arrondt. Paris. MJC Les hauts de Belleville (Paris). Realismes et imageries. Musèe de Castres (Francia). Hommage a Jaurès.

1982. Salon Le dessin dans les pays Bolivariens. Ambassade du Venezuela (Paris). Artistes du Troisième Monde U.C.J.G. Paris. Salle Pablo Neruda, Haulchin (France). Grands et Jeunes dàujourd^hui. Grand Palais. Paris. Biennale Internationale du dessin. Rijeka (Yugoslavia). Art vivant à Paris. Salón lÀmérique Latine à Paris. Grand Palais. Paris. Centre Culture Chelles. Attention aux détails.

1983. Salón Figuration Critique. Grand Palais. Paris. Realismes et Imageries, Thonon-les-Bain. France. Hommage au Corps. Loubie Gallery. Paris. L`Art vivant à Paris. Chosun Art Galery Gallery. Seoul (South Korea). Realismes et Imageries. Grande Galerie. Paris .

1984. 4 artistes Paris-Seoul Chosun Art Gallery. Seoul (South Korea). 40 artists of the Americas. IDB Association Art Gallery. Washington D.C. Salon Grnads et Jeunes d`aujourd`hui. Grand Palais. Paris. Salon Figuration Critique. Grand Palais. Paris.

1985. Fet-Art Exposition de groupe dans la galerie de L'Espace Latino-Americain. Paris. Paris Tour-Retour. Exposition de groupe. Nicolaj Gallery. Copenhague. Du côté d`ailleurs. Exposition de groupe, refectoire de Jacobins-Toulouse. 15 dessinateurs, Galerie de l`Art Contemporain. Chamalières. 40 artistes regardent Victor Higo. Musèe et Centre d´art contemporain Prince Murat Presles (France). Le retour de la miniature. Alfa Gallery (Belgrade).

1986. Clasicismes et realismes au present. Alain Blondel Gallery (Paris). Festrival d´art contemporain 86 international. Clemont Fd. Aulnat. Figuracione e non figuracione. Vicolo Quartivolo Gallery (Bologne - Italy). Figuration critique. Grand Palais (Paris). Grands et jeunes d´aujourd`hui. Grand Palais (Paris).

1987. Peintres et sculpteurs péruviens a Paris. Maurie du VIª Arrondissement (Paris).

1988. Les hauts de Velleville. La maison des Jeunes et de la Cultura. (Paris). Salon d´octobre. Salles d´exposition du théâtre municipal Ville de Brive (Francia).

1989. L´art à L´ecole. Paris. Lisieux. L´espace Victor Higo (Paris). Pintures comme ça... Espace Lamartine (Paris). Revelations 89 Espace Pierre Cardin. Paris Le Dessin. Galeria Greca (Barcelona).

1990. Lons le Saunier. Jura. Art contemporain Toulouse (Paris). Lártcontemporain Couleurs de la vie. Biblioteque Nationale, Galerie Monsart (Paris). He participated in many collective exhibitions in France, Denmark, Yugoslavia, Washington and Spain.