Catálogo de la exposición - Fundación César Manrique

which matter, so used, lends its support. These themes, without Barcala’s treatment of the
pictorial layer, would have been little more than innocuous outdoor exercises. Dense
pigment, nearly sandy in consistency and matter-like property would continue to
characterise Barcala’s work until these techniques gave way to the use of real materials in
the seventies, in his collages and boxes.
In 1949, shortly before his trip to Europe, Barcala, along with Luis A. Solari (1918-1993),
Juan Ventayol (1911-1971) and Manuel Espínola Gómez (1921) joined the Carlos F. Sáez
Group. The group made its first appearance in September of that same year, in “Amigos del
Arte” in Montevideo. Barcala exhibited seven paintings in the gallery’s exhibition room 2.
The titles are indicative of his figurative options at the time: Galpón blanco (White shed),
Calle Olimar (Olimar Street), Retrato de María Elena (Portrait of María Elena, later to be his
wife), Estación (Station), Naturaleza muerta (Still life), Botes (Tins), Casilla de aduana
(Customs counter). Since the group’s second and last showing (before it dissolved),
concurred with the artist’s trip, it included none of his works.
Washington Barcala fuit hic
It wasn’t until the Renaissance - a time when the same society that called Michaelangelo “il
divino” had no qualms about nick-naming the sculptor the “baker” after Leonardo wrote, “the
sculptor forges his work with the strength of his arm and the force of the impact against the
marble [...] in a very mechanical exercise often accompanied by dusty sweat that muddies his
face:, covered with white marble dust from head to toe, he looks every bit the baker...” -,
that the painter’s trade would be acknowledged not to be “mechánico” or “lowly” (as manual
trades were referred), because while it involved manual work, craftsmanship and intellect,
the manual aspect was not predominant. That was the beginning of a process of recognition
and esteem that transformed the painter’s trade into a honourable and noble profession.
Beginning in the Renaissance it also became generally accepted that ogni pittore dipinge se
and, even more, that “... the spirit is expressed and reflected as in a mirror that reflects the
face of the beholder”, according to the influential neo-Platonic thinker Marsilio Ficino. From
then on, painters were able not only to take the entire world and other living people for
themes, but could also frequently show an interest in themselves, attempting to approach
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