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Photo, Print, Drawing The Green Lightning. El rayo verde

About this Item

Title

  • The Green Lightning.

Other Title

  • El rayo verde

Summary

  • El rayo verde (The green lightning) is a late work by the Canary Islands artist Antonio Padrón Rodríguez (1920-68). He was born and lived most of his life in Gáldar, Gran Canaria, and many of his works reflect a strong sense of Canary location, customs, and people. He is linked to the Luján Pérez school, named for religious sculptor José Luján Pérez (1756-1815), who inspired a tradition of artists working in various media and focused on local culture, identity, and the position of Canary people in the world. They included sculptor Plácido Fleitas and painters Jorge Oramas, Feo Monzón, and Santiago Santana. Antonio Padrón's later work is characterized by intense use of color and abstract expressionism. The 1930s to the 1960s was a time when emigration from the islands peaked, with many people leaving for a better life in the Americas (particularly Cuba and Venezuela) after devastating drought in the Canaries. In this picture, we see a happy woman, waving farewell, her hopes of a reunion marked by the green stripe. It is a picture of simple shapes and colors, almost naïve, reflecting the spirit of enterprise that characterizes the emigrants. The seagulls are birds that leave but always return to their own shore. The blue represents the wide sea. Padrón evokes the paradox of the emigrant, looking forward but longing for the homeland, to which any return might be many years hence. This painting is in the collections of the Antonio Padrón House Museum, Indigenous Art Center, in Gran Canaria.

Names

  • Padrón, Antonio, 1920-1968 Artist.

Created / Published

  • [place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified], 1965.

Headings

  • -  Spain--Canary Islands--Gáldar
  • -  1965
  • -  Abstract expressionism
  • -  Art, Abstract
  • -  Indigenism (Art movement)

Notes

  • -  Title devised, in English, by Library staff.
  • -  Original resource extent: Oil with sand on hardboard ; 59.5 x 164.5 centimeters.
  • -  Original resource at: Cabildo of Gran Canaria, Canary Islands.
  • -  Description based on data extracted from World Digital Library, which may be extracted from partner institutions.

Medium

  • 1 online resource.

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2021670663

Online Format

  • compressed data
  • image

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

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The Library asks that researchers approach the materials in this collection with respect for the culture and sensibilities of the people whose lives, ideas, and creativity are documented here.

Credit Line: [Original Source citation], World Digital Library

More about Copyright and other Restrictions

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Padrón, Antonio, Artist. The Green Lightning. Canary Islands Gáldar Spain, 1965. [Place of Publication Not Identified: Publisher Not Identified] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021670663/.

APA citation style:

Padrón, A. (1965) The Green Lightning. Canary Islands Gáldar Spain, 1965. [Place of Publication Not Identified: Publisher Not Identified] [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2021670663/.

MLA citation style:

Padrón, Antonio, Artist. The Green Lightning. [Place of Publication Not Identified: Publisher Not Identified] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2021670663/>.