Date: 1972
Technique: Mixed media on paper
Dimensions: 100 x 70 cm
Es Baluard Museu d’Art Contemporani de Palma, Fundació d’Art Serra donation
Reg. no.: 70
Not on display
The work is a black-and-white portrait of Sor Jerónima de la Fuente Yáñez (a 17th-century Franciscan nun from Toledo, the founder in 1620 of the convent of Santa Clara de la Concepción in Manila, the Philippines). Comprised of swift, gestural strokes, the figure, in a frontal position, is reduced to elementary patterns, holding a crucifix in her hands along with another element that is difficult to identify – possibly a book -, as in Velazquez’s portrait La venerable madre Jerónima de la Fuente (The Nun Jerónima de la Fuente, 1620). It is a custom of Saura’s to recreate paintings by Velázquez or Goya by means of an automatic and compulsive expression. Saura’s style is defined as monochromatic, using black only, or near-monochromatic, introducing browns and greys on occasions. With swift, energetic strokes, he shuns formal abstraction, becoming a powerful expressionist, and despising the forms of traditional representation.
E.C.