- Type of work: Painting on paper
- Technique: Watercolor on paper
- Approximate dimensions: 61 x 48 cm
- Subject: Landscape
- Title: La Victoria, Tenerife
- Author: Francisco Bonnin Guerín (1874-1963)
- Chronology o Year: 1936
- Historical-artistic analysis:
Style: Landscape painting, of regionalist character, in the desire to show the typical image of the island.
Iconography: It represents a typical Canarian corner of rural domestic architecture, with its characteristic balconies adorned with bougainvillea, grouped around a cobblestone street that, by means of a stone staircase, extends into other earthen houses in the background. These, trimmed against the sky, close and limit the space. It is a repeated motif in Bonnín’s watercolors that translate the beautiful and friendly image of the island, resolved here with great ease, with a predominance of stain and color over drawing, far from the perfectly outlined painting of previous periods of neat brushstrokes. With vibrant light and color he recreates reality sifted by emotion with a technique enriched by the expressionist experience of Bruno Brandt’s influence.
Date of receipt: after 1933
Observations: The artist’s link with the Casino de Tenerife since the early 1900s and throughout his life has allowed this institution to advise an important collection of watercolors, acquired throughout this time. The first history of the Casino by Valeriano Weyler mentions five landscape watercolors adorning the mezzanine of the building.
About the author: Francisco Bonnín Guerín (Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 1874- Puerto de la Cruz, 1963) began his training with Ubaldo Bordanova as a student at the Municipal Academy of Drawing, being Verdugo Bartlett (1860-1895) the one who introduced him to the watercolor technique. He studied the military career in Segovia, entering in 1897, and since then he has alternated his military career with painting. In his first stage (around 1915) his watercolors are of small format, with great meticulousness in the rendering of details. In 1923 he went to Girona as a commander and came into contact with the Agrupación de Acuarelistas de Cataluña. On his return to Tenerife, he promoted the creation of the Círculo de Bellas Artes, where he established a drawing and painting academy in 1928. In 1927 and 1928 he held two exhibitions in the Circle with which he introduced the Agrupación de Acuarelistas de Cataluña in the Canary Islands, sowing the seed of the Agrupación de Acuarelelistas Tinerfeños, created in 1944. Between 1931-35 he developed his expressionist stage under the influence of Bruno Brandt, stripping himself of the excessive draftsmanship and giving the stain and color a greater freedom. The decade 1936-46 is the decade of diffusion and greater recognition of his work. With a luminous and colorful painting he became known in Switzerland, England and in many cities of the Peninsula, receiving the National Watercolor Prize in 1942. He increased his prestige by exhibiting in Madrid at the Palace of Santa Cruz, headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1945 and 1946, and was named academician of Fine Arts of San Fernando in 1947, year in which the Agrupación de Acuarelistas Canarios was born under his presidency.
Bibliography:
Archive of the Casino de Tenerife. Documentation relating to Board positions during 1907 and 1908.
Carmen GONZÁLEZ COSSÍO: Francisco Bonnín. Viceconsejería de Cultura y Deportes del Gobierno de Canarias, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 1993.
Valeriano WEYLER: The small history of a great casino (The one in Santa Cruz de Tenerife). Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 1964.
Agustín GUIMERÁ RAVINA, Alberto DARIAS PRÍNCIPE: El Casino de Tenerife 1840 – 1990, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 1992.
