Temporary exhibition

Francisco Antonio Cano: The Luminous Hand

From September 4 to October 26, 2014

More than eighty works by the Antioquian master Francisco Antonio Cano will be exhibited at the National Museum of Colombia from September 4, 2014. Thanks to the support of the Museum of Antioquia, for the first time ever in Bogotá a monographic exhibition of the artist’s work will be on display and will include pieces from the collections of the two museums.

Francisco Antonio Cano: The Luminous Hand pays tribute to one of the most important academics of the country, a driving force in the teaching of fine art, renowned portrait painter, and pioneer of the landscape genre in Antioquia.
The exhibition provides an overview of the diverse themes, techniques and styles developed by Cano, taking the spectator on a chronological journey that reveals his transformation from self-taught rural craftsman to independent academic artist.

The exhibition is divided into four parts. The first brings together a selection of early works that the artist created in his hometown of Yarumal, Antioquia. The second presents pieces executed during stays in Medellin and Paris. In Medellin, the capital of Antioquia, Cano studied and taught painting classes and devoted himself chiefly to the portrait. Among the works from his years in Paris, we find drawings of nudes and copies of works by the French painters of the Belle Époque. The third section displays the pieces that the artist created upon his return to Medellin, where he became a commissioned painter and sculptor; from this selection those that stand out are his drawings of landscapes and an example from the periodical Reading and Art, to which Cano contributed lithographic illustrations and art reviews. The fourth and final part is devoted to his final years in Bogotá, where he continued his creative work in the form of historical paintings and commissioned sculptures. During this period the artist realized various genre works in addition to numerous pieces that are academic in tone; however, he would sometimes turn away from these simply to paint what inspired him.

Visitors to the exhibition will have the opportunity to see at first hand well-known works by the artist, such as Horizons (1913); this particular painting will be given a privileged space in the show alongside an interpretation of its composition.

Francisco Antonio Cano: The Luminous Hand is a shared initiative of the Ministry of Culture, the National Museum of Colombia and the Museum of Antioquia. The exhibition has been made ​​possible by the generous sponsorship of Banco Itaú BBA and the support of the Association of the Friends of the National Museum of Colombia. The exhibitions room is sponsored by Gas Natural Fenosa.

Francisco Antonio Cano   (Yarumal, 1865 - Bogotá, 1935)

(Text by Santiago Londoño, curator of the exhibition)

Francisco Antonio Cano was born in Yarumal, Antioquia, in 1865, where he learned various artisanal skills from his father, José María Cano, a skilled craftsman. In 1883 he joined a group of young men who sought to promote culture in Yarumal and published the manuscript for a three-part periodical, to which Cano contributed various drawings and cartoons that today are counted among some of his earliest works.

Based in Medellin in the years that followed, Cano supported himself as a portrait artist, taught painting and drawing classes, and developed interests in photography, printmaking, illustration and publishing. In 1892 he promoted the first art exhibition to be held in the city of Medellin and later participated in the creation of Antioquia’s first two illustrated magazines, The Repertoire (1896-97) and The Mountaineer (1897-99), for which he produced prints using various techniques, as well as contributing articles and art reviews.

In 1898, thanks to a grant from the Congress of the Republic of Colombia, Cano traveled to Paris to study at the Julian and Colarossi academies. While in Europe he came into contact with the avant-gardes of the early twentieth century but, as expressed in some of his letters, they did not call his attention.
On returning to Medellin in early 1901, Cano had hoped to practice his profession as a painter and share his knowledge with others. After great efforts, in 1910 he co-founded the Institute of Fine Arts, where he taught painting, drawing and sculpture, and trained a whole generation of Antioquian artists who helped to keep his teachings alive.

In 1912 he moved to Bogotá to assume leadership of the National Printing Press, through which he progressively made his way into the artistic and academic circles of Bogotá.
While cementing his reputation as an academic and creative, the new artists and writers of Colombia, from whom Cano had received great criticism, began to develop an interest in a nationalist and anti-academic form of art.

Cano was named Dean of the School of Fine Arts in Bogotá in 1923, a post he held until 1927, when he resigned, overwhelmed by the School’s internal conflicts. In 1930 he was elected a member of the Colombian Academy of Fine Arts, which sought to promote and protect the artistic heritage of Colombia.
During his final years, Cano produced various commemorative sculptures and paintings of national and regional figures. In addition to commissioned works, he continued to develop a more intimate understanding of the landscape, in which he made use of the lessons of freedom found in the colors, compositions and brushwork of Impressionism.

In his will he stated that he had died outside of all religions and ordered his body to be buried in the ground without any mark of identification. Poor, marginalized as a scholar and almost forgotten, Francisco Antonio Cano died in Bogotá at the age of 69 on May 10, 1935.

In his final years, Cano experienced the frictions brought about by the rise of nationalist art. As a draughtsman, painter and sculptor he instilled in his students academic values ​​and completed numerous commissions that fueled patriotic and institutional imaginations. He created, in a marginal way, paintings characterized by free interpretations of the landscape, through which he left behind the academic conventions that he had always defended.


Santiago Londoño Vélez, guest curator

Santiago Londoño Vélez was born in 1955 in the city of Medellin, Colombia, holds a degree in business administration from EAFIT University and a postgraduate diploma from the University of Texas; he is a researcher, curator, artist and art critic.

Among other books, he is the author of A History of Painting and Printmaking in Antioquia (1996); Débora Arango, Life of a Painter (1997); Colombian Art: 3,500 Years of History (2001); The Luminous Hand. The Life and Art of Francisco Antonio Cano (2002); Botero. The Invention of an Aesthetic (2003); A Brief History of Painting in Colombia (2005); Débora Arango. Sketchpad (2007); Eyewitness. Photography in Antioquia 1848-1950 (2009); Aníbal Gil (2009); Painting in Hispanic America (three volumes, 2012); and Botero. Eighty Years (2013). His articles and essays have appeared in magazines, exhibition catalogs and numerous collected volumes.

Alternative Activities for the Temporary Exhibition

Guided tours
Tuesday to Friday: 3:00 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday: 11:00 a.m., 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m.
Open to the general public. Free with entry ticket

Guides for groups
Available Tuesday to Saturday
Tuesday to Friday: 10:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.; 12:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m.
Saturday: 10:00 a.m.
Maximum 75 people per hour. Duration 60 minutes
Price: $1.000 per person
Reservations: Tel. 381 6470 2181 Ext. 2181

Workshops for groups
Available Tuesday to Saturday
Tuesday: 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.
Saturday: 10:00 a.m.
Capacity: 15-25 people per workshop. Duration 120 minutes
Price: $2.000 per person (includes materials)
Reservations: Tel. 381 6470 Ext. 2181

Press Information

National Museum of Colombia
María Andrea Izquierdo / Felipe Lozano
Communications Department
Tel: 381 6470, Ext. 2171 / 2173
E-mail: [email protected]
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Facebook: /museonacionaldecolombia
www.museonacional.gov.co