Since El Sanedrín opens late and then doesn’t serve tostadas Sunday mornings, Jerry and I walked over to El Búcaro again this morning for breakfast, after our fruit and yogurt breakfast at home.
The Museum of Fine Arts is just across the street from El Búcaro. It was an absolutely glorious morning, so after breakfast #2 Jerry suggested we walk over to the plaza and check out the weekly art show. It’s where we bought our “flamenca” (in the rain) in August.
The plaza was filled with artists displaying their work, probably triple the number of artists we found there last time. Some of the talent is exceptional, and Jerry and I once again were drawn together to one particular artist. Most of the art displayed on the plaza is 2-dimensional — paintings, sketches, prints, etc. But, what caught our eye today were the ceramics by José Fombella, a local artist with a studio at the end of the metro line southwest of the city. José displayed a large selection of his work. It was all beautiful and showed a variety of styles, from ancient to contemporary, and serious to playful. Jerry and I were, of course, drawn to the playful. One piece in particular — standing about 18 inches (46 cm) high and about the same in width — had drawn us both in for a closer look. Just out of curiosity, we asked the price, never expecting it to be within any range we’d be comfortable with. I was shocked at how inexpensive she was and I had to ask him to repeat it just to make sure I hadn’t heard wrong. Needless to say, we brought her home.
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| FROM THE ARTIST’S BROCHURE. AN EXCEPTIONAL RANGE. |
She fits into her very elegant surroundings perfectly!
… and you could hide a multitude of domestic clutter-sins under her dress…
I can't have ceramics in my household, they always get broken during Police raids and it's heartbreaking!
The Owl Wood:
I love "safe" places to stash things. Never thought of that. I also hadn't considered the problem of police raids. We'll see how the next one goes.
Lovely piece of art.
Peter:
I can't stop looking at her.
She's gorgeous! I'm glad you told how tall she is though, because when I first looked at your photos I thought she was life size. That would have been unsettling to live with!
She is quite remarkable…at first I thought she was sitting on your floor which would make her mammoth…phew!
The "flamenca" is just gorgeous.
Great colors! I'm also drawn to the candlesticks on the table. Any chance of a close-up and their history (even if it's just "we found them at Pottery Barn")?
Amazing purchase! What a great find, José Fombella is a name to watch out for in the future how wonderful that you could could take her home. A Grayson Perry at that size would cost a bomb. Be careful with her she's precious 🙂
Judith:
Life size would be a blast! Can you imagine!?
sophie…^5:
I had hoped she would look like she was sitting on the floor and not the coffee table. What a thought.
Bob:
I'm not sure if I was clear. The flamenca is the illustration hanging on the wall in the earlier post (with the hyperlink in this post). We love her. We have to come up with a name for this piece.
Olive Bliss:
I hope, for his sake, that José Fombella achieves some fame. We've never been known to collect anything that appreciates greatly in value — or at least that anyone will pay for!
Walt the Fourth:
I'll do a quick post of the candlesticks with a close-up, since they have always been commented on (I had some slightly closer views in a post in September).
She has got to be an asset to your household and what a talented ceramicist you stumbled upon. She is a delight.
the cuby poet:
He is definitely talented. He had a few other figures at about one-third the size. We've moved her to a new spot in the house and have decided we "need" one of the others. So, we'll be heading back for another visit.
Love. I agree… you can hide quite a few things under her dress. ;~)
Nubian:
Toilet brush cover?
What a wonderful piece! You both have a great eye!
Jim:
Thanks we really love her (and right now really MISS her). When we get back to Sevilla, we plan to buy another piece from the artist.