The UNR Editora presented the book “Grela: Memoria Gráfica”, a new graphic archive on the 110th anniversary of the birth of a classic of Argentine painting.

The publication recovers in more than 120 images, prints from four decades of graphic production by Juan Grela and proposes, from the lucid gaze of Guillermo Fantoni, an unquestionable artistic career in the plot of the visual history of Rosario and the region.

“If we inherited something from Grela, it was a way of looking. He said that it makes no sense for you to know the New York Museum of Art, the Louvre or the Pompidou if you don't know the Castagnino Museum. It is essential to know who your artists are and then look at those outside,” says the Doctor in Humanities and Arts.

Remember that Grela made comparisons that at one time were very provocative, he put Rosario's art in dialogue with the so-called universal art. He said for example: “Isn't Gambartes a creator of forms equivalent to Miró? When you look at a work by Tito Benvenutto, don't you think of Morandi? Doesn't Schiavoni's work take you to Italian art between the wars? I think so, the artists in our city are at the level of those in the world.”

One noteworthy aspect is his dedication to promoting local artists who had been forgotten or marginalized by the modern art establishment itself. In this way, he rediscovered Musto, Schiavoni, Berlengieri, Benvenuto, and various generations whose work had been overshadowed, restoring them to historical significance through exhibitions, studies, and essays. He also sees in his students and those of his peers a new generation of artists that he will encourage. “Being part of an older generation, he supported the avant-garde children of the 60s. That is to say, he recovers history and, at the same time, endorses contemporary art.”