Photos: Carlos A. Schwartz – Efraín Pintos

La Catedral (The Cathedral)

“Another column is that of Alicia Penalba, a bronze piece entitled “La Catedral” (The Cathedral). This work is part of her vegetal liturgies and its development in space occurs as a consequence of Nature. Here bronze is identified with the tree and with its possible formal consequences. Constructed with rigour, balancing the strength of the vertical volumes that incorporate the space within an unusual solemnity.”

Westerdahl, E. (1973). La 1ª Exposición Internacional de Escultura en la calle, en Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Quaderns d’arquitectura i urbanisme, ISSN 1133-8857, Nº. 99. Número dedicado a los parques naturales, 47-50.

“Three Argentinean names of contrasting personality: Alicia Penalba (1919), from San Pedro (Argentina), but residing in Paris since 1948, is the author of her bronze piece “The Cathedral”, an arborescent pinnacle of ascending plaques comparable to ritual totems of powerful vertical impulse – it is a pity it has not definitively remained on our Rambla. “Another sculptor, born in Tucumán and also, like Penalba, a resident in the French capital, María Simón (…) And lastly Marcel Martí, born in Alvear, Argentina (1925)”

Hernández Perera, J. (1996). Dos décadas de Esculturas en la Calle. En A. Carnero, D. Duque, & C. Schwartz, Iª Exposición Internacional de Escultura en La Calle (págs. 25-54). Santa Cruz de Tenerife: Cabildo Insular de Tenerife. Área de Cultura. ISBN: 84-87340-63-6

“Very different are the contributions of Argentinean Alicia Penalba (b. 1919), The Cathedral, who, as heir to Zadkine and Arp, treasures totemic symbolism and vegetal mystery”

Pérez Reyes, C. (1996). Reflexión sobre lo visto y lo vivido. En A. Carnero, D. Duque, & C. Schwartz, Iª Exposición Internacional de Escultura en La Calle (págs. 65-76). Santa Cruz de Tenerife: Cabildo Insular de Tenerife. Área de Cultura. ISBN: 84-87340-63-6

“Like Calder’s, unfortunately the rest of the works belonging to private galleries had to be returned as their prices far exceeded the Exhibition’s budget. This was the case of Cilindro construito (1970, bronze) in which its author, Arnaldo Pomodoro, showed in his usual way the subtle contrast between smooth and apparently corroded surfaces; or The Cathedral, by Argentinian Alicia Penalba; or Caja de música I (1968, marble), by Agustín Cárdenas.”

Fernández Lomana, M.A. (1996). De la conmemoración al homenaje. En A. Carnero, D. Duque, & C. Schwartz, Iª Exposición Internacional de Escultura en La Calle (págs. 87-108). Santa Cruz de Tenerife: Cabildo Insular de Tenerife. Área de Cultura. ISBN: 84-87340-63-6