Photos: Carlos A. Schwartz – Efraín Pintos

Lady Tenerife

“This exhibition is opened with Martín Chirino’s “Lady Tenerife”, in red painted iron, from 1972, which was erected in the Plaza del Colegio for the inauguration of the Association’s new building. Its linear perfection, accentuated against a mountain backdrop, is the most finished contribution and the masterly presence of a great sculptor. The “Lady” is the great maternity of this piece.”

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.

“The year 1972 was coming to an end when we could finally see the construction of the headquarters of the Canary Islands Architects’ Association on Rambla del General Franco in Santa Cruz de Tenerife come to reality, to the management of which we had devoted a lot of time and no less enthusiasm.

In the project, the main access to the building was to be through a side square, where we had planned to place a sculpture that would help to shape the space and at the same time contribute to its significance. With this in mind, we contacted the Canarian sculptor Martín Chirino, with whom we maintained a communication of full understanding, undoubtedly based on our many years of solid and true friendship. The location and characteristics of the sculpture were decided in a few days, studying together the available space and its surroundings. It was the first time in Tenerife that the incorporation of an abstract, non-commemorative sculpture into a public space in the city had been considered.

The idea of introducing a piece of contemporary art into the urban landscape of a city as traditional as Santa Cruz de Tenerife was a risky one, especially if we consider the intense red colour of what would henceforth bear the name of Lady Tenerife, which stood out against a background of grey and neutral colours. However, the sudden and magnificent reception of the public and the passing of time itself have confirmed the success of that decision. Since then, the Plaza del Arquitecto Sartoris has been a clear example of the coexistence of building, sculpture and urban environment.”

Saavedra Martínez, V. (1996). Historia de un acontecimiento. En A. Carnero, D. Duque, & C. Schwartz, Iª Exposición Internacional de Escultura en La Calle (págs. 11-24). Santa Cruz de Tenerife: Cabildo Insular de Tenerife. Área de Cultura. ISBN: 84-87340-63-6

“And as a finishing touch to this list, the well timbred, dynamic and monumental voice of Martin Chirino (Las Palmas, 1925), which at the same time constituted the beginning and the proclamation of the International Exposition: Lady Tenerife, from a year before the exhibition (1972), in painted iron, which remains with the passing of the years the author’s most grandiose, vigorous and expressive conception, with impetus that confronts with panache the same cyclopean grandeur of Henry Moore and augurs a language of energetic abstract torsion that extracts from iron an unequalled vigour and at the same time submission, in the line of the great Spanish forgers of the Renaissance, or of Julio González and Picasso himself.”

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

“But, on the contrary, the Association approached it as an institution that has the obligation to serve as an example, and so it took care of its materials – concrete, noble wood, balconies, paintings, new technology – and the location itself, leaving on its side a large public square that represented an unusual, free, open contribution to a city that until then had shamelessly and stingily filled in all its nooks and crannies. And as a central emblem, Martín Chirino’s Lady, a bold and noble sculpture in front of the brown mountain range of the ravine, red as time, soft, a reclining and beautiful figure on the cement of the square. It was a tribute to the air and the air itself, the city endowing itself with a new exemplary space.”

Cruz Ruiz, J. (1996). La simetría de las cebollas. En A. Carnero, D. Duque, & C. Schwartz, Iª Exposición Internacional de Escultura en La Calle (págs. 55-64). Santa Cruz de Tenerife: Cabildo Insular de Tenerife. Área de Cultura. ISBN: 84-87340-63-6

“His companion in El Paso and friend, Martin Chirino (b. 1925), incorporated one of the most beautiful works of his hand, the rich rhythm of his Lady Tenerife (1972), which was cut out in a red explosion on the huddled landscape.”

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

“The small square, for its part, arose from the express desire to open a window onto the Ramblas in order to incorporate into them the mountain landscape that was hidden behind the continuum of façades. To this end, taking advantage of the conditions of the site, part of the building was hidden in different sub-levels below the square, while the emerging body of the façade was shifted to one of its sides.

The sculpture was commissioned to Martin Chirino, one of the most notable Canary Island sculptors of the time.
It was precisely this piece, a sinuous, reclining Lady Tenerife in painted iron, the largest of the whole series that the author grouped together under the name of Ladies, which prompted the Cultural Commission of the Architects’ Association to launch the idea of flooding the city’s ramblas and park with an exhibition of avant-garde sculptures. The initiative was soon welcomed by public and private institutions linked to civic life”

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