Jose Gamarra - Litho - Sold

Lithograph by Jose Gamarra. Dimensions including passe-partout: H27 x W33cm. Dimensions representation: H20x w25cm. The work is signed in the print by the artist. The work comes from Derrière le Miroir.


When purchasing, the work can be picked up in 's-Gravenzande (near The Hague (Scheveningen), Rotterdam and Delft and 5 minutes from the beach). The term for collection, if paid in advance, is very long, in other words, the buyer can collect the work weeks or even months later and, if possible, combine it with a visit to one of the aforementioned cities or the beach. We can also send the work via Postnl. Our shipping days are Tuesday and Thursday.


'El Maestro' Gamarra was born on February 12, 1934 in the city of Tacuarembó (Uruguay). He spent his early childhood in the town of Tacuarembó in the Ferrocarril district. Son of José Gamarra of military profession and housewife Renée Macedonio. He is the second son of a family of three boys; Adan, Jose Artigas and Roberto. Gamarra remembers when he was 5 years old and his father arrived on horseback with his assistant. His father was head of the Tranqueras detachment in the Rivera Department, Uruguay. Because of his work, he was often away from the family. The children helped their mother with the housework. They went to the barracks cooperative to do the weekly shopping. Adan, the older brother, supervised the shopping. From five to seven years old, he attended public school in his hometown. The family lived near the Sandú stream in Tacuarembó. When his grandmother María Francisca Macedonio came from Montevideo to see them, she would wash clothes in Sandú Creek. When she came back, she would fetch a big fish from the river. The old lady of the water, whose scientific name is Plecostomus plecostomus.

From an early age, Gamarra was drawn to art. He accompanied his father to all the cultural events that took place in the barracks of the city of Tacuarembó. He recalls attending a show that thrilled and shocked him when he saw how fast and ferocious the guest artist was drawing animals and landscapes on a blackboard. When he was 7 years old, his parents sent him to the house of his maternal grandmother María Francisca Macedonio, on Instrucciones en Camino Mendoza. He attended primary school "de Maye", surrounded by vineyards.


1945 - Flores - Oil on cardboard - 26 x 34.5 cm

Gamarra changed schools and started a new experience full-time at School Piloto No. 129, with classical subjects in the morning (mathematics, Spanish…) and in the afternoon (music, painting and handicrafts). Teachers Maria Mercedes Antelo and Bell Clavelli took into account the sensitivity of the child, encouraging him to explore and understand the materials, colors and everything that contributes to arouse the interest of the viewer. His first works, portraits and drawings from 1945, made when he was only 11 years old, the child Gamarra shows his interest in the visual arts.

He expressed his emotions through the practice of art. His drawings and portraits testify to his perception. Curiosity led him to leave his house after dark to observe the sky and then paint the moon. At a very young age, he attended concerts, went to ballet, then observed and then drew movements and expressions of the dancers. All cultural activities were explored by the child Gamarra. The concerts at the SODRE by pianist Witold Malcuzynski, in June 1947 and the piano concertos by Pierino Gamba who conducted the orchestra of the SODRE (concert hall in Montevideo, Uruguay) at Gamarra's age. These experiences enriched his sensitivity and creativity.

His first exhibition together with other schools took place in 1945 at the Subte Municipal de Montevideo, Uruguay, then at the Ateneo de Montevideo in 1947.