Estación Plaza Italia

La descarga de los convoyes (The Unloading of the Convoy), Benito Quinquela Martín

Polychrome Cement, 1939

*I apologize for the terrible angle of this first photo. Due to the lack of space in the Subway and trying to protect my phone from not being snatched, I had to take this at an awkward angle. But I could not resist doing one of my posts of this piece*

Here is another picture, to the right, I found on the internet that shows the image a little better.

This piece is the one that actually made me change my mind about my research assignment. Once I saw this piece, I began to notice all the people walking along, stepping on top of what has so far been my favorite art in the Subway.

In the piece shown, there are dark skinned male workers on boats straining to complete each task. It is clear what they are doing is not easy. They appear to have a lower class look with their similar shirts and simplistic hats. No man looks particularly more handsome than the other. They all blend together as a unit. In the background is the city producing a large amount of air pollution.** Clearly it is a very industrial, grungy perspective of the city. Although Buenos Aires is not the majority of what is shown, I think the lower class perspective should not be forgotten. In Argentina and also commonly in other South American countries like Chile and Uruguay, there is a strong social class still present. In Argentina, the upper richer class are often light skinned and Italian descent. The middle class of Argentina are a mix of Italian and Spanish. The lower class are darker skinned and descendants of indigenous tribes that still exist before the Spaniards came and conquered the land.

On the bottom right corner, there is a name printed, “CHADOPIF”. At first I thought this was the artist. Only until after researching online was I able to find the actual artist who created the piece and the title. Quinquela Martín is a local Argentine artist that was born in the La Boca area near the port. In his paintings he often displays the working conditions at the port from lower class employees. The style shown in this piece does not actually represent his usual style. Other pieces he has done are looser more like an impressionistic’s hand. Chadopif is actually a large project passed by the legislature to restore cultural heritage in Argentina. In fact most of the works done around the subway are to restore cultural identity. The agency is also called Hispano Argentina Company of Public Works and Financial, or CHADOPyF (note that the acronym is not the same as the text because it is an English translation).

There is actually a website that has a document of all the murals done throughout the Subté with the Line number, station, title, and artist. Thus, often times when the piece is shown in the Subway, the title and the artist is not shown because all rights are given to CHADOPIF. Thankfully some accreditation is given online.

https://www.abranpasoradio.com.ar/los-murales-como-patrimonio/

https://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/q/quinquela.htm

**From my experience here, the pollution shown in the piece is honestly such an accurate depiction. For a city being called “Good Air” I have never breathed in worse air! New York has nothing on Buenos Aires.