Posted 3 years ago
Sokarmagrly
(1 item)
I found this in a thrift shop about 4 years ago. There doesn't seem to be very much info out there about the author A.Balero, however I did see some posts on this site from others with art from the same painter! I wish someone had a bit more info to share!
Hi, Sokarmagrly. :-)
It's not much, but I found this:
*snip*
Artist: A. Balero
Nationality: Spanish [feminine]
Date and Place of birth: 5/30/1920 Cadiz
Studied at: Escuela Superior de [de Bellas Artes] de Sevilla
Awards: Spanish-American Scholarship 1939
*snip*
https://www.antiquers.com/threads/need-help-with-old-oil-painting.511/
Funny, I saw that same link..here's another for sale..
https://www.todocoleccion.net/arte-pintura-oleo/oleo-sobre-lienzo-calle-amsterdam-enmarcado-original-firmado-por-balero-63-x-94-cm~x105242927
dav2no1, Yeah, I noticed that somebody at the link I provided had a Balero print with the same name (Street in Paris).
Interestingly, your link calls it "OIL ON AMSTERDAM STREET CANVAS. FRAMED. ORIGINAL, SIGNED BY BALERO"
It does have a windmill in the background, so Amsterdam would seem quite logical, but then again, if Paris didn't have any windmills, there never would have been a Moulin Rouge.
Original, print, Paris, or Amsterdam: I like it. It's very evocative of a late fall, winter, or early spring rainy day.
So artist Balero was born in 1920 Cadiz. There's an evocative name. Whenever I see it, I think, "The sack of Cadiz." };-)
D'oh!:
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/63448-mid-century-painting-from-spain
Well, I seem to have come full circle on this.
A year ago, CW user Pamdivalerio posted an A. Balero work, looking for more information, and mp.kunst found that same todocollecion dot net "Street in Amsterdam" listing, but opined that it wasn't Amsterdam:
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/283466-a-bolero-painting--in-venice
It is a bit suspect that whomever created that listing at todocollecion described it as "Street in Amsterdam," because unlike most A. Balero works, there is no sticker label on the back of it, whereas the ones described as "Street in Paris" do have sticker labels describing them as "Street in Paris."
Here is another print called "Street in Amsterdam":
https://www.milanuncios.com/pinturas/cuadro-oleo-en-lienzo-de-baleros-268630676.htm
However, there is no sticker label on this one either, so that title is suspect.
Unfortunately, I haven't uncovered any more information about artist A. Balero. :-(
I found that Reddit thread in which a CW user asked for help with their A. Balero print:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtHistory/comments/zbhsf/could_use_some_help_identifying_some_art_spain/c6508rq/?context=8&depth=9
The helper had contacted the Escuela de Arte de Sevilla in Spain for more information about A. Balero, but that was some eight years ago, and if they got a response, they didn't put that information in in the Reddit thread. :-(
Unless A. Balero was painting purely from her imagination, she might well have been painting a scene of a side street near the Moulin Rouge, because the windmill in the background of the picture is red.
If she did that, it would have been the replacement building, as the original burned down in 1915.
The history of the Moulin Rouge:
https://mymodernmet.com/moulin-rouge-history/
This must be my newest obsession. >8-0
I poked around at the website for Escuela de Arte de Sevilla, but didn't see an easy way to ask a question. Perhaps that's wise of them, as their history goes back to 1660CE:
https://escueladeartedesevilla.es/historia/
Perhaps as a result of that 1939 scholarship, A. Balero was indeed traveling around Europe, painting in France, Italy, etc.
In the Balero print, you can see the arms of the windmill, so if it's the Moulin Rouge, then the viewer much be somewhere to the south of the cabaret, perhaps on one of the streets radiating from Place Blanche.
The angle of the view of the Moulin Rouge looks good from rue Pierre-Fontaine, but the buildings don't look right (too many stories):
Google Street View, April 2019
45 rue Pierre-Fontaine
Paris, Île-de-France
https://goo.gl/maps/1WKcj8C152rNwCNLA
The Moulin Radet seems to have had a reddish hue at one time:
https://frenchmoments.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Moulin-du-Radet-2-%C2%A9-French-Moments.jpg
https://frenchmoments.eu/windmills-of-montmartre-paris/
It's been on the corner of rue Girardon and rue Lepic since 1924:
Google Street View August 2020:
Rue Lepic & Rue Girardon
75018 Paris, France
https://goo.gl/maps/5nSZeBv5KKDgnkzG9
At least the number of stories in the buildings seem more in line with the print.
Here is Moulin Blute-Fin:
https://www.solosophie.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Moulin-de-Blute-Fin-1536x2048.jpg
https://www.solosophie.com/lost-paris-windmills/
Tis a puzzlement.
Ugh. "Stories" should read "Storeys."