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                                   fernandosaavedra@pedrofigari.com    

                                PEDRO FIGARI   -   ARCHIVE      

        The search and filing of the material about each painting by Pedro Figari has been my biggest concern for the last 12 years or so. It is a natural necessity in the case of every creator, but concerning Figari it is even more so considering his enormous production and how much is has spread out commercially and otherwise, and how often it appears in galleries and auction houses.

         This necessity increases due to the amount of fakes that are circulating, and have harmed the prestige of the work as a whole. From this point of view, my archive has already been able to prove its worth, as can bear witness collectors, galleries, museums, auctioneers.

         Different events have made it favourable for me to work in the archive, like having access to documents, people and the paintings themselves.

         As a start, I count on the very good job done by Carlos Herrera Mac Lean, Architect, engaged by the six offspring who outlived Figari to sort out the 2.400 paintings they inherited into six shares that were then drawn among them randomly,

         Such a number implies that possibly as many were sold or given by Figari to relatives or friends during the near 20 years during which he painted or just organized shows. Perhaps this second amount was not as big, but they might also have been more important as much as they were chosen by buyers, action that surely prevailed over any will of Figari to keep any for himself.

         Whatever he gave in life to his chidren and grandchildren is exquisite, but few of the paintings were big, and up to a point, size was one way of selection by Figari himself when he painted, as by the buyers when they bought.

         This archive must help define this etimate of 4.000 works, but also, my lifetime won’t be enough to finish the job, and I hope one nephew’s will. So far, I have some sort of clue of each of over 3.000 paintings, but I should say that of only about 1.000 with complete documentation.

         The material I ask from collectors, curators, gallerists, auction houses is all the possible information about each painting, a good slide of the painting, and any sort of photos of the back of the cardboard that show clearly the inscriptions, labels, or their absence.

         The fact that a picture is included in the archive is not a warranty of its authenticity. I can certainly not have had an included picture in my hands, or I can have had it and not been able to decide whether I approve it. Authentication is a different process. All the same, I appreciate the consideration shown by dealers who state that a pìcture has been included by me in the archive, but I have to state that very often, the photographic material I have asked for hasn’t been handed to me, so the archive process is incomplete. I just haven’t thought it worth going further than establishing this like I’m doing now.

                                                        Fernando Saavedra Faget.