BUENOS AIRES — Her death in 1952 at the age of 33 helped make Argentine first lady Eva Perón — known to millions as Evita — into one of the iconic faces of the 20th century, alongside other Argentines such as singer Carlos Gardel, guerrilla leader Ernesto. Che” Guevara, and soccer stars Maradona and Messi.
Evita, née María Eva Duarte became to many the defender of the poor—and to her critics, the mother of Latin America’s brazen populists—as she pushed for civil rights, gender equality, and social programs for the poor in her time as Argentina’s first lady in the mid-20th century.
To mark the 70th anniversary of her death (which fell on July 26), Juan Cantafio, perhaps the greatest collector of magazine covers in Latin America, paid tribute by hosting an online display of part of his collection large collection of Evita photographs and press materials. , collected over a 50-year period.
Iconic image of a crying Eva Perón embracing her husband Juan Perón after a rally on October 17, 1951.
Public Domain
The many stages of a short life
Cantafio, an art director and design specialist, has managed to own more than 500,000 magazine covers from all periods. He curated the popular exhibition FACES that featured parts of his collection at the San Martín art center in Buenos Aires earlier this year.
At Cantafio House there are more than 10,000 objects related to Evita, ranging from about 8,000 magazine covers from different periods to press clippings, dolls, postcards, statues, books in several languages, engravings, discs, CDs, tapes, films, original and digital photographs. , and film and television posters featuring many of the actresses who played Evita.
‘Immortal’ is the appropriate word.
This unique compilation spans different phases of Peron’s life: from her beginnings in 1942 as a radio actress in Buenos Aires, to her later phase as a local film star, to her social activities as the wife of the president, General Juan Domingo Perón, destruction. the impact of her death in 1952 and subsequent transformation into an Argentine legend.
The Cantafio collection has enough material to fill an exhibition in a national museum. Parts of it can be seen on a memorial website, Evita Inmortal Argentina.
Cantafio insists that the collection should not be taken as a sign of his support for Peronism, the social democratic current led by Evita and her husband, which has since had a dominant influence on Argentine politics. The idea for an exhibition, he says, came as he was sorting through his memorabilia before the pandemic and discovered he had “an impressive volume” of Evita items.
An immortal icon
He says ‘immortal’ is the appropriate word to use for Evita, as she is not only well-known, but remains of interest today, 70 years after her death. Evita’s images are still “being reproduced, reworked and redesigned”, he says.
More than 100 women have played the role of Evita, notably American singer Madonna in the film based on the musical by English composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and Donna Summer, who played her role in the San Francisco musical.
Cantafio has photographs of the first actress to portray Evita, the French Andrée Debar (1920-1999). In 1953, she visited Argentina with her husband, film producer Roger Duchot, to acquire the rights to the role. They were not given the rights, but made the first dramatized film in Evita and a play in Paris the following year.
He says Dibra “had a great admiration and curiosity” for the opposite aspects of Peron’s life: her accelerated and conflicted life and delicate health, her Dior clothes and the historical moments she lived, including meetings with the Pope or with the Spanish General Franco in 1947. .
The magazine covers are a record of her experiences. One shows her in shorts and a Boca shirt, kicking off a soccer match in the 1940s. Others show her as Evita Montonera, dressed as a lefty Montonero militant. The collection includes 1,000 digitized versions of photographs by Alfredo Mazzorotolo, an official photographer of the presidential couple.
The many commemorative events to mark the 70th anniversary of her death included an exhibition of paintings by Daniel Santoro at the Kirchner Arts Center, music and readings at the National Auditorium, and a display of Evita’s collection of Spanish folk costumes at the Museo Larreta .
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