Who made this tile-picture?

July 23, 2006 6:11 AM

Can anyone identify the picture shown in this photograph? It’s a framed group of six ceramic tiles, which collectively depict a group of colourful, elongated figures, in a boat. It was hanging on the wall of a Spanish villa where my wife and I spent a vacation in 2001.

The villa was in Andalucía, between Estepona and Casares. Its owners were Belgian, I think. Here is a larger scan of my (regrettably off-centre) photograph. I hadn’t seen anything quite like it before (nor have I since), and I’m curious to know by whom, or where, it might have been made.

posted by misteraitch to media & arts (7 comments total)

You have good taste. I have no clue. At all. I would even hesitate to conclude how old it is, or if it is really influenced by, or an example of, a particular type of 'primitive' style. Nothing would surprise me.

Armed only with the name of 'silva' and knowing that the relevant word for the (apparently ubiquitous) tiles from the Iberian peninsula is 'azulejos', I would not hold out high hopes of a successful search. I've had a scattergun cursory look without a score.

Can you identify the villa? That might be the easiest first port.

Or look for an art expert in Andalusian azulejos? Or merely ceramic art? +/- primitive art groups? (oh yes, I am clutching at vanishing straws)

Somewhere in the archives here people have mentioned about valuations or opinions being given by (I'm straining my memory) top auction houses and/or university research types. I guess I would shoot off the jpeg to a bunch of art professor types to see if any bite.

Sorry. It really is nice. And intriguing. Some Portuguese tiles for your troubles.
posted by peacay at 10:03 AM on July 23, 2006

Maybe I am being too simplistic or I missed something, but why not write a letter (or call) the Villa in which you and your wife stayed and ask them?
posted by JohnnyGunn at 12:08 PM on July 23, 2006

I remember the name of the place, but not the full address, although I could probably find that out… (I never kept any of the booking letters, e-mails, etc.) The place was rented out for the whole summer season, and quite likely still is, so the owners (whose names I don’t recall) might not pick up a ‘dear sir/madam’ type communication for quite a while. The rental was arranged through an agency, so we didn’t have any direct contact with the owners. I only stumbled upon this photograph the other day, having forgotten about it for years, and, lazily, thought I might try asking here first…

Peacay—we browsed round a few of the local ceramics boutiques and saw nothing similar there - mostly the local wares were quite ‘rustic,’ with a good deal of it in blue & white & yellow: nothing reminiscent of this picture.
posted by misteraitch at 12:25 PM on July 23, 2006

Just a thought. Understand not wanting to wait with the likelihood of success low.

It is a very pretty piece of art.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 12:35 PM on July 23, 2006

If it's well known, you might try looking around at allposters.com by art style. They certainly don't have everything, but you might find a replica there.
posted by Meep! Eek! at 8:18 PM on July 23, 2006

Googling on the name of the villa, I found a holiday-home rentals site with a web-form option to contact house-owners directly: so I did! Hopefully I’ll hear back. One of the pictures of the villa at that site shows the tile-picture in-situ.
posted by misteraitch at 2:19 AM on July 24, 2006

I heard back from the house-owner today: the piece is called Carnaval en Venecia (‘Carnival in Venice’) and is by Guillermo Silva Sanz de Santamaria, a ‘painter, sculptor, engraver, writer and Yoga teacher,’ who was born in Bogotá, Colombia, but now lives and works in Málaga. Mystery solved!
posted by misteraitch at 1:35 PM on July 25, 2006