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Marquetry is a very old form of art. Probably all civilizations produced some kind of marquetry, but it is said that Asia Minor was the place where cabinetmakers started to decorate flat surfaces of furniture with inlays of wood, mother of pearl or abalone. As the increasing commerce allowed more cultural interchanges, the techniques passed through East Europe to the whole continent and, by the renaissance, marquetry, intarsia or inlaid was flourishing in Florence; actually, Florentine artists were the firsts to paint with wood. However, it was not until the XVII and XVIII centuries that marquetry started to be used in all kind of furniture. Of course, it was furniture for the royal families that could afford it. One and half century went by to allow common people to have some kind of decorated cabinets, boxes or whatever objects for everyday use. The Art nouveau and Art deco periods lighted in Europe and USA the fever for decorating everything from cabinets to chairs, boxes or jewelry with intricate forms, arabesques or bands, and marquetry seemed to fit perfectly that requirement. Today we have wonderful pieces of those periods in museums, art galleries and antique shops all over the world. We have also new trends in marquetry as the technique developed keeping pace with the advance in the industrial treatment of woods, glues, dyes, finishing materials and electrical and manual tools. BACK TO TOP
Cristina Alvarez Magliano was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1943. She got her first diploma in arts in 1958. However, she kept her artistic activities as a hobby along her university studies at the University of Buenos Aires Law School and her long and successful professional career in the field of labor and federal law of her country. In 2003 she retired from her post as a federal circuit court judge to dedicate her efforts to the activity she loves most, which is artistic creations in wood. She became a member of American Marquetarian,Inc. -a non profit organization devoted to the promotion of this form of art- and collaborates with the quarterly AMI newsletter as a contributing editor and translator into Spanish and French. She has written several articles about her own technique for inserting stones and metals into marquetry designs and she discusses the relationship between art and marquetry through her column "The Art Corner". Her work was also published in the magazine "Couleur Bois" #9 and in "Infobae"argentinean newspaper. She has exhibited her work in the "Annual AMI Exhibition" in 2001 (New York); in "El arte en la Justicia" in 2001; 2002 and 2003 (Buenos Aires, Argentina); "Azahara Gallery" 2003(Moreno, Argentina); and held a solo show at "Aldo de Sousa Art Gallery" in 2002 and "Women in the Opera" in 2004 in Buenos Aires. Her pictures are in exhibition en several Internet sites (see the links below).See also her new shows in this site. Now she is living in Nanaimo, BC, Canada. BACK TO TOP
How does she work? She must perform several phases to accomplish her marvelous objects of art. It all begins on the drawing table, where several sheets of white and transparent paper are displayed. At this time she uses soft black pencils to make her complex designs; later she uses colors to have full images of contrasting shapes and tones. Once she is convinced she has drawn what she had in mind, the transfer process begins. The full design is traced in fine lines on several pieces of transparent paper -usually in small parts or subassemblies that will be inserted into the final picture- and passed on veneer. Cristina uses the simultaneous bevel double cutting method; in this way there are not gaps between the different pieces that conform the picture. This a very meticulous work that requires the artist to pay full attention to details and tidiness. After the cutting process is finished the piece must be mounted on board, sanded and polished. As anyone can see, every piece takes a lot of time and effort to be near of perfection. The advantage of making art with this medium resides in the wide varieties of uses that can be given to a piece, from a two dimensional decorative picture to a solid table top, box or any object be it decorative or useful one. Of course, you can't do that with an oil, acrylic, or watercolor painting!! See her workshop below.
She says: "Since I was a little girl I had a strong and deep necessity to put everything I knew and felt into images and objects. My hands made it very easy for me: it was as if an electric fluid was guiding my fingers and telling them what to do. I had-and still have- a strong compromise with beauty and harmony, with creativity and seriousness of mind.I strongly believe that art can change the way we see ourselves, making us more tolerant to other's points of view, ideas and feelings. It is, at least, my commitment. I think we must try to surround our everyday life with art. Not only in pictures, but in every simple object we use from our kitchen to our living room. That is one of the reasons for having chosen wood as a medium to express myself. It is a solid, perdurable and yet flexible and beautiful material that will be with us for as long as we want. Please, feel free to contact me to discuss ideas about art as well as about the subject of my pictures!" |
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