Noé Canjura

NOÉ CANJURA (Apopa, El Salvador, 1922 - Morienval, France, 1970).
"The Embrace", 1950.
Oil on canvas.
Signed and dated in the lower left corner. Signed and titled on the back.
Measurements: 114 x 66 cm; 132 x 85 cm (frame).
This work is a moving example of Latin American art of the mid-twentieth century, in which intimate expression, popular roots and plastic exploration merge. In the scene, a man and a woman, merge in a gesture of tenderness and meditation. He puts a protective arm around her, leaning his face on her head, while she, with her eyes closed, rests on his chest in trusting abandonment. Canjura's pictorial language exalts the solidity of the bodies, which seem sculpted by the strength of the volumetric forms, and at the same time transmits a deep affective fragility. The warm tones of the background, in shades of ochre and red, generate an enclosed and vibrant space that envelops the characters, intensifying the emotional charge of the composition. The light, applied with dense brushstrokes of greens and yellows on the woman's clothes, suggests an inner, almost spiritual glow that contrasts with the sobriety of the surroundings.
More than a simple portrait of a couple, the painting stands as a symbol of humanity and resistance: the embrace as a refuge, as mutual support in the face of difficulties. The artist's social roots can be perceived, his concern for the essential themes of life and his ability to translate them into universal images.
Noé Canjura was a Salvadoran painter who achieved international recognition, being considered one of the most outstanding representatives of Central American painting in the 20th century. Initially trained in his country, he emigrated in 1949 to Paris with the support of a scholarship, coming into contact with the artistic currents of the post-war period. His work was nourished both by the traditions of his native land and the influence of modern European painting, especially social realism and post-impressionism.
Canjura cultivated a personal style combining expressive dramatism, the symbolic use of color and the exaltation of solid and monumental figures, always linked to the popular world. His production reflects a double belonging: the memory of El Salvador, with its land, its peasants and its customs, and the cosmopolitan experience of France, where he consolidated his career and died prematurely in 1970.