Ernesto Drangosch was born on November 1, 1945 in Buenos Aires (Argentina). He is the second child of Hugo Drangosch, a veterinarian, and the grandson of Ernesto Drangosch, prodigy pianist and notable Argentine composer (Ernesto Drangosch – Wikipedia / Música Clásica Argentina – Ernesto Drangosch (musicaclasicaargentina.com) / Ernesto Drangosch.avi – YouTube). In 1960, at the age of 15, he successfully passes the exam of the Manuel Belgrano School of Fine Arts in his hometown ( Escuela Superior de Bellas Artes Manuel Belgrano (infd.edu.ar). In 1962, he leaves the School of Fine Arts and continues his studies to the Castagnino Studio ( Former home of Juan Carlos Castagnino | Official English Website for the City of Buenos Aires / Casa de Castagnino – Buenos Aires (wikimapia.org) . There he participates in a first collective exhibition in 1963, before beginning, in 1964, a long journey through the world.
He leaves first for São Paulo (Brazil), where he obtains a scholarship at the Álvarez Penteado Institute and exhibits the same year with various artists. An additional job as an advertising cartoonist allows him to improve his living conditions.
In 1965, on his way back to Buenos Aires, Ernesto Drangosch, attracted by the constructivist movement ( Artists by art movement: Constructivism – WikiArt.org ) founded in Uruguay by the painter, writer, theorist and visionary Joaquín Torres García (1874-1949 Bio – Joaquín Torres García (torresgarcia.org.uy), decides to stop over in Montevideo (Uruguay) Inicio | Descubrí Montevideo (descubrimontevideo.uy / Turismo | Intendencia de Montevideo. ) .
Ernesto Drangosch extends his stay and decides finally to settle in Montevideo, where he follows the teachings of the Torres García Studio and receives lessons from Augusto Torres (1913-1992 Augusto torres (second.wiki) / Augusto Torres in our gallery | Art gallery in Barcelona Sala Dalmau ).
In 1966 he pursues his studies with Manuel Lima ( Manolo Lima – Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre / Mestre Manuel Lima – Página inicial | Facebook), who introduces him to the Uruguayan art world, and then from 1967 to 1969, with José Gurvich (1927-1974 Museo Gurvich / José Gurvich – Wikipedia ). He also studies engraving at the “Engraving Club of Montevideo” ( Anáforas: Club de Grabado de Montevideo (fic.edu.uy) / Club de Grabado de Montevideo : 22 Aniversario 1953- Agosto 1975 · ICAA Documents Project · ICAA/MFAH ).
He works as assistant scenographer at Sodre, Uruguay’s national theater (INICIO – Sodre), where he meets the ballerina Carmen Kusina. They marry in 1967. A new artistic universe opens up to him through dance and theater.
Ernesto Drangosch and his wife settle in the neighborhood of “el Cerro”, due to its undeniably lively atmosphere (Cerro de Montevideo – Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre / Cerro de Montevideo | Descubrí Montevideo (descubrimontevideo.uy) . El Cerro, located on the only hill of Montevideo, attracted many artists including Gonzalo Fonseca (1922-1997 Gonzalo Fonseca – Wikipedia), Julio Mancebo (J.Mancebo (jmancebo.com) / Gonzalo Fonseca – Wikipedia) and José Gurvich (1927-1974 Museo Gurvich / José Gurvich – Wikipedia ), all linked to the activities of the Torres García Studio. From then his paintings depicted the alleys, the modest homes, the humble activities of everyday life.
During those years, he meets the gallery owner and merchant Enrique Gómez, owner of the “U” Gallery, who invites him to participate in several individual and collective exhibitions (1968, 71, 72). He exhibits with his friend the Argentine painter Adolfo Nigro (1942-2018 Arte de la Argentina – El portal de artistas argentinos, museos, salones y principales galerías / Falleció el artista Adolfo Nigro – LA NACION ), among others. The articles that appeared in the press speak “of the cubist tendencies” of the artist, find his work “reckless”, underline his talent as a draftsman and highlight the undeniable stamp of the Torres García universe.
In 1969, thanks to the intervention of the “U” Gallery, Drangosch was commissioned to make a ceramic mural for adorning the building called “Citadella” in Buenos Aires, of which he made a second panel in 1974.
After several years of growing political tension in Uruguay, there was a military uprising that culminated on June 27, 1973 with the establishment of a civic-military dictatorship. The repression is extremely violent and the Drangosch-Kusina couple, despite not being political activists, hide opponents persecuted by the dictatorship in their home. The situation becomes untenable and, at the beginning of 1974, the couple decides to leave the country for Europe.
Drangosch’s arrival in Barcelona (Visit Barcelona Turisme de Barcelona Official) coincides with that of his former teacher Augusto Torres (Augusto torres (second.wiki) / Augusto Torres in our gallery | Art gallery in Barcelona Sala Dalmau ), who rents an apartment in front of the “Moll de la fusta” (wooden pier) in the port of Barcelona. For 3 months, while Torres had momentarily returned to Montevideo, Drangosch uses his apartment as an atelier. From the windows of the apartment-atelier, Drangosch is fascinated by the port activity. He paints huge ships moored at the docks, surrounded by heavy infrastructures, cranes and a pile of wooden pallets and merchandise, human silhouettes and workers.
Few months after his arrival in Barcelona, he learns that his house in Montevideo had been requisitioned by the military. Shortly after, on July 19, 1974, his brother Hugo was assassinated in Argentina by the Triple A (Anticommunist Argentine Alliance), an extreme far right parapolice organization, and on December 13 of the same year his young sister Adriana, barely older than legal age, and her husband, were assassinated leaving behind a young baby. His mother, his other two sisters and his nephews and nieces walk across the border with Brazil and finally manage to exile in Holland as political refugees.
These tragic events mark the beginning of the exile of Ernesto Drangosch, who decides that his place in the world is in Europe, definitely far from Uruguay and his native Argentina.
In Barcelona, he settles in a flat on the street ”Tallers” (Curiosidades sobre la calle de Tallers, Barcelona | Lugaris), a few meters from the famous Ramblas (Discover Barcelona: Las Ramblas. A walk in Barcelona | spain.info in english). There he establishes a brief but close relationship with the painter Augusto Torres (Augusto torres (second.wiki) / Augusto Torres in our gallery | Art gallery in Barcelona Sala Dalmau ), whom he considers as his mentor.
He exhibits at the Syra gallery in 1975 (Barcelona), while his wife is a member of the ballet at the prestigious Liceo theater (Liceu Opera Barcelona (liceubarcelona.cat). His friend Adolfo Nigro (1942-2018 Arte de la Argentina – El portal de artistas argentinos, museos, salones y principales galerías / Falleció el artista Adolfo Nigro – LA NACION ), on a study trip to Europe, Eva Díaz Torres (Eva Díaz Torres – Wikipedia), a notable ceramist and granddaughter of Joaquín Torres García, as well as writers, artists of plastic arts, dancer and theater actors, frequent his house.
In 1976, Ernesto Drangosch and his wife move to Ibiza to participate in the Handicraft Fair (popularly known as the Hippy Fair). The success of their work on amethyst (a semiprecious stone from Uruguay) allowed them to significantly increase their income during the summers of 1976 and 1977. They rent a small but beautiful apartment in an old typically Ibizan building located in the heart of the city of Ibiza, that they share at the beginning with the young painter Yamandú Canosa (Yamandú Canosa | Xippas), recently arrived in Spain.
In Ibiza, in those days also called the white island, the cradle of “ad lib” fashion, a new phase begins in Drangosch’s pictorial work that opens with the series of bathers, inspired by the beach life on the island and of marked Picassian influence (PICASSO_dossier-de-presse_EN.pdf (mba-lyon.fr) / Musée Picasso Paris (museepicassoparis.fr).
In 1979, they leave Barcelona and Ibiza and settle in Paris. They live in an apartment-atelier in the International City of the Arts. On February 15, 1980, his only daughter Adriana was born. With his arrival in Paris, Drangosch makes a radical change in his painting style. He breaks with the constructivist doctrine and returns to figuration (Figurative art – Wikipedia) through the creation of works on the theme of classical dance, word of his wife. After a brief hyper-realistic phase, he turns at the end of the 80s to new paths that lead him to a new figuration, a rereading of Narrative Figuration that had emerged in Paris at the end of the 1960s and to which he manages to give a strong personal imprint. From this moment he creates his own reality, a subjective reality and a new reading of art in which figurative and abstract elements are observed. Abstract geometry, figuration and surrealism coexist in his paintings.
In Paris, he meets many artists with whom he establishes strong friendships such as Antonio Segui (1934-2022 Antonio Segui, site officiel, artiste peintre contemporain argentin (antonio-segui.com) / Antonio Segui | MoMA), Moreno Pincas (Moreno Pincas — Wikipédia (wikipedia.org) /Moreno Pincas – Peintre – Association Mouvement Art Contemporain (amac-chamalieres.com), Hugo Sbernini, Ines Vega, Eduardo Zamora (Zamora Eduardo EN | GALERIE DUCHOZE / Eduardo Zamora (1942) – Arte Latinoamericano Paris, Abraham Hadad (Hadad Abraham En | GALERIE DUCHOZE /Abraham Hadad – Accueil | Facebook), Pat Andrea (Galerie Strouk (laurentstrouk.com) / Pat Andrea – Wikipedia) , Pierre Dessons (Pierre Desson — Prix Fernand Cormon 2014 | Fondation Taylor/ Pierre Dessons — Wikipédia (wikipedia.org) , Marc Giai Miniet ( Marc Giai-Miniet | Yatzer / Marc Projet (marc-giai-miniet.com).
The 1980s and 1990s are busy years with a big artistic activity. Drangosch paints obsessively and only interrupts his work to teach at the Louvre Museum (Louvre Museum Official Website). He participates in numerous Salons, collective and individual exhibitions both in France and abroad. In addition to his exhibitions at the Lefor Openo Gallery, Gallery 23 (Accueil (artgalerie23.com) and Hofmann Gallery, he regularly participates in numerous Parisian salons: Salon of May, Salon of Engraving, Salon Montrouge (Accueil – Salon de Montrouge), Salon of the Youth Painting, Salon 109 (Biennale 109 : Association culturelle d’expression figurative), but also in the main French cities: Lyon , Strasbourg, Metz, Nice, Cannes; abroad, in Spain (Barcelona: Marianovich Arte; Madrid: Galería Novart), in Italy (Sicily) and in Japan (Tokyo Art Expo / Tokyo International Art Fair (tokyoartfair.com) where he sells his paintings. In all these exhibitions, Ernesto Drangosch gives us his vision of the “new figuration” in which he sets himself apart.
In 1991, for the occasion of the exhibition «Images of men», organized by the Maguy-Marraine Gallery, Ernesto Drangosch says: «Today I feel close to a family of artists who work on the image by mixing genres, without aligning themselves with a trend. In fact, I create my reality, which is a mental reality, very often deprived, that is born in the obsessions that come from the unconscious ».
In fragile health, suffering from diabetes since the age of thirty, he is diagnosed with cancer in 1995. After being operated on and treated in the hospital, he continued to paint and had one last exhibition in Paris, at the Galerie Mostini. When he relapsed from his illness at the beginning of 1997, he was hospitalized again, and after a brief respite of a few months, he died on November 18, 1997, a few days after his 52nd birthday.
