les lampes de Terrahead (The Lamps Of Terrahead) by Juliano Estovas

One of my favourite pieces of art is "les lampes de Terrahead" (The Lamps Of Terrahead).

It was an attempt at political satire in the form of a children's book written by the lesser known artist Juliano Estovas in 1930.

Juliano was born into the wealthy Estovas family, situated in the town of torres de barbues near Saragossa on July 12th 1908.

Throughout the private tutorage of his youth he showed an aptitude towards art which lead to his enrollment into the University of Salamanca where he studied art and philosophy.

As he was a contemporary of painter Federico Odio and poet Yolanda Espitec, Estovas followed the pair when they left for Paris in 1926 seeking involvement with the surrealist movement that had been established there by Andre Breton.

The trio worked together on various small exhibitions and tried to rub shoulders with the in crowd when and where they could. Odio recounts the many parties Juliano would tag along with him too in a vane hope for recognition in his Autobiography “An Emphatic Womb”.

“It was a disgusting sight. Estovas like a little troll, lounging on a chair discussing philosophy with a great like Yves Tanguy, mouthing off about god knows what and pretending he knew better. I did always enjoy having him around to make me look good, though.”

Estovas had little success with his paintings, but still managed to fund a luxurious lifestyle with hand outs from his parents and gifts from the many rich aristocrats and widows he was seen escorting through the streets of Paris. He was soon given the name “la prostituée de peinture” (The Painting Prostitute) by his friends.

It was through his most famous romance with French Aristocrat Charlotte De Truite that he gained the money to publish the book.

The slim volume depicted the fictitious Lamp Family in various different scenes of tragedy and unease, along with incomprehensible sentences inspired by the Dada movement.

"La courbure de doigts dans la lumière." (The fingers bend in the light.)

“les lampes de Terrahead” was a disastrous flop as it was distributed in book shops as a Children's book. A bad choice but many believed it would have had just as little success had it been released as a Surrealist Pamphlet or Magazine.

René Char once commented on the book referring to the artwork as amateur “even by the standards of those talentless maul handed losers from Salamanca.”

Estovas showed no signs of disappointment at his works failings. Thowing self praise around and claiming that the work was influenced by Jose Ortega’s work La deshumanizacion del arte (The dehumanization of art)(1925), and that it was an elitist joke against the masses. The Lamp family representing the lower classes and the uneducated. He also cited Pedro Salinas as an influence on his work. Salinas, however, referred to Estovas in an interview as “That miserable cretin that calls my name up to make himself seem smart and draw the attention away from him constantly clawing his diseased loins.”

“les lampes de Terrahead” is the only piece of work of the estimated, one hundred and fifty two creations by the artist that remain intact today. The others long lost or destroyed.

Estovas passed away in the Sainte Anne hospital, Paris on Oct 14th 1933 aged 25 after falling out of a window to escape the Husband of one of his many mistresses and folding into the mist of obscurity.