Casapueblo, Uruguay

Carlos Páez Vilaró

Carlos Páez Vilaró was a Uruguayan abstract artist, painter, potter, sculptor, muralist, writer, composer and constructor.

I found these two grainy photos of him on the internet.

Carlos

Born: Nov.1, 1923 Montevideo, Uruguay 

Died: Feb. 24, 2014 Punta Ballena, Uruguay at his beloved home and museum, Caspueblo

The curves and shapes fit right into the cliff-side.
 It's dramatic and awesome to see it come into view as you're driving along the seaside road.

In 1958, Carlos Paez Vilaro purchased a sea-front property on eastern Uruguay's scenic, then-desolate
Punta Ballena (just down the road from us in Punta Del Estes). He built a small, wooden lodge that over time became, "Casapueblo" (House-Village). The sprawling compound, a whitewashed cement citadel, was built in stages by the artist to resemble the mud nests created by the region's native Rufous
Hornero birds. Carlos resided in his "livable sculpture"adding on to it many times.

Photo from the internet. The nest of the Rufous Hornero is a common sight in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay

Last Friday, when it looked like we might have a rainy day (no precipitation arrived, but a good wind blew all day), we drove over to Casapueblo to visit the museum.  Punta Ballena is one of our favorite drives. All the homes in the area are set on the high cliffs overlooking the sea. 

The rocky high cliffs make for dramatic views and settings. It is quite different from Punta Del Estes with all of its sky-high condos. 

The whole place puts a smile on a touristas face! It's a happy house.

Much of the house is still used by his family and off-limits to museum visitors. I was only allowed to take photos out on the balcony areas and anywhere outside. There's a small cafe inside the museum as well. And, one part of it is a 4 star hotel complex with a restaurant/bar.

"I'll take the top bedroom with the sea view, thank you!"

One of many books he published.

I love all the nooks and crannies and little spots that he thought of adding.

This sculpture is near the entrance/exit of the property.

We had a nice time walking the property and driving around. In his early years, Carlos traveled the world making murals. He visited hundreds of countries and met many famous people.

Here's his obit from the Los Angles Times: February 14, 2014

Associated Press

February 25, 2014, 6:26 p.m.

Carlos Paez Vilaro, a self-trained painter, sculptor, screenwriter, musician and architect who championed Afro-Uruguayan Candombe music and dance, created colorful murals in dozens of cities around the world, and built a huge "living sculpture" that became an iconic 50-room hotel, died Monday in Uruguay. He was 90.

The prolific artist died at home in Casapueblo, the sprawling four-star hotel outside Punta del Este that included his workshop and a museum. The white building includes unusual organic forms that bring to mind Salvador Dali's labyrinthine home on the Costa Brava of Spain, or some of Antoni Gaudi's buildings in Barcelona.
Paez Vilaro worked until his dying day, and "was lucid, impeccable, a model for everyone," his son, Carlitos, told Uruguay's Channel 12.
Only nine days earlier, the artist banged his drums and marched with his beloved "Llamadas" group, the most traditional of Uruguay's carnival culture, in which Afro-Uruguayans and whites wearing blackface dance to the rhythms of Candombe, a music brought by slaves from Africa.
Paez Vilaro, who was white, was born in Uruguay's capital of Montevideo on Nov. 1, 1923. As a young man, he immersed himself in the culture of black Uruguayans, whose traditions would inspire much of his life's work. Candombe was socially unacceptable in the 1940s, and is celebrated in Uruguay now thanks in no small measure to Paez Vilaro's art and advocacy.
One of Paez Vilaro's most difficult times came in the winter of 1972, when a plane carrying his son Carlitos and other members of his Uruguayan rugby team crashed high in the Chilean Andes. Authorities eventually abandoned the search, but Paez Vilaro never gave his son up for dead. Finally, after 72 days, the painter's son was found among the 16 survivors whose ordeal was retold in the movie "Alive."
The artist's huge, colorful murals can still be appreciated in dozens of public buildings around the world, including the headquarters of the Organization of American States in Washington, and Argentina's National Library in Buenos Aires. Convinced that color can relieve pain, he painted numerous murals in hospitals, notably Chile's Hospital de San Fernando and Georgetown University Hospital in Washington.
He also got a screenwriting credit for "Batouk," a documentary about African dance that closed the 1967 Cannes Film Festival.

Hope that you enjoyed our day at Casapueblo.
Adios,
Maria y Roberto