1995 Coffee Table Book, "Argentina: The Great Estancias", Bonifacio Del Carril, Cesar Aira, Tomas De Elia and Juan Pablo Queiroz

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Offered is a hardback coffee table book, "Argentina: The Great Estancias", published in 1995 by Rizzoli. It features exquisite photography … Read more Offered is a hardback coffee table book, "Argentina: The Great Estancias", published in 1995 by Rizzoli. It features exquisite photography and essays on the history of Argentina's origins and founding, and the ranch and gaucho traditions of the land-owning families. Hardcover, dust jacket, green cloth boards

Publisher: Rizzoli, 1995
Dimensions:11.5" x 11.25" x 1",
[220] pp.
ISBN-10: 0847819051
ISBN-13: 9780847819058

"Argentina's magnificent estancias --country estates and working ranches -are guardians of the nation's cultural heritage, from its Spanish-colonial beginnings to the romantic legacy of the gaucho, to the contributions of early-twentieth-century naturalists and entrepreneurs who explored the rugged south. With their historical main residences, picturesque grounds, and beautiful collections of artwork and heirlooms, these estates preserve the genteel traditions cultivated by generations of landowning families. Adventurous settlers and Jesuits established the first estancias in the seventeenth century on vast, remote tracts of land ceded by the Spanish crown. Overcoming a harsh climate, solitude, and sporadic clashes with Indians, these missionaries and European immigrants began to raise cattle, sheep, and grain. By the turn of the century, many of their descendants headed important cattle-ranching and agricultural empires and were counted among an international elite of tastemakers, politicians, philanthropists, and art patrons.In this volume are twenty-two rarely glimpsed estancias, portrayed in rich color photographs with accompanying text that narrates the unique history of each estate and family. The distinctive main houses reflect a wide variety of architectural styles that include "criollo" (creole) mansions, English castles, Palladian villas, French chateaux, and Spanish palaces. The estates are surrounded by breathtaking terrain ranging form the snow-capped Andes bordering Chile to the golden plains of the pampa in the province of Buenos Aires, and south to the crystal waters of subantarctic Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego.Nearly all these estancias are owned today bydescendants of the founding families, and most are published here for the first time. Complementing the photographs are eighteenth and nineteenth-century drawings, portraits, and paintings of life on the estancias, as well as photographs of celebrated guests over the years, including Edward, Prince of Wales (later Duke of Windsor) and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. The introduction discusses the early history of the estancias and their pivotal role in Argentine culture, and includes colorful excerpts from the journals of explorers and writers. Tomas de Elia and Juan Pablo Queiroz."

About the Authors:

Bonifacio Del Carril was one of Argentina's most revered historians, politicians, and cultural leaders of this century. He served as Argentina's Minister of Foreign Relations, as a special diplomatic envoy to the United Nations, and as President of the National Academy of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires. He was the author of more than seventy books and articles on subjects ranging from Argentine art and culture to constitutional law. He died in Buenos Aires in December, 1994.

César Aira is a distinguished Argentine author, editor, and translator. He has published twenty novels, among them Ema la Cautiva and La Luz Argentina, as well as essays, literary criticism, and work for the theater. Mr. Aira lives in Buenos Aires.

Tomás de Elia and Juan Pablo Queiroz are natives of Buenos Aires and spent much of their childhoods on Argentina's estancias. They traveled for three years researching and photographing the estancias in this volume. See less