Luján Pérez School

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria · Category: Cultural spaces · Subcategory: Institutions

On 17 June 1917, the lawyer Domingo Doreste, thinker and essayist, published under the pseudonym Fray Lesco in the newspaper La Crónica the article "The decorators of tomorrow". In it, he proposed the need to create a training school for artists and craftsmen of the island. The choice of Luján Pérez to name it, besides expressing explicit recognition to the first and best valued supporter of Canarian art, implied a whole philosophy and practice that the School made its own and which converged in the figure of the sculptor and architect from Güímar.

Domingo Doreste set up the new school on Garcia Tello street in the Vegueta neighbourhood. At that time it had two teachers for the plastic arts, the renowned painters Nicolás Massieu and Juan Carló; for Technical Drawing classes Enrique Garcia Casas; History and Theory classes were taught by several scholars of the city, including Domingo Doreste himself.

Thus began the history of the School which over the years has been the artistic emblem of the city and the Archipelago, occupying a meritorious place of honour in the history of Canarian art. For this reason, it has received, among others, important recognitions such as the Gold Medal of the city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and the Silver Can of the Cabildo of Gran Canaria.

A considerable number of individual artists and art groups have germinated and flourished at the Luján Pérez School. It was the seed of the Elite group and the birthplace of the groups Espacio, Espiral, Group 13, Group Trazos and Group 98.

In the long journey of the School, it is worth noting the historical accompaniment and support of two prestigious Canarian institutions: the Museo Canario, which around 1958 designated it as its "Plastic Arts Section" and the Royal Economic Society of Friends of the Country, which hosted the School's facilities in its headquarters.

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