Monument to Viera y Clavijo

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria · Category: Art · Subcategory: Sculpture · Year: 1958 · Authors: Plácido Fleitas

The effigy of the multitalented Viera was commissioned by the municipal Corporation in 1958. It was inaugurated on 18th July, just as had been done one year previously with the Mesa de León effigy. It therefore formed part of the acts to celebrate the exaltation of the uprising of 1936, the day for which the authorities organized a packed agenda of events.  

The effigy of the multitalented Viera was commissioned by the municipal Corporation in 1958. It was inaugurated on 18th July, just as had been done one year previously with the Mesa de León effigy. It therefore formed part of the acts to celebrate the exaltation of the uprising of 1936, the day for which the authorities organized a packed agenda of events.  

It was originally placed on the street formerly known as Avenida del General Franco, today called Primero de Mayo, opposite the Paseo de San Bernardo. Then, in 1981, to celebrate the 250th anniversary of his birth, the Royal Economic Society of Friends of the Nation requested that the Town Hall move it to the little square where the building of the Municipal Academies stood, on the floor in which the Society had its headquarters.

Permission to change its location was extended to include the name of the square being awarded to La Económica, its current name. It is the work of architect Secundino Suazo, it is rectangular in shape and runs the length of the building. [...] The bust itself is set in front of the main entrance.

The monument was designed by Plácido Fleitas, and follows in the same style as others he had previously made, that is to say, a bronze effigy that sits upon an elevated pedestal made of blue stone. The figure of the historian is represented in this way down to the waist, is dressed in ministerial clothing while his crown is covered by the typical bonnet alluding to his religious position. He is smiling, his eyebrows raised, displaying the simplicity so characteristic of Viera.

For sure, Fleitas’ commemorative works don’t display the cutting edge elements that are a shining feature of the rest of his production.  We also consider that, out of all the effigies he worked on, this is the most unfortunate one, as he sacrificed any reference to innovation in favour of the truthfulness of the portrait, sticking closely to the character’s true features, just as painter José Ossavarry had managed the century before.

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