Villa Ocampo

MALBA – the Museo de Arte Latino-America — was in Palermo Chico, a half-hour walk away.

On the morning of July 28 we walked to the Museum of Latin American art.  Most memorable were the 1000+ drawings of Fernando Bryce, a Peruvian artist.  They were part of his series “Sketching Modern History.”  Bryce had drawn by hand the front pages of publications whose headlines could be taken ironically, such as the proclamation of the NY Times that the war had benefited by bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

We caught the train to San Isidro from Belgrano Station.

Carl had made for us an afternoon appointment at the Villa Ocampo, the home of Silvia Ocampo.  We took the train to surburban San Isidro and walked to the villa.  Ocampo dedicated her life to the literary magazine Sur which published many of the greatest writers of the 20th century.  Our guide, a young woman named Guadalupe, took us to Ocampo’s library, with autographed volumes by Gide, Malraux, and Joyce.

The back yard of the Villa Ocampo had a fountain in the midst of a lawn.

Ocampo’s sister, Silvina, married Borges’ collaborator, Adolfo Bioy Casares.  We had a restful afternoon at the villa, but our evening train back to Buenos Aires caught fire.  When the next train arrived, it was standing room only.  We were happy to return and get ready for our next day’s adventure in San Telmo and La Boca.

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