Bernardo Alonso Villarejo. “In the limits of shadows”

1 May, 2010 - 27 June, 2010

The exhibition, produced in 2007 by León Provincial Council and the Instituto Leonés de Cultura, has been temporally donated to the Fundación Cerezales Antonino y Cinia with the purpose of letting the people know about this pioneer artists in the province of León.

Amando Casado, professional photographer and exhibition’s organizer, found out works by Alonso Villarejo after a visit to the Bembibre’s museum where they were showing some of his ethnographic pictures. Some years later in the Posada Real Chousa Verde in Vegacervera he found some original pictures and got very surprised by its quality.

Due to this discovery, and being aware of the relevance of his work, he starts collecting the negatives and working on them with the consent of his family.

Bernardo Alonso Villarejo (Bembibre 1906-1998), amateur photographer, worked behind the objective of the mythic Leika and Rolleiflez cameras, and he archived to express his personal reality and his world through a very original photographic language for his time.

His social condition allowed him to experiment and inmerse himself into the photograpy world. Although his production is not very large, he worked mainly in the 50’s, he left a notable sample of his work’s excellence.

Master of chiaroscuro, great light analyst, with well worked and descriptive compositions but also with more sutile scenes which look for the recording of one moment; interested in the recreation of sceneries and gesture’s expressiveness, and also in the introduction of effects to highlight the scene, he deepened in diverse subjects, from the most in intimate rural world to the big European cities such as Paris, Rome, Venecia or Lisbon; childhood and maternity; everyday life and the spiritualism; water as a expressive element, the sea and the experimental series.

Along with the exhibition, the Fundación offers a documentary by the artist from Astorga, Jesús Palmero who interviews friends, family and art and photography professionals about the significance of the work of Bernardo Alonso Villarejo.

Opening hours:

Tuesday to Sunday from 12 to 2PM and from 4PM to 7PM

Monday closed

Guided tours:

Please book in advance to enable arrangements to be made.