Eugenia Belín Sarmiento

Eugenia Belín Sarmiento (December 29, 1860, San Juan, Argentina - August 2, 1952, Buenos Aires, Argentina) was an Argentinean painter and author. Her works were featured in various international shows, among them the first Exposición Anual de Pintura, Dibujo y Escultura (Annual Exhibition of Painting, Drawing, and Sculpture) for artists of South America in 1893. Critical response to her works has often focused attention on her portraits of her grandfather, Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, who was president of Argentina from 1868 to 1874. Eugenia completed many other works as well, including miniatures as well as full size portraits, paintings of flowers, birds, and still lives, and sculptures.

Early years Eugenia Belin Sarmiento was born in 1860, one of six children of Jules Belín and . Jules Belín (1829–1863) was a French printer and publisher of the Santiago, Chile newspaper El Ferrocarril. Belin met Domingo Faustino Sarmiento in France in 1848 and moved to Chile, where he published works written by Sarmiento, who was an Argentinian exile in Chile. Domingo Faustino Sarmiento went on to be an Argentine politician, writer, and educator, and the president of Argentina from 1868 to 1874. Eugenia's mother, Ana Faustina Sarmiento, was born on July 18, 1832, as a result of a romance between Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (then age 20) and one of his students, María Jesús del Canto (age 17). Sarmiento arranged for Ana Faustina to be cared for by her grandmother, Paula Albarracín de Sarmiento, and recognized her publicly after her marriage to Belin in 1850.

Belin died when Eugenia was only three, and Eugenia was educated at home by her mother and other relatives. Eugenia spent time as a student and disciple of her great-aunt, Procesa del Carmen Sarmiento, who was a renowned painter. She was also taught art by her grandmother. She later attended and completed her secondary education at the Escuela Superior de Niñas de San Juan (High School for Girls of San Juan), which her mother directed.

When Eugenia's brother Augusto Belín y Sarmiento was appointed the Argentine consul in Antwerp, Eugenia accompanied him to Belgium, and used the trip to be professionally trained by famous art masters of the time. In 1884, she returned to Buenos Aires permanently.

Career

After returning to Buenos Aires, Belín Sarmiento studied art under José Agujari, a renowned painter who was also the first teacher of her contemporary, artist María Obligado.

Another family portrait subject was Sarmiento's adopted son , who died in battle against Paraguay. In addition, she painted classical portraits of notable figures of the time such as Dalmacio Vélez Sarsfield, and José María Estrada. As of 1885, she was contracted by the government of the province of San Juan to paint portraits of Salvador María del Carril, , and Francisco Narciso de Laprida.

In 1912, she was the first artist from San Juan to participate in the Salón Nacional (National Salon of Visual Arts) of Argentina. Throughout the history of the National Salon, only five women have received a grand prize for painting.

During the 1940s, Julia Ottolenghi cataloged the extant works of Belín Sarmiento, many of which are privately owned and difficult to locate today.

More recently, scholars have begun to revisit Belin Sarmiento's works from a modern, feminist viewpoint. In 1988, the works of both Eugenia Belin Sarmiento and Procesa del Carmen Sarmiento were included in the exhibition La mujer en la plástica argentina I (Women in the Argentinean Plastic Arts I) in the Malvinas Cultural Center (Centro Cultural Las Malvinas). The exhibition was part of a pioneering effort to uncover the hidden work of over 250 Argentinean female artists, historic and contemporary, in national, regional and private collections.

Her works were included in a 2013 exhibit focusing on the feminine influence on Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, Los universos femeninos: Sarmiento agente de transformaciones (The Feminine Universe: Sarmiento as agent of transformation). In 2019, the Sarmiento historic museum hosted a posthumous exhibition titled Por ella misma - Eugenia Belin Sarmiento (By Her Own Hand - Eugenia Belin Sarmiento).