El Apero Criollo. Arte y Tradición
Roberto Vega, José & Javier Eguiguren Molina & al.
Vega & Eguiguren
Printed by La Stampa, 2000, Buenos Aires
176 pp.
Out of print
The book El Apero Criollo, Arte y Tradición (Criollo Riding Gear, Art and Tradition) was the frame of reference for the first large-scale which, under the same name, was held in 2000 at the Museo Nacional de Arte Decorativo in Buenos Aires. This anthological exhibition, now considered a historic event by specialists and scholars of this extraordinary chapter in world equestrian arts, presented the entire panoply of the varying models of apero criollo used in each area of the extensive River Plate region, and their development over time.
To mark the publication of El Apero Criollo. Arte y Tradición, the most highly-prestigious experts and scholars on each one of the types of horse gear were brought together, providing a highly complex composition by analyzing them in their entirety. The analysis of all these types of apero was also founded on their respective Gaucho iconography throughout history, along with descriptions provided by travelling chroniclers from the 18th century up until the early 20th century. This study also included a group of experts in each of the parts making up said types of horse gear: saddlers, silversmiths, rope-makers, leather-carvers, weavers and ironsmiths, who analyzed each of these specialties in detail.
Each of the varying sections included extraordinary and renowned equestrian pieces from River Plate museums and prestigious private collections. As such, it was possible to provide an extremely complete over-view of all of the River Plate regions and their different types of horse gear, thereby enabling the art of Gaucho horsemanship to continue to live on in the equestrian tradition of the Southern lands.