August 2017 - Jordi de Nadal

Seven for seven: From Florence to Lisbon.

Posted on 31 August, 201714 September, 2017

1. Bold.

In its coming auction, Pandolfini has decided to be open about a difficult issue: auctioning to an international audience important works that are already banned, or in risk to be banned, for export, because of public heritage regulations. They will devote them a specific section, with a refined title: Opere di Eccezionale Intresse Storico-Artistico. No more nasty surprises, then.

2. New rules in Italy.

Pandolfini initiative is related to the rules for the export of artworks in Italy. We read in Il Giornale dell’ Arte the Italian senate has approved the reform of the Codice dei Beni Culturali, softening Italian’s strict export rules for private cultural goods in two points. They now give free export to (a) all works not older than 70 years (before was 50 years), provided they have not been classified as of cultural importance; and (b) to works older than 70 years with a value up to € 13,500 (the statement declaring the value being provided by the vendor).

3. Museummaker.

In the FAZ, Ulrich Raulff publishes an obituary for Martin Roth, the former director of the Dresden Museums and the V&A in London. He finds a name for him, “museummaker”, and notes that (in my own free translation):

“Roth was a fundraising genius, and took no shame in it, because he knew very well what kind of fuel needs the most important motor for success in a museum. This motor is called research”.

Otherwise, in artnet you will find a review of his last book, Widerrede, published posthumously

4. Next stop, Barcelona?

If everything goes as planned, Barcelona will have a new large exhibition hall (6350 sqm) that should help it attract the international blockbuster art shows still rare in the city. According to a surprise announcement of an agreement (to be signed in September) between the ICUB, the city house’s body responsible for culture matters, and Fira Barcelona, the one responsible for commercial shows: after a year of reforms to be started in October, the second will allow the first to use of the Pabelló de Victoria Eugenia in Montjuic. The only problem is that this building was wanted by the nearby sitting Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya for expansion. Will see.

5. A proposal.

Let’s contribute with our own ideas for exhibitions in this brand new space. My first one could have for title “Gold for God. Medieval silversmithing in the Catalan-Aragonese Crown”, borrowing from collections in cathedrals (like Zaragoza, Barcelona, Girona, Valencia), museums (Victoria and Albert, Musee de Cluny, Metropolitan), and private collections. The setting could be as elegant as in this room in Zaragoza’s cathedral museum, called Alma Mater Museum.

6. A second proposal.

In any case the agreement for the exhibition hall establishes the principle of more space for art in Montjuic. But I find it a bit too shy: I would rather see a whole plan for all the area, bringing together the museums already there, the university faculties and research centres relevant to the field, the official art restoration centre, the public art library and even the public cultural authorities – and the big exhibition hall, of course. In fact, this is the idea behind the Humboldt Forum in the original Museumsinsel, in Berlin – although back there the Berliners are still asking themselves whether form and function, that is, the somehow rebuild Prussian imperial palace and a colletion in part inhereted from colonialism, are a really good pairing; see director Neil McGregor trying to answer the question in this interview in Zeitonline, and this one in the FAZ (paying).

7. Otherwise, we’ll have always Lisboa.

MNAC vs. MNAC.

Seven for seven: From Barcelona to Bilbao.

Posted on 24 August, 201714 September, 2017

1. Back to work.

I am reviewing these notes, which I wrote some days ago for this week’s post, after six days of extraordinary events in my city and my country. One of the attacks’ objectives was to break up our way of life, and it would be too easy to pretend nothing has changed. But, even if they have hit hard, some good is coming out of it, thanks to the stubborn and generous efforts of so many. We are healing the wound, and perhaps these notes, which are business as usual, are not out of place.

2. MNAC’s list.

I just realized an interesting fact. In 2009 the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya celebrated its 75^th anniversary with an exhibition called Guests of Honour, bringing into the museum a group of fine works the museum wished were in its collection. For most of them this was just impossible, since they were already in other museums. For others, still in private hands, there was still hope, and in fact, today two of them are hanging in its walls: The Darcawi Holy Man of Marrakesh, a watercolour by Josep Tapiró acquired in 2013, and Pere Serra’s Crucifixion of Sant Peter (c. 1400, tempera on wood), which was part of the Gallardo donation of 2015.

3. Fidel Aguilar (1894-1917).

One of the works in the MNAC’s exhibition was this Head by Fidel Aguilar of 1916, now in a private collection. It has been exhibited again, until two weeks ago, in the retrospective, short (Aguilar died with only 22 years) but very comprehensive, in the Casa Pastor of Girona (A Shooting Star: Fidel Aguilar (1894-1917). Its fine catalogue is by Eva Vàzquez and Jordi Falgàs. In both the central essay of the book and the central room of the exhibition they draw parallels between the works of Aguilar and his friend Enric Casanova, on the basis of their common influence by Archaic Greece’s sculpture – they were following the trend set by Aristides Maillol some years (as seen in the Maillol and Greece exhibition in the Museu Marés in Barcelona last year).

4. Enric Casanovas (1882-1948).

After Aguilar’s, perhaps it is time for a Casanovas’s retrospective – the last one was in 1984 in Barcelona, with Teresa Camps as its curator and writer of its catalogue. In 2008, Susanna Portell presented Enric Casanovas: escultor i amic, (“Enric Casanovas, and sculptor and a friend”) in the Fontana d’Or in Girona, which focused in his relationships with other artists. More recently, both Camps and Portell edited Les cartes de l’escultor Enric Casanovas (“The Letters of Enric Casanovas, Sculptor”, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 2015).

5. Pere Jou (1891-1964).

A member of Aguilar’s and Casanova’s generation, Pere Jou has also received his share of research recently. Last year, Ignasi Domènech published his PhD dissertation, which is a biography and catalogue raisonné of his work: L’escultor Pere Jou, 1981-1964. Forma i matèria, (“The Sculptor Pere Jou, 1891-1964. Form and matter”, 2016, 334 pàgs; the original of the dissertation here.

6. Freedom works.

The reform of the Italian museums introduced two years ago, which gave them more autonomy and new directors (some of them foreigners), continues to deliver. Minister Franceschini proudly announced a global increase of 7% in visitors for the first half of 2017, reaching a record 50 million – Il Giornale de l’Arte features the case of the Galleria Borghese, which introduced a new ticketing system. Furthermore, Franceschini’s policy of allowing hiring non Italian directors has been recently uphold by the State Council, the highest administrative court in Italy, in the case over the Colosseum’s administration brought by the Major of Rome (more at Il Fatto Quotidiano).

7.The Zugaza’s factor.

Miguel Zugaza is performing as his best in his second round as director of the Museo de Bellas Artes in Bilbao. Their current exhibition, of the excellent collection of Alicia Koplowitz (until October 23th) is an enlarged version of the one showed in the Jacquemart-André in Paris. His is also talking about an expansion of the museum (article at El País).

Seven for seven: From Los Angeles to Vic

Posted on 17 August, 201714 September, 2017

1. Getty’s grand catch.

The Getty has announced its biggest acquistion of drawings ever, a group of 16 works by Michelangelo, Andrea del Sarto, Parmigianino, Beccafumi, Rubens, Barocci, G. D. Tiepolo, Degas and others. They include Goya’s The Eagle Hunter, sold at Sotheby’s in 2010 for GBP 881,250. All of them come from the same Britisch colletion, from which the Getty can still make further pruchases. Articles in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times; a press release with the complete list of the works at Getty’s website; and images and name-gessing in The Art Newspaper.

2. The Delgado Collection.

Las Provincias first and Ars Magazine after, report on the 5 years loan of 32 works from the Delgado Collection to the Museu de Belles Arts, Valencia. The artists represetned include Velázquez, Cajés, Meléndez, Murillo, but also Ramsay. They are showing them until October 29th, with a catalogue by the art historian José Gómez Frechina, who was key in managing the loan, and David Gimillo Sanz, a curator in the museum.

3. Restoring the Valencian Van Dyck.

At the web of the same Museu de Belles Arts de València you will find the videos documenting, step by step, the ongoing restoration of their Van Dyck’s Portrait of Francesc de Montcada.

4. Face to face at the National Portrait Gallery.

The NPG London ins hosting an attractive exhibition of Renaissance and Baroque portrait drawings from British collections, with fine sheets by Holbein, Rembrandt, Leonardo, and others. Reviews are enthusiastic, like this one by Alastair Sooke in The Telegraph. The Encounter, NPG London, until October 22nd.

5. And in 2020, Morosov.

If, despite some faults in its installation, you enjoyed the grand exhibition of the Collection Schukin in the Fondation Louis Vuitton, here is your next appointment. They announced that in autumn 2020 they will show the Collection Morosov, two brothers from his same circle. This entertaining biography of Shukin gives some insights on their social and professional relationships: Natalia Semenova and André Delocque: Chtchoukine. Le patron de l’art modern, ed. La Collection Chtchoukine, Paris, 2016; 400 p. The Art Newspaper remembers us of Pierre Konowaloff, an active descendant of the Morosovs.

6. Béton box.

This is how the entry to the Musée de Cluny, Paris, will look like, once the building work is finished – by the end of this year, if it goes as planned. For the full renovation project, named Cluny 4, see the feature at museum’s website.

7. See you in 125 years from now?

The blog Mev125 (in Catalan) is closing. It has been open for a year at the excellent website of the Museu Episcopal de Vic, to celebrate its 125th anniversary. Its 40 posts have set an example on how to give relevant information in a clear, reliable, enjoyable way. We have learnt about the museum’s history, the works it houses, and the people behind it – among them, Dr. Eudald Junyent (1901-1978), who gave up a promising career in Rome for it. They will keep all the content uploaded.

Seven for seven: From Paris to Petrella Tifernina.

Posted on 10 August, 201714 September, 2017

1. Beyond one’s own walls.

The July newsletter from the Musee Picasso, Paris, shows the first fruits of the Picasso-Mediterranée project (programme here) and makes the unusual move to inform not only about the activities of the Musee, but also of the many others museums in France and Spain related with involved in the project. The grand project, led by the Parisian museum, will run from now until December 2019 and will include some 45 exhibtiions – at the three Picasso museums in Paris, Barcelona and Malaga, the Reina Sofia in Madrid, the Scuderia in Rome, Capodimonte in Naples, Musée Rigaud in Perpignan (already showing Picasso Perpignan. Le cercle de l’ntime 1953-1955, until November 5th), Musée Fabre in Montpellier and many others.

2. Michel Hilaire.

At La Tribune de l’Art you will find an interview with Michel Hilaire, director of the Musée Fabre of Montpellier. He explains how he turned it in to one of the most interesting and active in France.

3. A couple of centuries old, and fit.

The celebration’s programme for Museo del Prado 200th anniversary, planned for 2019, adds some specific proposals (like two exhibitions on the museum’s history) to an already ambitious Masterplan for 2017-2020. This includes three new catalogues on the museum’s holdings of Velázquez, Giordano and Teniers; exhibitions of star artists (Velázquez again, plus Rembrandt, Goya, Fra Angelico, Brueghel); among many other activities.

4. Hear the lawyer.

Lawyer Leila Amineddoleh explains in artnet news why the US government was right in pursuing the Hooby Lobby’s looted art case not as a criminal one, but as a civil one. Anyway, we learn from npr that there has been arrests in the Isarel’s side of the story .

5. Too cheap?

In this note by Reuters and this one by Art Law and More, I finally found the raisoning behind which an appeal judge, in California, agreed to reopen a case that seemed closed for good. The fact that Baron Thyseen first and the Spanish State from him, bought the Pissarro (Rue Saint-Honoré, Après-midi, Effet de Pluie, 1897) at a price below the market price, undermines now his good faith. But perhaps we should treat differently the first purchase, of a single painting, from the second, of an entire collection for a wholesale price? Will see.

6. Autumn’s reading.

Harvey Miller is about to publish Cut in Alabaster: a Material of Sculpture (320 ps, €125), in which Kim Woods discusses, among other European examples, the Doncel of Sigüenza (above) and some Iberian retables.

7. Not always an Ecce Homo.

Foto: AnsaThis year’s summer popular restauration story differs greatly from 2012 Ecce Homo of Borgia’s disaster. The Giornale dell’Arte reports about the nice restauration, paid by the inhabitants of the small Italian village of Petrella Tifernina (Campobasso, Molise), of their local Christ: what looked as a popular pastiche was in fact hiding a fine 15th-16th century wooden figure. More information at ANSA.

Seven for seven: From Bilbao to where your luck will take you.

Posted on 3 August, 201714 September, 2017

1. Paret, at a discount.

The Museo de Bellas de Bilbao is exhibiting the first acquisition of Miguel Zuzaga as his new director: an exquisite copper by Luis Paret y Alcázar (Madrid 1746-1799), The Harbour of Bermeo (60 x 83,5 cm). It was bought in at the sale of its former collection at Christie’s, on December 7h, 2016. The estimate then was GBP 1,200,000 – 1,800,000; the selling price now has been €900,000, according to EFE’s note. The museum has posted a commentary on the work.

2. Torino wins.

Already home of one of the best Egyptian museums of Europe, and also of the fine Galleria Sabauda, Torino, Italy, has announced it has won the long term loan of extraordinary and very private collection of the late Francesco Cerrutti. It plans to open to the public in January 2019 in its Castello di Rivolo, according to Il Giornale dell’Arte and artnet news. The renowed collection is a careful selection of 300 paintings and sculptures from Medieval to Contemporary, plus 200 rare books and 300 items of fine furniture, which, according to its director Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, will make the Castello “the first contemporary art museum in the world to incorporate an encyclopedic historic art collection”. At The Art Newspaper you will find a portrait of Cerrutti and the announcement of a conference about him for 2018.

3. Sacharoff heads north.

Georgia-born refugee Olga Sacharoff (1889-1967) will have her 50th death anniversary celebrated with a retrospective (“Olga Sacharoff. Pintura, poesia, emancipació”) at the Museu d’Art de Girona, opening on November 25th (Elina Norandi is its curator). A good occasion to rediscover her, after her previous retrospective in la Pedrera, Barcelona, in 1994 (catalogue here). Other activities of this Year Sacharoff will be held in Barcelona, where she lived with his husband, the photographer and painter Otto Lloyd, from 1940 until her death.

4. Rosa Maria Malet, segona part?

Rosa Maria Malet is retiring as Director of the Fundació Miró, Barcelona, after 37 years of distinguished service. She gave a long interviewsto Avui, El País and Ara (in Catalan). But perhaps these are not the last words we hear from her in public: “I would perhaps have an opinion and think about different options”, she answered when asked whether she would like to be further involved in culture public matters. The deadline for candidates to her post is July 21st (requirements here).

5. Fortuny revisited.

The Prado will host a generous retrospective of the works of Marià Fortuny (1838-1874), from November 21st 2017 to March 18st, 2018. “This will be an exceptional and unrepeatable exhibition as in addition to examples of his paintings, watercolours, drawings and prints it will include items from Fortuny’s exquisite collection of antiquities and works of art which he housed in his studio”, reads the announcement. It will include his copy of Ribera’s Saint Andrew sold to the museum by truly yours.

6. The French director inside you.

For sure you have always dreamed about directing a big French museum: : Connaisance des Arts offers you a test to finally discover which one.

7. In the meantime.

If you have more modest dreams, however, you can still aply for directorships at Palais Galliera- Musée de la Mode, Paris (until September 15th), Musées de la Ville de Béziers (until August, 31st) or Musée de la Ville de Challon (until September, 15th). All the details in museesemplois.worpress.com.