Although the birthplace of Spanish art is on the other side of the European continent, almost everyone will have heard such names as Diego Velázquez, Francisco Goya and Salvador Dali. And, of course, the luminary of Cubism, Pablo Picasso, who partly belongs to the French school. Those who know the history of art may also remember others – Francisco Zurbaran, Josepi Ribera and El Greco (he was not a Spaniard, but a Cretan, as can be seen from the word meaning “Greek”). However, the majority of exhibitions held in the museum are Riga Stock Exchange España Blanca y Negra: A Vision of Spain from Fortuni to Picasso the artist will be known only to specialists – and most likely not everyone.
The exhibition that left the Kadriorg Museum in Tallinn was an unprecedented event in Latvian art life, and it is worth visiting even for those who happened to be in the neighboring capital this summer and already saw the exhibition, as happened to me. But about that in conclusion.
The intrigue of the name
The exhibition consists of several chronologically consecutive segments, introduced by “Exotic” Europe – scenes of Spanish life and cityscapes influenced by romanticism and realism, the authors of which were originally foreigners, such as the French Faramon Blanchard and the German Wilhelm Gail. Next – “White” and “Black” Spain, which is also included in the title of the exhibition. At first glance, it is associated with racial diversity, recalling, for example, Latvian modernist Aleksandra Beļtsova’s iconic double portrait of a white and a dark-skinned woman in White and Black (1925). However, this is not the case at all; perhaps only the portrayals of the “darker” Roma are more in line with “black” Spain.
This theoretical framework is quite complex and may not be easy to understand, although when you get to know the mosaic of catalog texts created by authoritative researchers in parallel with the exhibition, it becomes clearer. Keeping the vector of general development from romanticism to modernism, instead of a stylistically directional division, a focus on the nuances of motifs and emotional content is offered. The juxtaposition is not exactly a figment of the curators’ imagination, inspired by a book by painter Dario de Regojos and poet Emile Verhaaren Black Spain (1898), in which authentic Spanishness is marked by a rather depressing context of archaism, religion, poverty, pain and bloody bullfights. On the other hand, “white” Spain appears as a more optimistic export option for Spanish exoticism.
Joaquin Sorolja is presented as the most direct embodiment of “white” Spain, who has earned both wide popularity and criticism with his agile strokes influenced by sunny impressionism. Latvian painter and theoretician Voldemārs Matvejs, an adept of avant-garde and primitivism, also gave his voice to it, in the article Russian secession (1910) saying that “the dexterous pin trains of Corn and Sorolja are for us only a salto mortale, a cheap effect.” What these “brush trains” look like up close, viewers can now judge for themselves. Along with the aforementioned Swedish painter Anders Korn, Sorolja’s style was also echoed in Latvian art, especially in the works of Jēkab Bīne, partly also in the works of Kārļis Miesnieks. However, the background of a sunny landscape does not always give unequivocal optimism: Soroljas Waiting for the role (1915) can also be perceived in terms of the harshness of the fishermen’s life. Even more so, it seems to belong to “black” Spain A man from Segovia (1907). In turn, Ignacio Suloaga is highlighted as a representative of “black” Spain, however, imbued with his austere exoticism A compliment (1902) equally fits the export version of amusingly playful Spanishness.
The black-and-white division, which does not quite correspond to a clear distinction, also turns out to be in the section of modernism represented by Ramon Casas, Santiago Rusiñol, Ermenehildo Anglada Camaras and a few others. However, this does not mean that such a view would be impossible or illegitimate, because it also forces one to dig deeper and conclude that depressive and optimistic elements can be mixed in different proportions in the creation of one artist. It is simply necessary to recognize that alternatives to stylistic principles also have their limitations.
As a separate section of the exhibition Different Perspectives – One Generation, a series of black-and-white charcoal and ink drawings by Ramon Casas is included, which in a rather sketch-like expressive manner, nevertheless recognisably portrays several artists of the exhibition: Ignacio Suloagu, Joaquim Mira, Isidri Nonelha and Aureliano de Berueti.
Picasso before cubism
The mix of black and white aspects also applies to the characters highlighted in the title, Fortuni and Picasso. Mariano Fortuni, whose artist career developed in the 1960s-1970s, is probably little-known to the Latvian public. years, after moving to Granada embodies a significant trend of XIX century painting – to approach daily observations interwoven with impressionistic plein air instead of composed plot compositions. (When you get to Venice for the regular biennales or for other reasons, you can stop by the Fortuni Museum (Fortuny Museum); its creator, also Mariano Fortuni, is the son of the artist represented in the exhibition, who worked mainly in the design of the Art Nouveau era.) The surprisingly small sizes of Fortuni’s paintings contrast with the massive, sometimes even doubled, ornamented gold frames. However, he could be considered as a certain predecessor of the conditional “white” Spain, if we compare, for example, Fortuni’s free, pastose-rubbed, light-applied city view Realecho Bajo Square in Granada (1870) with the stylistically similar works of Sorolja Hospital entrance portal of La Latina quarter (1883) and Melon seller (1890).
However, Pablo Picasso, who was introduced to the exhibition before the Cubist phase, once again confirms that the path of creative search can be diverse and unpredictable. Before the ugly broken ones Avignon girls (1907) was made though Head of an old woman (c. 1897) in the tradition of pictorial realism, as well as expressive pastel drawing A scene from Bohemian life: the death of a young sick woman (circa 1900) – just like Puccini’s operas Bohemia the view. On the other hand, the one emerging in the mass of small watercolor and gouache strokes Harlequin with a guitar (December 4, 1916) can be seen as a synthesis of the fragmentary approach of Neo-Impressionism and Cubism.
Seduced Latvians
Exhibition section Spanish lure. Contacts of Latvian and Spanish artists in Paris and trips to Spain at the beginning of the 20th century, which were not in Tallinn (although similar stories could probably be found in Estonian art), is dedicated to three Latvian artists. During the period under review, they not only made friends with Spanish colleagues, but also traveled as far as Spain itself. The materials of sketches, postcards, photographs, along with larger works of art, tend to reconstruct the processes of artistic communication and the fixation of impressions. Two of the authors – the classical sculptor Gustavs Škilters and the stained-glass artist and painter Kārlis Brencēns – were able to study in Europe thanks to scholarships from Stiglitz Central School of Technical Drawing in St. Petersburg, while the education of the discoverer of modernism, Jázep Grosvald, in Paris was, as is known, ensured by family support. The exhibition certainly does not include the entire spectrum of Spanish elements in Latvian art; a painting by Augustus Annus comes to mind Memories of Andalusia (1925) or Gemma Skulme’s many-varied Velázquez motifs – Marta in Spanish costume (1973) and other works. However, this would be too broad and difficult to implement coverage.
A certain new discovery could be Brencen’s large-scale figurative works with Spanish exotic motifs, as Masks (1923) and Gypsy woman (1924): “Motives and figures in the works become fields of color surrounded by wavy contours, which are related to the painting of the Spanish friend Anglada Camarasa” (from the exhibition annotation). Another surprise – the collections of Latvia also have examples of Spanish art of the relevant period: some of Kamaras’s lithographs with portraits of elegant ladies have ended up in the Latvian National Art Museum, while a Kamaras pastel from the Zuzāns collection is exhibited A black girl (1906) and an expressive charcoal drawing on a distinctly Spanish accessory – a fan.
The scale of the exhibition’s overall emotional content ranges from idyllic blooming gardens, as part of Joaquim Mira’s mural of the artist’s house (1904) and Santiago Rusiñol Garden of Aranhues. Roundabout II (1907), to the dramatic floors of the destitute in the works of Isidre Nonelj Chestnut seller (1897–1900) and A young Roma woman (1903). The overall educational value of the exhibition is complemented by the opportunity to immerse oneself in the typical moods of the art of the turn of the XIX and XX centuries, which in the latest Latvian art history is associated with the term neo-romanticism. It blends Impressionist nature vistas with Post-Impressionist decorativeism and form effects, including Art Nouveau undulating lines, while Spanish motifs add a unique local specificity.
EXHIBITION
España Blanca y Negra: A Vision of Spain from Fortuni to Picasso
In the art museum Riga Stock Exchange until 15.XII
Source: www.diena.lv
