Beauty XXL
On 27 June Soler y Llach will put up for auction some incredible posters from the Josep Torné collection. These are masterpieces in the world of postermaking by artists as big as Josep Renau, Ricard Opisso, Capiello, Cassandre, A. de Riquer, Ramon Casas and Segrelles.
Gino Rubert: Altarpieces and Earthly Delights of the 21st Century
Gino Rubert’s new exhibition at Galería Senda succeeds in transmitting an exceptional sensation of freedom.
Two Geniuses Face to Face: Fages and Dalí
You can never really read the work of Salvador Dalí without knowing the literary legacy of Carles Fages de Climent. This is shown by Dalí expert Josep Playà in his book, “Fages Dalí, geniuses and friends”.
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10 Recommended Art Books
Essays, anthologies, guides, anecdotes, graphic novels…2019 has a host of bibliographic novelties on the topic of art. And the day of Sant Jordi is the perfect excuse to buy one (or more) of them. Here are our recommendations.
The cultivation of irrelevance or the sweet comfort of mediocrity
I’m in the grip of a simian rage, and I hope this is obvious from the tone in which this article is written.
Agreements and the Fight for Culture
When we talk of culture some people think that we are treading the terrain of the utopian or, even worse, the luxurious and dispensable. Opposing ideologies resign culture, in an opposing but similar way, to private initiative.
The Polyptych of the Vallès
“Vallès: manufacturing pasts, manufacturing futures” is a project in which Claudio Zulian uses the memory of the working class of the county of Vallès – an area historically and politically affiliated to the so-called “red belt” of Barcelona.
In the name of Picasso
This show in the Barcelona museum reinterprets the different facets of the artist from the point of view of ten contemporary creators. The political Picasso, the passionate Picasso and the intellectual Picasso, all covered in the story which unfolds under the curatorship of Rosa Martinez.
Lluís Hortalà or the trickery of the gaze
When you visit the Lluís Hortalà exhibition at Tecla Sala in L’Hospitalet you have to be ready for a double set of rules: those of the eye, subjected to the logical trickery of trompe-l’oeil, and those of the concept, articulated in the solid story about the exhibition by Oriol Fontdevila. But one step at a time.
Richard Learoyd, unsettling and monumental
Learoyd’s photographs are made in a very original way. It is not that he has a camera in his studio but his camera is a room in his studio.
Antoni Fabrés: Recovery Operation
The MNAC, being the national museum that it is, had the job of rescuing the wok of Antoni Fabrés – a versatile and effective artist who moved on from the academic and Orientalist approach of his early works.
Franco the Painter
All political leaders have had an artistic hobby: President Clinton played the sax, Nero the lyre, Alphonse XIII was an adult film producer and Franco liked painting.
The past chapter in La Capella
Entitled “Cerrar abriendo” (Close by opening), the sixth scene of “La Capella 25 Years After”, an exhibition in instalments which has told the story of this centre dedicated to emerging art since the month of January, through the artists that have exhibited there.
Churchill, Hitler, Eisenhower… painters
Everyone knows them as some of the most central characters in history, capable of pulling the strings during the Second World War…but when they had a moment all three would settle down to do a spot of relaxing painting as if they had never hurt a fly.
A Brief Encyclopaedia of Forgers
If right now you were looking at a factitious “Encyclopaedia of Well-known Forgers of Art”, the contents page would include creators as famous as Michelangelo and Picasso.
From a Cigarette Lighter to a Portable Lamp: the Design Museum revitalises its collection
Did you know that the refillable plastic Clipper lighter, which is sold all over the world, was designed by Enric Sardà in the early 1970s? Or that the cuddly Tous teddy bear was created by Rosa Maria Oriol in 1985 with no intention of it becoming a jewellery icon?
Unknown sisters
Clichés about the affinity between Italy and Spain aside, it is true that cultural and artistic exchanges between the two countries are less intense than one might expect. In Barcelona, an exhibition, an urban installation, workshops and other initiative are an attempt to redress this lack of reciprocal recognition.
Portraits by August Sander: appearances that don’t deceive?
The August Sander retrospective at La Virreina is exceptional in its rigorous respect for the original structure of the major project the photographer worked on during the early 1900s: People of the 20th Century.
In Combat for the Love of Art
Anyone who enters the exhibition Cinc anys a les trinxeres (Five years in the trenches) by Jesús Galdón, kind of phylacterical mirror hanging on the wall, is immediately reflected in the doorway of the El Quadern Robat gallery.
Portrait of a Venetian Lady
One of the dreams of any antiquarian-cronopio is to have a famous client visit their shop and buy everything. The possibilities are minimal but, in this business, like in life, it could happen. In fact, it did happen to a colleague of mine the day that…
Where is the Catalan Jeff Koons?
On 15 May Jeff Koons’ work “Rabbit” (1986) was sold at Christie’s in New York for 91 million dollars.
Time is on the side of the vanquished
Just when the United States once again demonstrate their untamed meddling in the internal affairs of South America and when Pedro Sánchez recognises and legitimates a self-proclaimed president in Venezuela, Macba is opening the necessary and timely exhibition Undefined territories. Perspectives on colonial legacies.
Looking Towards the Heavens from the Refuge of Art
This walk through the magnificent and sadly posthumous exhibition by Jordi Fulla at Can Framis is a silent one. It couldn’t be any other way.