Shadow, Splendour and Melancholy in Catalan Art
The exhibition “Realism(s) in Catalonia 1917-1936” explores how some artists opted for a renovation of their artistic language without renouncing figuration.
The Enigma of Visibility
”la Caixa” exhibits its collection of contemporary paintings.
Prince, nothing compares to the original
Prince once said that with all the unpublished material in his mythical musical and visual ‘vault’ he could make an album a year for a century.
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Aesthetic as anaesthesia
He’s an international photographer with an impeccable reputation, and I’ve asked him a favour, as a friend: to accompany me to the World Press Photo Exhibition (WPPh). I’m interested in his personal vision of the tragedy. Because the WPPh is one big tragedy: in the photos almost no one is smiling.
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 Sleepwalking Antique Dealer
Dominique Lambert is twenty years old and lives in Paris. His mother, Isabelle, is a well-known psychiatrist and his father, Christophe an antique dealer or cronopio.
Miró-Gaudí-Gomis: when looks cross
This exhibition, which has been organised using the collection of foundation, looks at the aesthetic and creative affinities of Gaudí and Miró as seen through the Joaquim Gomis.
Frank Horvat: “Please don’t smile”
The Espais Volart of the Vila Casas Foundation is showing “Please don’t smile”, by the photographer Frank Horvat who, having worked relentlessly during his professional life, now offers a collection of photographs taken in the field of fashion in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.
Renau: art and revolution
The anthological exhibition by Valencian Josep Renau (1907-1982) – poster-maker for the revolution – arrives in Barcelona. Introducing the international avant-gardes to Spain in the 1920s and 30s and a reference for the Catalan left in the 1970s, his criticism of American society is alarmingly modern.
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”.
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?