On 31st January 2003, the Pierre Gianadda Foundation in Martigny opens an exhibition dedicated to the works of 18 of the most important Spanish artists of the 20th century. On show until June 9th to the international public that regularly visit the Foundation, the exhibition entitled de Picasso à Barceló, les artistes espagnols, (Spanish artists, from Picasso to Barceló) highlights the major role Spanish artists played in the birth and development of modern art and its evolution throughout the 20th century right up to the present day.
The exhibition of around 70 pieces not only offers an overview of many of the most significant trends of contemporary art, but it also shows the coherence of the evolution of forms in Spanish art, a cohesion that is maintained despite the geographical distance between the artists during the production of their work. In fact, the decision of some of them to base themselves in Paris at the turn of the last century and the fact that their creativity diffused from there, impressed the perception of influences that runs through 20th century Spanish art on lands outside Spain. A vision of the artistic unity of these 18 artists' works paints an international picture of their individual works as well as the links between the works of different artists.
The large timeframe covered by this exhibition meant that pieces had to be chosen very carefully. The main criteria considered when choosing works to be included in this chronicle of the 20th century were not only the importance of each painter or sculptor but also the desire to give the most complete impression of the artists' creative goals, whilst bearing in mind the limits of a collective exhibition. For this reason works were chosen that punctuated the main points in the artistic journey of the artists: from the dawn of their careers to the point where their plastic vocabulary was formed, to maturity and the last stages or - for living artists - recent works showing their creativity to date.
The first sequence is dedicated to historically avant-garde artists: Pablo Picasso, Juan Gris, Joan Miró, Salvador Dalí and Julio González. The exhibition opens with Cubism from Picasso and Juan Gris. The 'classic' twenties follow (Picasso, Dalí, Miró and Gris), and then there is Surrealism from Dalí and Miró and thirties Picasso, around the time of his contact with Julio González's soldered iron sculpture.
The Spanish Civil War (1936-39) will be strongly represented by Picasso's preparatory works for his Guernica, 1936 Miró and Julio González. Then comes fifties Miró, and then Picasso and Miró's last and intensely creative periods - the sixties and seventies respectively.
The second sequence is represented by the New Avant-Garde stage with six different artists, four painters and two sculptors, who worked in very different forms of abstraction. Antóni Tapies' l'abstraction matiériste, Antonio Saura's gestualisme, the drama of Manolo Millares' torn bags and Pablo Palazuelo's measured, geometric order represent painting. Two types of abstraction are represented by sculpture: one dealing with the problem of empty space in a rigorous study by Jorge Oteiza and the other dedicated to space and the resonance of material in several works by Eduardo Chillida. The works displayed date from the early fifties to later pieces highlighting a development that continued to evolve in coherence with the principles established at their birth.
The third sequence shows two generations of artists who appeared in the sixties and seventies, who marked an important turning point by their ironic smile and a treatment of strong block colour. Artists making up the Equipo Crónica, since disappeared, and Eduardo Arroyo led a revision of the Avant-garde through a plastic language using block colour in a very personal manner and a direct interpretation of near Pop Art.
This brings us to those artists who transformed the formal vocabulary of the seventies, with Luis Gordillo leading the way, and Carlos Alcolea. Both Pop heirs, they went for rather non-conformist figuration, but whereas Gordillo turned to clearly abstract forms, Alcolea, although he died young, never betrayed his taste for Post-Pop narration.
The fourth and last sequence is a selection of works completed in the last two decades of the century by three internationally renowned artists: José María Sicilia, Juan Muñoz and Miquel Barceló, each with very different paths, but falling into the category of Post-Modernism. Sicilia works with wax to produces paintings that deal with the visibility and invisibility of the plastic image; Barceló, the youngest of the three, uses the material of his paintings and sculptures in such a way that really brings out its original earthy make-up. In contrast, Juan Muñoz, unfortunately already vanished, is a flag-flyer for a new technique where the sculptured form interprets humanity in a way closely linked to the violence of today's world.
The limitations imposed by the space available and the need for coherence within the exhibition significantly restricted the final choice of works, which includes pieces by: Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Juan Gris (1887-1927), Joan Miró (1893-1983), Julio González (1876-1942), Salvador Dalí (1904-1989), Antonio Saura (1930-1998), Jorge Oteiza (1908), Pablo Palazuelo (1916), Antóni Tapies (1923), Eduardo Chillida (1924-2002), Manolo Millares (1926-1972), Equipo Crónica (Rafael Solbes 1940-1981 and Manolo Valdés 1942), Eduardo Arroyo (1937), Luis Gordillo (1934), Carlos Alcolea (1949-1992), José María Sicilia (1954), Juan Muñoz (1953-2001) and Miquel Barceló (1957).
The Institutions and Museums loaning their works include:
In Spain: The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid, Artium de Alava - Vitoria-Gasteiz, the Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró in Majorca, the la Caixa Foundation Contemporary Art Collection in Barcelona, la Banco Zaragozano, the BBVA Collection, the IVAM Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno - Generalitat Valenciana, the Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí in Girona, the Fundación Juan March Collection in Madrid, the Colección ICO, the Banco Guipuzcoano Collection in San Sebastián
In France: The Picasso Museum in Paris, The National Museum of Modern art in the Pompidou Centre in Paris, the Maeght de Saint-Paul Fondation in France
In Switzerland: The Museum of Art and History in Geneva and the Kunstmuseum in Bern
as well as many major private collections mainly in Spain, but also in France, Germany and Switzerland.
Exhibition catalogue
The bilingual catalogue (French -Spanish) for the exhibition
contains full colour reproductions of all the works on display,
edited by Maria Antonia de Castro with contributions from
Juan José Lahuerta, professor of art history at Barcelona
Polytechnic University, Tomás Llorens, director of the
Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid and Juan Manuel Bonet,
director of the Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia Museum in
Madrid, as well as contributions from Carmen Bernárdez and
Mercedes Replinger about the works and biographies of the
artists.
Price CHF 45.-- ( 31.50 euro).
Exhibition director : Maria Antonia de Castro
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