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May 11, 2023

Exploring Spain’s Museo del Prado and El Greco Museum

Museo Nacional del Prado exterior
Museo Nacional del Prado exterior

The Museo del Prado, formerly the Royal Museum of Paintings and Sculptures, was opened to the public in November of 1819. The core of the original permanent collection was drawn from the various Royal Residences of Spain with particularly important works being acquired by Charles V in the 16th century and the subsequent Habsburg and Bourbon Monarchs.  Now housing more than 20,000 works (7,000 exhibited) and spanning 135,000 square meters, the Prado is renowned for its Spanish collection, including works by Goya, El Greco, Murillo, and Velasquez. Indeed, the museum houses the largest collection of Goya (130 paintings) and Velasquez (48) in the world.

Like most world-class museums, the size of the collection is so daunting that the typical visitor soon becomes glassy eyed from the sensory overload. Having been fortunate enough to visit most of the world’s great art museums, I have made it a practice to resist the temptation to “see it all” or only view the “most famous” works. In my latest visit to the Prado in November, with a nod to the Spanish masters and an historical focus on the evolution of sacred art (view our Sacred Art videos on this website), I focused on two significant works by Murillo and El Greco.

Recall that as a result of the Renaissance emphasis on humanism rather than spiritual enlightenment and the Protestant Reformation, the Roman Catholic Church, via the Council of Trent (1545-1562), mounted a campaign to renew religious art that was grounded in Catholic teachings and would be uplifting and compelling particularly to the common man.  With radically different styles, the works of Bartolomé Esteban Murillo from Seville and El Greco from Toledo were both successful in their emphasis on emotion and promulgation of the faith.

Bartolomé Estaban Murillo, The Immaculate Conception of Los Venerables, 1660-1665, Oil on canvas, Museo Del Prado
Bartolomé Estaban Murillo, The Immaculate Conception of Los Venerables, 1660-1665, Oil on canvas, Museo Del Prado

Murillo:  While Marianists cannot help but stand in raptured wonder at the foot of Bartolomé Esteban Murillo’s, The Immaculate Conception of Los Venerables (above), many critics have dismissed his work as saccharine although masterful. Most viewers would assume that Murillo was simply another Catholic painter of the Counter-Reformation, depicting well-established religious tenets of the Church by creating a composition that references two dogmas, the Assumption, and the Immaculate Conception.

To the contrary, Murillo was championing a religious cause lead by Spain promoting the then controversial belief in the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary (that she was born without original sin). After much debate, it eventually became one of the distinctly Catholic beliefs two hundred years later when it was formally accepted and defined as dogma by Pope Pius IX in the 19th century.

While Murillo painted the subject many times, his most popular rendition was this one, shown here, and hung in the Hospital of the Venerable Priests in Seville until it was looted by the French during the Peninsular War and acquired by the Louvre in 1852. Eventually, the masterpiece was returned by the Vichy government in 1941 to Francisco Franco and installed in the Prado.

El Greco, <em>Trinidad</em> (The Holy Trinity), 1577-1579, Oil on canvas, Museo del Prado, Madrid
El Greco, Trinidad (The Holy Trinity), 1577-1579, Oil on canvas, Museo del Prado, Madrid

El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos): Heeding the call for emotion and spirituality over temporal tableaus that emphasized the virtuosity of the artist, El Greco’s mesmerizing canvases with his distinctive fusion of Byzantine traditions and Mannerism inspired Cubism, Surrealism, and Expressionism. In The Trinity (above), one of his most renowned works and the first religious painting by El Greco to enter the museum collection, El Greco expressively and dramatically depicts Jesus Christ ascending into heaven to God the Father and the Holy Spirit. The masterpiece, characterized by his unmistakable quintessential elongated figure painted with bold color and emotion was also his first commissioned work in Toledo (altarpiece for the Church of Santo Domingo el Antiguo).

El Greco, Apostle series, Oil on canvas, before 1614, El Greco Museum, Toledo, Spain
El Greco, Apostle series, Oil on canvas, before 1614, El Greco Museum, Toledo, Spain

Prior to 1872, El Greco was known for his work as a portraitist. Indeed, if you visit the El Greco Museum in Toledo, you will have the unique opportunity of viewing a series of 13 portraits (1610-1614) by El Greco depicting Christ and his 12 apostles. And while in Toledo, don’t miss two of his other famous works in Iglesia de Santo Tomė (The Burial of the Count of Orgaz, 1586) and Santa Iglesia Catedral Primada de Toledo-the Toledo Cathedral (The Disrobing of Christ, 1577-1579).

Shannon Robinson is the curator and chairperson of the biennial exhibition Windows to the Divine and the annual Collectors for Connoisseurship Arts Weekends that have been hosted by our nonprofit in Denver, New York City, Paris, Atlanta, Savannah and The Hamptons.

More about Shannon…

Filed Under: Art & Travel

February 21, 2020

Multifaceted and Diverse Art of New Zealand

Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown, New Zealand
Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown, New Zealand
Auckland Art Gallery
Auckland Art Gallery

One of the great pleasures of international travel is to visit and view the national collections of art museums around the world.  In a recent visit to New Zealand which is justifiably heralded as a land of spectacular natural beauty that attracts outdoor enthusiasts from around the globe, I was delighted to experience the diversity of art works exhibited at the Auckland Art Gallery which is not a private gallery, but rather, the country’s largest art institution.

Opened in 1888, the original main gallery building housed not only the art museum, but also the public library and the City Council offices which were later moved.

Frank Bramley, <em>For of Such is the Kingdom of Heaven</em>, 1891, Auckland Art Gallery (Mackelvie Trust, 1913)
Frank Bramley, For of Such is the Kingdom of Heaven, 1891, Auckland Art Gallery (Mackelvie Trust, 1913)

The Auckland Gallery initially focused on European and British art, with major donations by Sir George Grey (former colonial governor of New Zealand) of over 12,000 items (manuscripts, rare books and paintings) and James Tannock Mackelvie (decorative arts, furniture, ceramics and paintings).  The Mackelvie Trust continued to acquire works for the Gallery such as the striking social realist painting shown above by British artist, Frank Bramley, which underscored the grief associated with child mortality regardless of class (contrasting the white dresses and expensive flowers of the girls and women in the funeral procession with the local fishing class).

Edmund Blair Leighton, <em>In Time of Peril</em>, 1897, Auckland Art Gallery
Edmund Blair Leighton, In Time of Peril, 1897, Auckland Art Gallery

Indeed, for the first half of the 19th century, the collection continued to be dominated by European old masters such as this popular work by Edmund Blair Leighton who specialized in historical genre paintings that were praised in the European academic system (this work was exhibited at the Royal Academy exhibition of 1897), but later disparaged by modern art curators.

Gottfried Lindauer, <em>Tāwhiao Matutaera Pōtatau Te Wherowhero,</em> 1882, Auckland Art Gallery
Gottfried Lindauer, Tāwhiao Matutaera Pōtatau Te Wherowhero, 1882, Auckland Art Gallery

In contrast, in 1915, Auckland businessman, Henry Partridge donated his collection of paintings by Gottfried Lindauer, a Bohemian artist who immigrated to New Zealand in 1874 and became famous for his paintings of the Māori people, including many portraits of Māori chiefs such as this painting of a chief of the Tainui tribes.  As explained by the Gallery, this collection remains an important record of the respected ancestors of the Māori.

Jasmine Togo-Brisby, <em>Closed Canoe Cargo, Post-Plantation, Bot Blo Stil</em>, Auckland Art Gallery
Jasmine Togo-Brisby, Closed Canoe Cargo, Post-Plantation, Bot Blo Stil, Auckland Art Gallery

Fast forwarding to the present, the current exhibitions on display entitled Chapters of Change in New Zealand Art, contain a fascinating pictorial history of this country and its art such as the Post-Plantation series by contemporary Australian South Sea Islander artist, Jasmine Togo-Brisby.  The series contains three portraits of three generations of women (mother, daughter and granddaughter) whose heads are shown balancing miniature colonial sailing ships as references to the slave diaspora and the practice of kidnapping and transporting Pacific Islanders to Australian plantations.

<em>Chapters of Change, Radical Beginnings</em>  Gallery, Auckland Art Gallery
Chapters of Change, Radical Beginnings Gallery, Auckland Art Gallery

In the chapter, entitled Radical Beginnings, the gallery is dedicated to the elegant and simplified works of the early contemporary Māori fine artists in the 1950’s who broke away from the traditional carvings and paintings that preceded them to embrace the influences of modernist styles and practices of artists like Brancusi, Barbara Hepworth, and Henry Moore while still invoking narratives based on Maori heritage.

Arnold Manaaki Wilson, <em>Tāne Whakapiripiri</em>, 1978, Auckland Art Gallery (private collection loan)
Arnold Manaaki Wilson, Tāne Whakapiripiri, 1978, Auckland Art Gallery (private collection loan)

For example, in this sculpture by Arnold Manaaki Wilson, created in 1978, the carving from kauri wood in a simple ‘H’ form depicts Tāne, the great son of Ranginui (Sky Father) and Papatūānuku (Earth Mother).

Colin McCahon, <em>'The Wake': A Poem in the Forest</em>, 1958, Auckland Art Gallery
Colin McCahon, 'The Wake': A Poem in the Forest, 1958, Auckland Art Gallery

As for the museum’s many exhibition spaces containing contemporary art, one of note is the exhibition entitled “The Wake: A Poem in the Forest,” where the viewer is confronted with an immense painting consisting of sixteen panels painted by the artist, Colin McCahon in the attic of the Auckland City Art Gallery in 1958. Intended at that time as a new kind of visual experience combining painting with poetry, the unframed panels now fill a circular gallery and contain the poem by John Caselberg (a lament for the loss of his Great Dane, Thor) scrawled across a painted environment depicting a New Zealand forest with its distinctive kauri trees that symbolically represent the stages of grief.

In short, if you have the opportunity to visit this magical country, be sure to visit its many cultural treasures such as the Auckland Gallery.

Shannon Robinson is the curator and chairperson of the biannual exhibition Windows to the Divine and the annual Collectors for Connoisseurship Arts Weekends (Nov 5-7, 2020 Denver).

More about Shannon…

Filed Under: Art & Travel

November 22, 2019

500 Years of Fashion in Paper Art at SCAD Atlanta

While museum goers have long had the opportunity to view and admire historic textile costumes from around the globe, in Atlanta at the SCAD FASH Museum, the public is invited to an exceptional exhibition of highly detailed sculptures created from mere paper and paint by the Belgian artist, Isabelle de Borchgrave.

In her exhibition, entitled Fashioning Art from Paper, Isabelle presents incredible sculptural replicas of costumes over a 500-year period beginning with the Renaissance and the Medici family shown here.  It is hard to believe that the elaborate lace collars, ruches, pearl necklaces and other finery are all made of paper!

From elaborate period gowns to 20th century couturiers such as Worth and Poiret to this spectacular turquoise gown inspired by Mariano Fortuny– all command awe from the viewers as they move from one breathtaking creation to another.

In the center of the exhibition, SCAD installers created a ring of exotic and colorful hanging costumes created by the artist from her “Les Ballet Russes” series interpreting costumes designed by Leon Bakst, Giorgio de Chirico and Pablo Picasso.

Over her 40-year career, Isabelle’s works have been exhibited internationally, including Belgium, China, England, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, Sweden, Switzerland, and the USA, and can be seen in museums throughout the world.  Her latest creations were inspired by her visit to the Metropolitan Museum in New York in 1994.  Paper costumes and tromp l’oeil became the focus of her collections which have achieved worldwide recognition and made her an international name and reputation associated with fashion and paper.

Kudos to the artist and co-organizers, SCAD FASH, Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Society of the Four Arts, Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Frick Art and Historical Center, Baker Museum and Flint Institute of Arts for a spectacular take on fashion made of paper!

The exhibition is located at the SCAD Fashion Museum in Atlanta and will run through January 12, 2020.  So, if you are in Atlanta during that time, be sure to stop by.  Our Collectors for Connoisseurship (C4C) group considered it a highlight of our recent C4C Arts Weekend in Atlanta and Savannah from Nov 7-11.

Shannon Robinson is the curator and chairperson of the biannual exhibition Windows to the Divine and the annual Collectors for Connoisseurship Arts Weekends (Nov 7-11, 2019 Atlanta & Savannah).

More about Shannon…

Filed Under: Art & Travel

April 2, 2019

JMW Turner Exhibition Moves from Argentina to Chile

JMW Turner in Buenos Ares moves on to Santiago! From September 26 of 2018 to February 17 of 2019, the National Museum of Fine Arts in B.A. staged an extraordinary exhibition of 85 watercolors which I was fortunate to view by British Romantic, Joseph Mallord William Turner.  Brought from the Tate Collection in London which contains 30,000 of Turner’s works (bequeathed by Turner after his death in 1850), the exhibition presents a detailed chronology of Turner’s life and artistic output as one of Britain’s greatest watercolorists.

From the age of 10, Turner was drawing the outdoors and by the age of 14, he was studying in the workshop of Thomas Malton where he began painting precise topographical studies of urban vistas in watercolors that would gain him early admission into the Royal Academy.  After studying under Sir Joshua Reynolds at the Academy, at the age of 18, Turner opens his own studio gallery and studies the collection of Thomas Monro which inspires him to experiment with watercolors and gouaches to produce atmospheric compositions.

Kirkby Lonsdale (ca. 1877)(Gouache, graphite and w/c on paper)

Although he would occasionally paint in oil (with his first oil on canvas being exhibited in 1796 at the Royal Academy), Turner would favor watercolors which would be the source of his renown and financial success.  His career would span nearly 60 years and would produce works ranging from his early architectural works like the Cathedral of Durham shown here to magnificent and abstracted light-filled orchestrations of color that would capture the attention of art lovers for centuries.

Cathedral of Durham, Interior (1797-1798)( Gouache, graphite and w/c on paper)

From 1798 onward, Turner would receive many commissions in England to paint the estates of the wealthy and in 1802, he would travel to the continent for the first time and spend time in Paris studying paintings at the Louvre.  Two years later, he would open his own gallery in London for annual solo shows and for 30 years from 1807-1837, he would also serve as a professor at the Royal Academy.

In 1819, at 44, he travels to Italy visiting Rome, Naples and Venice.  His watercolors of Venice which explore masterfully light and reflections on the water will eventually become some of his most famous works.  In 1840, Turner makes his third and final visit to Venice which inspires him to produce a number of Venetian lagoon paintings that dissolve the unique architecture in washes of color that were called magical.

Venice: View Across the Lagoon (1840)(Watercolor on paper)

In 1845, in his 70s, Turner makes his final Continental tour through Normandy’s coast where he continues to experiment with the colors of sunrise and the reflections of rain on the stormy seas. Five years later, at the age of 75 (1850), Turner holds his last exhibition at the Royal Academy and dies the following year in 1851 in London where he is buried in St. Paul’s Cathedral next to his famous teacher Sir Joshua Reynolds.

The exhibition is now showing at the Centro Cultural de la Moneda in Santiago, Chile through July 28, 2019.

Shannon Robinson is the curator and chairperson of the biannual exhibition Windows to the Divine and the annual events by Collectors for Connoisseurship (most recently April 12-14, 2018 in Denver and May 23-26 in Paris).

More about Shannon…

Filed Under: Art & Travel

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Recent Posts

Exploring Spain’s Museo del Prado and El Greco Museum

May 11, 2023

Multifaceted and Diverse Art of New Zealand

February 21, 2020

500 Years of Fashion in Paper Art at SCAD Atlanta

November 22, 2019

JMW Turner Exhibition Moves from Argentina to Chile

April 2, 2019

Connecting with Artists in Utah: Escalante Arts Festival and Studio Visit with Ron Richmond

October 4, 2018

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