Fundacio Joan Miro - The exhibits, 4

Fundacio Joan Miro - The exhibits, 4

As always I am including the introduction from the first post. If you do not want to read it again, scroll down to the first picture.

We really enjoyed the time we spent in this wonderful museum. Even though it's a museum dedicated to the work of Joan Miro, there are a lot of artworks by other artists whose work has similarities with Miro's. An interesting way of presenting art, and one that I enjoyed enormously as it gave me an opportunity to find out about artists I did not know, or to see paintings I love, once again.

Joan Miro i Ferra, 1893-1983, a Catalan painter, sculptor and ceramicist. His work has been interpreted as Surrealism but with a personal style, sometimes also veering into Fauvism and Expressionism. He was interested in the subconscious mind, reflected in his re-creation of the childlike. His difficult-to-classify works also had a manifestation of Catalan pride.  In numerous interviews Miro expressed contempt for conventional painting methods as a way of supporting bourgeois society, and declared an 'assassination of painting' in favour of upsetting the visual elements of established painting.

He combined abstract art with Surrealist fantasy. His mature style evolved from the tension between his fanciful, poetic impulse and his vision of the harshness of modern life. He worked extensively in lithography and produced numerous murals, tapestries and sculptures for public spaces.

Though often referred to as a Surrealist, Miro considered his art to be free of any 'ism'. He experimented throughout his career with different media - painting, pastel, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, collage, muralism and tapestry - and unconventional materials as a way of making work that expressed the contemporary moment without relying on realism.

Joan Miro, Hands Flying Off Toward the Constellations, 1974

Joan Miro, Josep Royo, Tapestry of the Fundacio, 1979

Joan Miro, Model of the World Trade Center Tapestry (1974), 1972

Joan Miro, Sobreteixim with Eight Umbrellas, 1973

looking closer

Alexander Calder, Mercury Fountain, 1937

The fountain consists of a static part through which mercury flows, and a mobile part that the same element sets in motion. Calder wanted to pay homage to the people of Almaden, a town where 60% of the world's mercury was then mined, and which had been severely punished by Franco's troops. Given the toxicity of mercury the sculpture is isolated in a space with an independent air conditioning system.

For the 1937 Paris Universal Exhibition, Alexander Calder created Mercury Fountain, for the Spanish Pavilion, designed by the architects josef Lluis Sert and Luis Lacasa. Among other works displayed in the Pavilion were Picasso's Guernica, Miro's The Reaper. 

Joan Miro, Figure, Bird in the Night II, 1972

Joan Miro, Figure, Bird in the Night III, 1972

Dorothea Tanning, Everything is Illusion, Maybe, 1975

Robert Rauschenberg, Untitoled, 1985

Robert Motherwell, Green Label, 1982

Sam Francis, Untitled, 1985

Elke Lagansky - Kosmos

Elke Lagansky - Kosmos, at the Municipal Art Gallery, Athens.

Lagansky calls the act of painting 'her way from darkness to light'.

Lagansky's kosmos, her world, consists of human beings and the way they navigate the world; there is a strong element of decay (particularly in her portraits); the composition of a personal automatic writing and codes; her visual language which balances between the past and the present, the material and the immaterial worlds.

I really enjoyed looking at these paintings, and marvelled at some of the unconventional materials she used. Interestingly, most paintings have no title, we were just given a date and the materials used.

2001, (mixed media)

looking at each painting individually

2001, (acrylic)

2002, (tar)

2002, (tar)

This was my favourite (most likely because of my obssession with Faiyum) and I took so many photos, but could not get one without reflections from the opposite wall. This is the best one I could get.

Premordial Landscape

Premordial Landscape

Premordial Landscape, 2006 (acrylic)

Premordial Landscape, 2006 (acrylic)

(mixed media)

Looking at some of the portraits more closely

 

Alekos Kontopoulos - Juvenilia

Alekos Kontopoulos - Juvenilia at the Benaki Museum, Pireos, Athens.

This exhibition covered the work of eleven Greek artists who were influenced by the major events of the 20th century: WWII, the occupation of Greece by the Germans and the famine that ensued; the Civil War that followed the end of the war, and how it divided the nation; finally the seven years of the military dictatorship that brought so much suffering to the Greek people. 

In the exhibition we were shown how each artist's work developed and changed as they matured and how some moved on to abstraction. I will cover the work of one artist in each post.

A pivotal figure in the development of Greek art, known primarily for his groundbreaking contribution to non-representational painting.

After graduting from school, Kontopoulos relocated to Paris, but returned to Greece when WWII broke out. During the Occupation by the Germans, he actively participated in the Resistance, creating a series of drawings depicting the suffering, hardship and famine of the war years. In 1941, he was appointed to the National Archaeological Museum, where he worked until 1969. 

Around 1947, he embraced abstract art, becoming one of its first proponents in Greece. In 1949, he co-founded and led the group The Extremists, which aimed to promote abstract forms of art in Greece. Works from this period are characterised by their departure from representational forms, focusing instead on expressing internal emotions, through free or geometric shapes, often without tonal gradations; broad free brushstrokes and quick spontaneous markings; colours earthy, as well as bold; figurative fragments interlaced with non-objective shapes in the same painting.

In 1973, he was awareded the First State Prize, which he declined as a protest again the dictatorial rregime.

He was an iconic figure in modern Greek art, bridging realism with pioneering abstract painting. A trailglazer and visionary, through his painting, writings and relentless dedication, he shaped a new language of expression, leaving in indelible mark on Greek culture.

Approximately 18 Years Old, 1974, (acrylic on canvas)

Procession, 1939, (oil on canvas)

Recital, 1951, (mixed media on burlap)

Final Study for the Archaeological Museum's Painting of Pottery, 1959, (acrylic on plywood)

Despair, 1945, (drawing with Chinese ink)

From Now on, the Knife Will Cut a Red Line on your Bread, 1970, (oil on canvas)

looking closer

Balcony with Flowers, 1973, (oil on canvas)

Self-Portrait, 1975, (oil on canvas)

Composition - Image, 1962, (oil on hardboard)

A personal note:

Through his work in the Archaeological Museum in Athens, Kontopoulos knew my father well, as my father was the dicrector of the National Epigraphic Museum. Kontopoulos' wife was French and gave private French lessons. She was my tutor for years. One year she was so pleased with my performance in a test, that she gifted me one of the original pen drawings her husband made as an illustration for a book. The drawing hangs in our living room in the apartment in Athens. Unfortunately I don't have a photograph of it to share in this post. I went to an exhibition of the illustrations for books and magazines Kontopoulos produced, but again I saw the exhibition before I started doing my blog, so do not have photographs of that either.

Yannis Spyropoulos - Juvenilia

Yannis Spyropoulos - Juvenilia at the Benaki Museum, Pireos, Athens.

This exhibition covered the work of eleven Greek artists who were influenced by the major events of the 20th century: WWII, the occupation of Greece by the Germans and the famine that ensued; the Civil War that followed the end of the war, and how it divided the nation; finally the seven years of the military dictatorship that brought so much suffering to the Greek people. 

In the exhibition we were shown how each artist's work developed and changed as they matured and how some moved on to abstraction. I will cover the work of one artist in each post.

Spyropoulos is an artist I had not come across before, but I like his abstract compositions. 

Writings II, 1957, (oil on paper)

In the Forest VI, 1958, (oil on canvas)

Dancers C, 1956, (oil on canvas)

Return H, 1965, (mixed media on canvas)

Ithaka B, 1959, (oil on paper)

Lindos No. 2, 1959, (oil on canvas)

Prologue D, 1964, (mixed media on canvas)

Anafiotika, A-IV, 1957, (oil on hardboard)

Ladders III, 1955, (oil on hardboard)

Ladder, 1985, (mixed media on paper)