~ Some images seem to have the magic ability to stop the passage of Time. They seem to enclose the memories of light once immortalized by the hand of the artist. Created by man to express the essential cycles of Life, these cultural objects are endowed with the spirit of naturalness that captures the seeds of the sacred present in still life.
Apart from my passion for the symbolic – i.e. iconic and divinatory – nature of some images, I always get touched by the unique mastery of the painters of old Europe. I imagine the wisdom invested in the treatment of color, their dash manner, the waiting time and attention involved in the completion of each work; but, mostly, I try to listen to the call of Painting. This is the reason why my way of reading images, my rituals of meditation on the symbolism of Tarot cards and my Radio programs have been nurtured by visual imagination along the years and shape a great part of my daily routine.
~ This Sunday I visited an exhibition devoted to Four Centuries of European Still-Life painting. In the Presence of Things shows us the brilliant work of authors as Juan Sanchez Cotan a Spanish master unique in assembling the elements in an illusionistic window frame to celebrate the iconic potential of simple objects. Cotan was born in Orgaz, near Toledo – an enchanted place of my childhood located in the centre of Iberia. After a long practice in the arts and a life of deserved recognition among intellectuals and the aristocracy, he decided to close his workshop and renounced to the material world. After leaving Toledo, Sanchez Cotan became a monk of the Carthusian monastery in Granada and devoted his mastery to the study of light applied to religious themes. Sánchez Cotán passed away in Granada as a universally loved painter also regarded as a spiritual master.
~ Alongside Cotan’s artwork deeply influenced by El Escorial and the Venetian school, this exhibition brings to light wonderful still-lifes of Rembrandt, Chardin and Francisco de Goya. We may also observe the unique legacy of the greatest women painters of Maneirism and the Baroque as Claire Peeters (flourished ca. 1607 – in or after 1621), Fede Galizia and Josefa de Ayala or Josefa d’Óbidos ( the well-known artist of the Portuguese school of Santarém). Part One of this exhibition covers the cultural production of 17th and 18th Centuries, spreading from “The Allure of Painted Things”, “Precious Moments”, “Feasts for the Eyes”, “Sweet Desserts”, “Light Entertainment” or “Nature and Artifice”, among other aesthetical and technical aspects of still-life.
~ This ambitious project is curated by Professor Peter Cherry (Trinity College, Dublin), a specialist in Spanish and Italian still-life painting that organized the event in two complimentary moments devoted to Maneirism and the Baroque; and from 19th to 20th Century production. The abiding elements that inspired Four Hundred Years of painting as fruit and game pieces, kitchen and banquet tables, flowers and cabinets of curiosities, musical instruments and daily objects are mastered by different geographical influences and personal inspiration according to the different categories of still-life. From Vanitas to the Trompe l’oeil, style and manner in the arrangement of things direct a special call to the attention of the Viewer as a celebration of technical excellence, beauty and delight.
~ Some of this artworks were never shown to the public eyes or were kept apart from galleries and museums since the second world war – as the artwork of Juan Sanchez Cotan -, so this event represents a real invitation to the discovery of history. I do believe that most of these images will be engraved in your visual imagination as image readers … You may visit the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon from until May, 2nd- 2010 (Part 2 will open from October 21st, 2011 to January 8th, 2012). Thinking about those of you that are not in Lisbon by now, I am also posting a link to the website of the exhibition, so you may visit the Gulbenkian Foundation from your own virtual window. Take a look inside and let your eyes be touched by these eternal seeds of Light. Just because some images seem to have an amazing and magic ability to overcome the passage of Times.
Mafalda, 23 February – 2010