First, last weekend, at the AGO in Toronto, “Revealing the Early Renaissance: Stories and Secrets in Florentine Art”. It’s an exhibition co-organized by the Getty Museum and the Art Gallery of Ontario. A phenomenal one, with several pieces (close to a hundred) from the first half of the 14th century, notably Giotto (Giotto di Bondone, c. 1266–1337)'s five-panel Peruzzi Altarpiece (pre-eminently displayed and reproduced below – which, in the words of the organizers “revolutioniz(e) representation in painting through the introduction of human scale and perspective,… and by turning each figure toward Christ in a relatable fashion, away from the iconic stoicism of altarpieces past”) and his Madonna of San Giorgio alla Costa, several works from the storyteller Pacino di Bonaguida (1302–1340; The Appeal of Prato to Robert of Anjou), painted manuscripts of Dante's Divine Comedy (some of these manuscripts are seen for the first time outside of Firenze), and Giotto’s follower Bernardo Daddi's Virgin Mary with Saints Thomas Aquinas and Paul.
Image
What I was struck by was how prosperous Florence
was in the early 1400 (way before Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci ever
to set foot there, 150 years or so after), as the city
was “blessed with unprecedented prosperity brought about by advances in
industry and agriculture and a prolific lending economy”! Art (the religious
one – building churches and adorning their walls and altars!) was a way for its
citizens to “redeem” themselves and ensure a way to heaven in spite of their material
wealth!
We also learn how artists of the time worked in
workshops, collectively, as compared to this day-and-age solitary artist
studios, under the guidance of a “master artist” who would often paint the
important parts of the painting, and leave to his assistants to finish the detail
work. In their attempt to portray real people and local buildings in their
scenes, artists also depicted people – who wanted to see themselves in the art –
in contemporary hairstyles and fashion.
I believe that earlier byzantine work (such as
works we had seen in the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul) was a factor, arguing that,
given the pre-eminence of gold
background and triangle notably, it must have had an impact on these works of
the early Renaissance – I never checked that though!
And then in Montreal this weekend, at the Museum
of Fine Arts, “Peru: Kingdoms of the Sun
and the Moon”. Such a rich exhibition, put together by the museum itself (At
the initiative of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, it is going to travel in
the fall to the Seattle Art Museum!) Quite a discovery for us – tracing the art
of this extraordinary civilization (put on par with that of the Egyptians, the
Greeks and the Romans!) throughout the pre-Columbian period (especially the
Inca Empire around 13th and 14th century), the Spanish “viceroyalty”
time (dated going back to 1532 with Pizarro’s conquest and defeat of the Incas)
and the attempt to revalorize the art of the “indigenous” people after independence
in 1821 – quite a tour! (I bought the exhibition’s catalogue and souvenir album
– with its fringe in gold – containing several essays by museum and university
scholars.)
We all know of the Inca sanctuary “Machu Picchu”,
heavily displayed at the start of the exhibition with a room fully dedicated to
its “re-discovery” a century ago by American Hiram Bingham (“Pioneering
Archeologist or First Tourist?” as one of the scholar puts it…but he took the
time to sketch the site in detail and took many photographs of the place!)
Interesting to note that the United States (Yale University) will have
completed the return this year of all the artifacts (46,000 of them!) that were
taken since from the site. The National Geographic also had an edition of its
magazine – vol. 24, no.4, dated April 1913 – dedicated to Peru – it would be
fascinating to find it back! bel
Martin Chambi (1891-1973)Aerial View of Machu Picchu With Mountains in the Background, Peru, 1927
Gelatin silver print, 35.9 x 45.8 cm
© Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal
What is lesser known is the richness of the
artifacts exhibited – hundreds of well-preserved porcelain and gold “objets d’art”,
depicting mythical gods and ceremonial decorations and instruments – the not-so-fearful
knife, the Muchica Tumi, with which
they severed the head of well-practiced human sacrifice ceremony’s “victims”!
Sexual depictions – such as the small bottles in the shape of male genitals or depicting
a woman masturbating a man – attract a lot of attention and laughs from
visitors!
The narrative, all along the exhibition –
especially at the beginning – is very nationalistic, “patriotic” some would
rather say! The whole exhibition, you sense throughout, is an attempt at
re-valorizing the art and the influence of Peruvian culture – fascinating!
Montreal, March 31, 2013
Some of the art shown:
Francisco Laso (1823 – 1869)
Habitante de las cordilleras del Perú [Inhabitant of the Peruvian Highlands], 1855.
Oil on canvas, 138 x 88 cm.Pinacoteca Municipal Ignacio Merino de la Municipalidad Metropolitana de Lima. Photo Daniel Giannoni
Habitante de las cordilleras del Perú [Inhabitant of the Peruvian Highlands], 1855.
Oil on canvas, 138 x 88 cm.Pinacoteca Municipal Ignacio Merino de la Municipalidad Metropolitana de Lima. Photo Daniel Giannoni
A typical work of Peruvian art of the mid-19th century, Habitante de las cordilleras by Francisco Laso, portrays the indigenous peasant as a national symbol for the new Peruvian republic, and heralds the direction that Peruvian cultural nationalism was to take in the next century.
Chimú, Côte nord, peut-être Chan Chan
900-1476 apr. J.-C., alliage d'or, d'argent, de cuivre, approx. 46,6 x 21,9 cm. Museo Larco, Lima - Perú
900-1476 apr. J.-C., alliage d'or, d'argent, de cuivre, approx. 46,6 x 21,9 cm. Museo Larco, Lima - Perú
Une parure funéraire (couronne, disques d’oreilles, collier, pectoral et épaulières), chef-d’œuvre de l’orfèvrerie chimú conservé au Museo Larco (Lima).
Leonor Vinatea Cantuarias (1897 - 1968)
Pastoras [Shepherdesses], 1944.Oil on canvas, 197 x 174 cm.
Lima, Museo de la Nación. Photo Joaquín Rubio
Pastoras [Shepherdesses], 1944.Oil on canvas, 197 x 174 cm.
Lima, Museo de la Nación. Photo Joaquín Rubio
