The ‘Príncipe de Asturias’ Award for Yad Vashem

We all know that most noble award of all, the Nobel Prize. Each year, scientists are awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine, Physics, or Chemistry, as are authors and writers, for Literature.

 

The crown of all that is the Nobel Prize for Peace; never mind that Mr. Nobel was the inventor of dynamite, a product  that has had its fair share in bringing down peace more often than enhancing it.

Not everyone knows that Spain has created the poor man’s Nobel Prize.

Well, that is not quite doing it justice. Spain has set up something similar, with perhaps a slightly more contemporary and more popular angle, and without the prize money that is attached to the Nobel Prize. And without any dynamite or other applications with sinister possibilities associated with it. It is called Premios Príncipe de Asturias, and is awarded annually to outstanding achievers from the world of theatre, literature, art, music, film, architecture, politics, sports and the world of science.

 

Stephen Hawking, Woody Allen, Daniel Baremboim, Günter Grass, Arthur Miller have all been awarded the ‘Premio Príncipe de Asturias’ in the past, as have Doris Lessing, J. K. Rowling, Susan Sontag, Yaser Arafat, Jane Goodall, Yehudi Menuhin, plus many others, as well as the Camino de Santiago, in case you should want to know.

 

Rigoberta Menchú Tum and Nelson Mandela are laureates of both, the Nobel Prize as well as the Premio Príncipe de Asturias.

The Prince of Asturias award was first bestowed in 1981 and now celebrates its 26th anniversary (quite a way from the 106 year old Nobel Prize). But Spanish Prince Felipe after whom the award giving Foundation is named, has the slight advantage of still being alive and kicking, something that Mr. Alfred Nobel, sadly for him, can no longer claim.

Quite why the Prize giving scheme was conceived is anyone’s guess. I suspect that the Premios Príncipe de Asturias have to be seen in the historical context.

After a dictatorship of 40 years, Spain has been a Parlimentary System with a Constitutional Monarchy only since 1978. It is a system similar to the one in Great Britain. The Monarch is the head of the State and as such, represents Spain internationally. Prince Felipe is the 3rd child of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sophía. He was born in 1968; he will be 40 years old next January. His full name is Felipe Juan Pablo Alfonso de Todos los Santos de Borbón y Grecia. His Royal title is Prince of Asturias. He is also Prince of Girona and Prince of Viana. He is the Spanish Crown Prince, i. e. the future King of Spain, if things don’t change any time soon.

With a bit of maths you can work out that the prince was a mere 13 years old when the Premios Príncipe de Asturias were set up. I believe that the Spanish Royal family was then looking for a niche in the international scene. Spain also wanted to give itself an image of being democratic, pro-Western, open, liberal, dignified and humanitarian, attributes that this country had forgone during the dark years of Franco. Plus the young Prince also had to be given a role on the world stage with some prestige attached.

26  years on, Spain is a respected member of the world community, both in Europe and in the world. The Premios Príncipe de Asturias were certainly not fundamentally instrumental in getting Spain to this position, but they have hardly done any harm on the way there.

The Premios Príncipe de Asturias command prestige and respect already. They have not quite yet achieved the flair that the Nobel Prize evokes, but wait another 78 years, before we can take stock. They are in a close second position now and that is not bad going for such a young scheme.

The 2007 prize winners have already been named:

Writer, Amos Oz has won the ‘Premio Príncipe de Asturia de las Letras 2007’. Michael Schumacher won the award for Sports. Arts, Bob Dylan. German born British Lord Dahrendorf has won the ‘Premio Príncipe de Asturias’ for Social Sciences. Al Gore has won the ‘Premio Príncipe de Asturias’ for International Cooperation. Peter Lawrence and Ginés Morata have been chosen for Scientific and Technical Research.

 

And just a week ago or two, the ‘Premio Príncipe de Asturias de la Concordia’, was announced. Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, Israel, has been awarded the coveted prize.

 

The Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, an international institution in memory of the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust, aims to transmit to future generations the need for preserving human rights and, essentially, the respect for life. It is the only one of its kind in the world to also honour people who risked their own lives to save Jewish victims of the Shoah. Yad Vashem has become an important centre of information, research and education of one the largest genocides in the history of Mankind.

I just wish Israel would not only take good care of the memory of Jewish victims of the Holocaust, but would also begin to preserve human rights and respect for life in their own territory and in the immediate neighborhood in the present day, i. e. in Gaza, the Lebanon and also in Jerusalem. Too many victims and too much death, destruction, misery and hardship are caused on a daily basis in the vicinity of Yad Vashem.

If not, perhaps our children will visit an Intifada Museum in Gaza, one day, which the Premio Príncipe de Asturia might also choose to award some Concordia award to, in years to come. 

White Night, Light Night

La Noche en Blanco, or ‘White Night’ in English, is an all-night cultural extravaganza which takes place during one night every year in September. In Madrid, Spain, it will take place tomorrow night, September 22nd. Activities, events, circuits and performances are free of charge. The city of Madrid also puts on 24 hour public transport to make getting between events easier.

Begun in Paris as ‘Nuit Blanche’ in 2002, the event has since spread to numerous European cities, as well as São Paulo, Toronto, Montreal and Chicago and is known as Light Night in Leeds, UK. It is based on a similar German event, known as Long ‘Night of Museums’ (or, more precisely, Lange Nacht der Museen). A White Night was celebrated in Riga, Latvia, this August 25th, and in Rome, Italy, this September 6th. A Noche en Blanco will be celebrated in Brussels, Belgium, next week, September 29th, and in Paris, France, on October 9th when it will be called ‘La Nuit Blanche’.

For those of you that happen to be in Madrid this weekend, you might want to check on the lanocheenblanco website, if you happen to be near a computer. The programme is full of shows and exhibitions, theatre and music performances, street art and sound circuits, food and fun.

 

For those of you who are Barça followers (not a condition for the following though) do not despair. If it works for Madrid it more than works for Barcelona, one should think. The Noche en Blanco also has a Barcelona date which, unfortunately, is not until 2008. I shall let you know if and when.

It’s Madrid then this weekend, or no Noche en Blanco. 

 

A Puppy Dog’s Tale

I don’t want to have to write about Jeff Koons on this blog. But, I met this young guy at a wedding reception yesterday. Quite a nice chap. Intelligent. Ambitious. He told me that he was doing a thesis on Jeff Koons. A doctoral thesis. An academic postulation. What a waste of time. What a misguided use of energy. 

Now, you may or may not know that Jeff Koons is a middle aged American artist. He’s doing quite nicely, thank you very much. The piggy (see photo below) sold at an auction at Sotheby’s for 1,875,750 USD in November 2001, and it is only one of an edition of three copies.

Jeff Koons is better known perhaps for his puppy. Sorry, that is Puppy, with a capital P. That’s a 13 m tall dog sculpture made up of a metal scaffolding structure, constructed to hold over 25 tons of soil, covered with horticultural plants and watered by an internal irrigation system (see photo above). Again, this work of art exists in a number of mutations, and the one we know best here in Europe sits outside of the Museu Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain. Unfortunately, this one has not sold yet to a barmy art collector, and I had to suffer seeing it when I visited Bilbao a couple of months ago. Not quite true. I did not suffer. Nor did I suffer when I saw the puppy dog for the first time, some seven years ago. It might be quite pleasing on the eye, quite fun. Like one enjoys a hedge or a tree that a garden lover might have trimmed into funny shapes in his or her front garden. But art? Hang on a minute.

Jeff Koons’ Puppy was first  exhibited in the USA at New York City’s Rockefeller Center. First created in 1992 for a temporary exhibition in Germany, Puppy was a contemporary artwork that catapulted Koons’ marketing skill to new heights.

The thing is, I do not think that it is art. Standing outside of a museum does not make a plant object an art piece. Nor does a phenomenally high auction price make it art. Nor anything.

I do not want to deny Mr. Koons the label of art or artist. He can be whatever he wants to be. But I challenge him or his collectors any time and any day that what Jeff Koon produces, or has produced for him by others, is art, or is significant in art terms.

Jeff Koons was born in Pennsylvania, USA, in 1955. His work is easily recognized for being banal to the absurd, in fact, the piggy shown below is even called Banality. Koons’ earlier works from the late 1970s were mass-produced inflatable flowers and toys placed carefully on mirrors. You might remember the inflatable sculptures he did, or the one showing Michael Jackson playing with a monkey. You might also remember having seen some of Koons’ slightly provocative objects and paintings portraying the artist in explicit sexual positions with his then wife, Hungarian born actress and erstwhile member of the Italian parliament, Ilona Staller, aka Cicciolina. Their marriage was short lived; a son was born to them but now lives with the divorced mother in Rome.

The point I am trying to make is that, to me, Jeff Koons’ work epitomizes all that in my opinion is wrong with contemporary art. It is just form and no content. It is all superficial; perhaps it constitutes an icon but there is no message behind it, at least none that artists such as Andy Warhol or others would not have expressed or exhibited earlier and better.

I think that Jeff Koons is not an artist, but a non-artist. He likes to quote names such as Marcel Duchamp and others without ever grasping the difference between a Dada urinal as a statement of art and a super-sized flower puppy dog as a symbol of sillyness and banality.

I feel sorry for all of us having to endure such empty promises under the label of art. Are we all just too scared and timid to call trash just that, trash? Even 1,875,750 USD trash is just that, frightfully expensive trash.

 

I rather give credit to whom it is due. I can’t quite remember the guy’s name, but an Austrian Herrgottsschnitzer actually hand carved the Banality piggy (as seen above), when commissioned by Mr. Koons. I wonder what his fee might have been for carving the three little piggies. Now, he has demonstrated a solid craft and an exceptional skill. Perhaps this craftsman warrants a thesis or two, but really, not the man with the flower terrier.

The second Puppy photo (below) shows the same Bilbao terrier at a different time of the year, this time in full bloom. 

Nice dog. Nice flowers. No art. No thesis. 

The Last Picture Show

 

 

Sunday 18th September is the last day if you want to see some of the ultimate paintings of Dutch painter, Vincent van Gogh.

The place: Madrid, Spain. The venue: Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. The address: Palacio de Villahermosa, Paseo del Prado, 8. Telephone for advanced ticket reservations: 902.488.488. Entry fees are € 5 for the van Gogh show, € 7 for van Gogh and another temporary show, and € 12, if you want to see van Gogh plus everything else at the Thyssen-Bornemisza museum.

Now, van Gogh may be one of the best known names in Modern art, mainly because of his severed ear, and also because one of his paintings was the most expensive one ever sold at the time, Irises, when it was auctioned in 1987 by Sotheby’s, New York, for 53,900,000 USD and acquired but never paid for by Australian tycoon, Alan Bond. It was subsequently re-sold for a considerably lesser sum and is now the property of the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, Ca.

But did you know that this grand master of the brushstroke only ever took up art in 1880, only ten years before he died, aged 37, in 1890?

Allow me to quote the following from the Madrid museum’s website:

On 20th May 1890, Vincent van Gogh got off the train at Auvers-sur-Oise, a village situated 35 kms from Paris. The artist had recently left the mental asylum at Saint-Rémy and came to Auvers in search of better health and tranquillity, hoping to start a new life and a new cycle in his work as a painter. Just two months later, however, on 27th July, in the fields near the Château de Léry, van Gogh shot himself with a revolver, dying in agony in the early morning of 29th July.

While van Gogh was still a patient at Saint-Rémy, his brother Theo had been looking for a peaceful rural location close to Paris where Vincent could lead an independent life but discreetly watched over by a trusted friend. The painter Camille Pissarro suggested the name of Paul-Ferdinand Gachet, a doctor, amateur artist and old friend of some of the Impressionist painters including Pissarro himself, Cézanne and others. Gachet lived in Auvers-sur-Oise, which was one hour by train from the capital.

Van Gogh’s Auvers period was brief but extremely productive: in just seventy days the artist produced more than seventy paintings and around thirty drawings. This frenzied rhythm suggests a desperate race against time, as if the artist himself felt his days to be numbered. Before his arrival in Auvers, Vincent had spent three days in Paris at his brother’s house where he had been able to see his own paintings, which literally covered the walls of the apartment and were piled up under the bed, the sofa and under the cupboards. This experience of seeing all his work together for the first time had a profound affect on van Gogh and would determine his work over the following weeks, the last of his life. His final paintings would be a sort of recapitulation or epilogue to his entire career.

End of quote.

If you happen to be in Madrid over the next week or two, why not allow yourself to indulge in some beautiful colours and the vibrant spirit of a desperate man who must have painted, intuiting that his time was up as an artist, and as a tired human soul walking this planet.

 

If you prefer to appreciate life, and art, and the life of an artist, from the comfort of your armchair, I suggest the viewing of a movie called Van Gogh (1991), directed by French director, Maurice Pialat, with Jacques Dutronc in the lead role. The film offers an insight into the artist’s last 60 days at Auvers. The acting to me seemed more than convincing. I enjoyed it greatly.

 

Should you, however, not be able to make it to Madrid, because you happen to be nearer to Barcelona, here is a different suggestion: Picasso, another mad genius, but him with both ears intact.

The American photographer, model and war journalist, Lee Miller (1907-1977), wife of Roland Penrose, was lucky enough to befriend Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter but living in France. She documented that relationship through thousands of photographs. Some of her black & white photographs are now shown at the Picasso Museum in Barcelona in an exhibition entitled Picasso in Private, which is also on for two more weeks, until 16th September.

The place: Barcelona, Spain. The venue: Museo Picasso. The address: c/Montcada, 15-23. Telephone for ticket reservations: 93.256.3022. Admission is € 6 for the Picasso/Miller show, and € 8,50 if you want to see the Picasso photos by Lee Miller plus everything else at the Picasso museum, i. e. some real Picasso works.

 

I think that both shows merit a recommendation. Both artists certainly do, in my books. Lee Miller does, as well.

 

A Visit to Málaga

 

Instead of Málaga, it would have been more obvious to do a blog entry on Valencia at the time of the America’s Cup, being won by that infamous sailing nation, Switzerland. Well, I didn’t. I suppose I simply am not enough into sailing myself for having thought of the obvious choice. But don’t get upset. The Swiss Alinghi team’s win was the second triumph after 2003, as you all know, and thus, another Valencia regatta, this time the 33rd America’s Cup, will be raced in 2009. I will do a virtual visit of that Mediterranean city before the next competition. Promise.

But today, it’s Málaga’s turn. And hardly any sailing will be mentioned.

Málaga is a city full of history and tradition, but it is also the capital of the Costa del Sol. That’s in Andalucía, as far as Spanish provinces go. Andalucía’s capital is Sevilla, but again, that would be a different entry for some other time. The Phoenicians founded the city of Málaga, then called Malaka, around 1000 B. C. That was way before Moors or Arabs or Islam were thought of, or Alinghi or the Emirates Team.

After the Phoenicians came the Romans, to be followed by the Visigoths. The Moors came to Malaka in the 8th century A. D., and with them the Caliphate of Córdoba. During that time, Malaka became the capital of a distinct Kingdom, dependent on Granada. By now, the city was called Mālaqah.

Málaga today is rather cosmopolitan, making you feel welcomed wherever you might hail from. The locals are friendly and have a deep sense of hospitality. I am sure you will want to come back after your first visit.

The many natural scenic lookouts offer stupendous views of the bay, especially from the Gibralfaro Mount, next to Gibralfaro Castle, which once was a Moorish fortress. There is a Parador (hotel) right next to the castle, which is where I stayed with my family on a recent visit. Our journey centred on experiencing the unique gastronomy, history and culture of this part of Andalucía. The whole city is dotted with typical Spanish bars, some in the style of rustic tavernas, and others in the style of bodegas where you can try the typical local Los Montes wine, sweet, dry or semi-sweet. Try a dish of the local cuisine along with it, like tapas or seafood.

The Museo Antropológico (Anthropology Museum) is located in the Historic Centre, right in the Parque Natural de las Contadoras. Here you can view old wine presses and oil mills, and if you are lucky enough to arrive during grape harvesting, like during the next fortnight to three weeks, you might be able to join in the treading of the grapes, that will later become the exquisite Málaga Muscatel.

As well as the Paseo del Parque, which began as a carefully tended botanical garden, you can visit the Finca de la Concepción in the vicinity of the city. It belongs to the city council these days, although in the past it was the property of a renowned local couple. These are picturesque gardens, that at one turn make you feel as though you are in the tropics, and at the next, as being in a desert. Many beautiful and significant botanical species grow here. The whole area, including gardens and mansion, was built in the middle of the 19th century, and it has retained the beauty and learned atmosphere of its former owners.

The Retiro contains a bird park which is unique in Europe, with more than 300 species. It also has a beautiful historical garden that represents the period from the Middle Ages up to the 18th century.

The main museums are located in the city’s old town: Bellas Artes (Fine Arts), Arte Sacro (Religious Art) and Arte Contemporáneo (Contemporary Art). You will be going back a few centuries when you visit the Museo Arqueológico (Archaeological Museum) in the Alcazaba, the Teatro Romano (Roman Theatre), the Cathedral, with its one tower unfinished, and the Palacio de la Aduana (Customs House) near Paseo del Parque.

The pride of the locals is Málaga’s prodigious son, one Pablo Ruiz Picasso. You might want to visit his Casa Natal (birth place) in the Plaza de la Merced, or else the newish Museo Picasso Málaga which is housed in the exquisitely reformed Palacio de Buenavista, a nobleman’s palace dating back to the 16th century and lovingly restored and amplified, and re-opened in 2003. This museum is a mere two minutes walking distance from Málaga’s Cathedral. The Picasso Museum’s permanent collection centers around some very impressive works donated to the Spanish nation by the widow of Picasso’s oldest son, and in part on some very generous long term loans, also from heirs of Spain’s most famous painter. Admission was 6 € when we went. For tickets and reservations it is best to telephone 901.246.246.

Apart from Picasso, the most symbolic experiences you can have in Málaga are a visit to the Cenachero (the bronze sculpture of a young fisherman carrying his cenacho or basket of fish), and then to have a generous helping of fresh anchovies.

The whole of Málaga is a never-ending beach, stretching from Misericordia, which goes as far as the port area, to the beaches of Peñón del Cuervo near the hamlet of Cala del Moral. Take a walk along the Paseo Marítimo Antonio Machado (promenade), and pause for something to eat or drink in one of the many refreshment stands along the way.

For younger visitors the main areas of attraction are a short ride away: Benalmádena’s Puerto Marina and ’24 hour square’ and Marbella’s Puerto Banús are both out of town, some 20 kms and 40 kms to the west. Both are very trendy and chic, but be warned that bars, clubs and discos don’t get busy until near midnight and stay open till dawn.

If Picasso is of serious interest to you, and you have not been to Paris or Antibes, France, there are some other important Picasso places in Spain for you to see. The Museo Picasso in Barcelona is as much worth a visit as is the Museo Nacional Reina Sofía in Madrid, which houses Picasso’s Guernica masterpiece.

 

But Paris, Antibes, Barcelona and Madrid are all a long way away from the Costa del Sol and Málaga, I am afraid.

 

Not a World Heritage Site, Yet.

One of the most imaginative buildings you will ever have seen anywhere is the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, in northern Spain. Truly great architecture.

 

The problem is, it does not really work as a museum.

I consider Frank Gehry, the architect of the Bilbao museum, one of the great master architects of our times. Gehry, Canadian by birth, is sometimes associated with what is known as the Los Angeles School of architecture. He is the creator of some outstanding landmark buildings, such as the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the American Center in Paris, the Gehry Tower in Hannover, Germany, or the Marqués de Riscal Winery in Rioja, Spain. Frank Gehry was awarded the Pritzker Prize for Architecture in 1989. Gehry is considered a star architect, but he also sometimes sparks some vehement criticism. The spectacle of a Gehry building often overwhelms its intended use (especially in the case of museums), it is often said.

Well, I believe that to be true in the case of the Bilbao Guggenheim Museum building.

The Guggenheim Bilbao now celebrates its 10th anniversary. I have been to visit twice in the last six years, and I am utterly impressed by the sheer uniqueness of the building’s shape and expanse. Mind blowing. Stunning. Powerful. Strong. Very special indeed. Exceptional. But the art, on display inside the building, suffers from all the attraction that the architecture commands. Nothing on the walls can compete with the shell that encompasses it all. What a shame.

Perhaps the man is not to be blamed. Perhaps the problem is the perception of art in our time. Perhaps art has moved away from the soothing comforts of masterly brushstrokes of the times of van Gogh. Perhaps art is no longer the tease of the intellectual mind that it was during the heyday of Cubism, and perhaps art no longer wants to be a challenge for the onlooker as it was during the times of Picasso or Duchamps. Perhaps Joseph Beuys was the last artist for the Thinking Man and now, it is all but entertainment.

The Guggenheim Bilbao is all show and no content, all entertainment and no message.

In my mind, the Guggenheim Bilbao is entertainment pure and good, and nothing much else. For me that is not enough, and I feel short changed.

But if you want to judge for yourself: go to Bilbao. You will not be disappointed. You will be regally entertained. Wait till the end of the opening hours, before you leave the museum. On your way out you will be saluted by a spellbinding spectacle that is worthy of a circus performance. See for yourself.

Just don’t go to Bilbao for the art.

The Prado Museum in Madrid is Worth Another Visit

I am making plans to travel to Madrid in the autumn to visit the newly built extension of the Prado Museum.

Last time I visited the Prado was about a year ago when I attended a slightly disappointing ‘Picasso – Tradición y vanguardia’ show presented on the occasion of the Spanish artist’s 125th birthday.

 

The Prado museum is bursting at its seams, but luckily for the museum people, a deal could be struck with the Pope. The cloisters of the neighboring San Jerónimo church now forms part of the Prado museum, and work on the largest expansion in the Prado’s nearly 200 year history started at the end of 2002 with a budget of over 152 million Euros. This new 22,000 sqm annex was designed by Spanish architect Rafael Moneo from Navarra and was officially opened last March. The new wing adds fifty per cent to the museum’s total space allowing the Prado to exhibit some 500 more works from their vast permanent collection. The cloisters’ annex will also house the ticket booths, an auditorium and a new cafeteria. The annex is open to the public now without any artworks in place, i. e. empty and will officially open on 30 October with a special exhibit of 19th century Spanish paintings. To be honest, I shall be more interested in the architecture than the paintings.

 

A few years ago I had a chance to attend a talk given by Rafael Moneo in Mallorca. He is also the architect of the Miró Museum in Palma de Mallorca. Some other examples of his remarkable work are the Atocha railway station in Madrid, the Kursaal Auditorium in San Sebastian, Spain, and the Los Angeles Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. Moneo has also collaborated with Jørn Utzon in the making of the plans for the famous Opera House in Sydney, Australia, and he was awarded the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1995.

 

I can’t wait to see the Prado’s new cloisters.

 

The Museum of Contemporary Art in Madrid, the MNACRS Reina Sofía, has also had a new annex building added to it recently. I have visited this work by French architect, Jean Nouvel, already once, but will not hesitate to revisit the MNACRS on my forthcoming visit. You may have heard of Jean Nouvel with regard to the Torre Agbar building in Barcelona.

 

How about it, Rick? Will you come?