1
APRIL - ΜAY 2019 The electronic journal of the Basil and Elise Goulandris Foundation
Cover: Marc Chagall, Portrait E.B.G.
EDITORIAL TEAM Paraskevi Gerolymatou, Andreas Georgiadis, Marie Koutsomallis-Moreau, Alexandra Papakostopoulou, Klio Panourgias Designed and edited by
Τ +30 210 - 7252896 www.moca-andros.gr | www.goulandris.gr
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
5
PLANNING FOR THE OPENING O F T H E N E W M U S E U M I N AT H E N S
6
P R E S E N TAT I O N O F N E W LO G O
12
ANNOUNCEMENT OF SUMMER EXHIBITION
20
I N S I D E T H E F O U N D AT I O N ’ S P E R M A N E N T C O L L E C T I O N
24
RETROSPECTIVE OF THE ANDROS MUSEUM
26
C U LT U R A L A G E N D A
30
By Kyriakos Koutsomallis, Director of the Basil and Elise Goulandris Foundation
M U S E U M O F C O N T E M P O R A R Y A R T, A N D R O S
Mαrc Chagall, Portrait E.B.G.
Alberto Giacometti
Presentation of important art exhibitions from around the world
IN PLACE OF A PROLOGUE
In this 23nd edition of our electronic newsletter, we are in the pleasant position to announce the forthcoming opening of the Basil and Elise Gouandris Foundation Museum in the centre of Athens, specifically in the Kallimarmaro area, as well as the new logo which, as an representative means of visual communication will carry the identity of a contemporary, internationally recognisable establishment. In a previous issue we made the commitment to present a different work from the Foundation’s collection each time. The work presented here is easily recognisable as being by Marc Chagall, the painter of colourful, lyrical narratives who, through the nostalgic memory of primitive infantile truth, painted in joyful, happy colour tones, escaping the rules of logical aesthetic narration. In connection to our intention to recall, in each edition, one of the important exhibitions which helped establish and elevate the Museum on Andros to internationally recognised artistic circles, this time we remember the 1992 exhibition dedicated to Alberto Giacometti, one of the pioneers of the European avant-garde movement. We are also happy to announce the forthcoming summer exhibition at the Museum on Andros, dedicated to the distinguished Greek painter of the diaspora, Dico Byzantios, who lived and distinguished himself in Paris for over half a century. Finally, in the edition’s cultural agenda, you will find useful information on planned artistic events throughout the world. Kyriakos Koutsomallis Director
5
6
PLANNING FOR THE OPENING
OF THE NEW MUSEUM IN ATHENS
7
The beginning of the operation of the museum will signal the beginning of a new chapter for the Foundation. 8
OPENING OF THE NEW MUSEUM IN ATHENS OCTOBER 1ST Art lovers are preparing to welcome the impressive building which will house the new Basil & Elise Goulandris Foundation Museum, located at 13 Eratosthenous Street - just a short distance from the Kallimarmaro Stadium - at the beginning of autumn. The museum’s opening programme, which will comprise a series of events beginning on Tuesday 1st October 2019, will be announced soon. The beginning of the operation of the museum will signal the end of a long period of uncertainty for its prospects due to the cancellation of initial plans for its construction on land offered by the Greek State. Mainly, however, it will signal the beginning of a new chapter for the Foundation, whose aim is, in parallel to the museum on Andros, to promote this new home as a vehicle for the development of pioneering cultural activities through the exploitation of contemporary museological applications in the field of modern and contemporary Greek and international art. The new museum, which will be called “Basil & Elise Goulandris Foundation”, is housed in a self-owned building, which has occurred from the harmonious interaction between a listed, interwar building and a contemporary extension. Its construction began in August 2012 and was completed in October 2018. The choice of location was based on the wish of Basil & Elise Goulandris for the museum to be situated in a central area of the capital, within the cultural axis Athens which includes the city’s large museum and easily accessible to visitors.
9
The museum, which has a total surface area of 7,250 sq m and extends over 11 floors, will house rare works by important artists of the modern and contemporary European avant-garde including Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Monet, Degas, Rodin, ToulouseLautrec, Bonnard, Picasso, Braque, Léger, Miró, Giacometti, Balthus and others, as well as works by distinguished Greek pioneering painters such as Parthenis, Bouzianis, Vasiliou, Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas, Tsarouchis, Moralis, Tetsis, and others. It will also host temporary exhibitions by Greek and foreign artists which will be in keeping with the exhibition policy followed by the Foundation over the past thirty-five years. Auxiliary spaces will house the museum’s shop and café-restaurant, art library, children’s workshop, as well as a state-of-the-art auditorium with a capacity of 190 seats. The project also includes the redesign of the square of Agios Spiridonas offered as a gift by the Basil & Elise Goulandris Foundation to the Municipality of Athens PLANNING/DESIGN: Architectural Design: I & A Vikelas and Partners Architectural design of amphitheatre & shop: Nikolaos Moustroufis Structural/static design: G. Lambrou & Partners Electrical Engineering: L.D.K. Engineering Consultants SA Acoustics: Gottfried Schubert Ακουστική Μελέτη: Gottfried Schubert Square restoration and outdoor areas: Studio 75 Signage Design: Mikri Arktos Project Management: N. K. Malatestas & Partners Construction Management: Frank E. Basil
10
11
12
PRESENTATION
OF NEW LOGO
13
On occasion of the founding of the new museum in Athens, the Basil and Elise Goulandris Foundation has designed a new logo, which will also form the nucleus of a new comprehensive system of visual communication, capable of serving the needs of a contemporary cultural institution of international prominence. The new logo is a reference to its founders, Basil and Elise Goulandris, within a circular composition that includes an abstract rendition of the letters B and E. On a secondary level, the circle joins the two letters creating a reflection which semeiologically refers both to the founders, who operated as two sides of the same entity and to the fundamental importance of the people who are behind the Foundation’s creative course. The approach, simple and geometric, applies the Golden section, the Pythagorean system of ratios used by Phidias and countless other artists for over 2.500 years. The use of the letters B and E offers the opportunity for recognition and comprehension in Latin-based languages. The logo’s simple design allows it to respond creatively to all the requirements of modern communication (printed and digital applications). The colour pallet is light blue, thus completing the references to the identity of its founders. The font used for the logo and the Foundation’s visual communications is CF Asty Pro. Designed by Panagiotis Charatzopoulos, it is characterised by geometric forms with additional humanist traits, which create a harmony with the logo while remaining remarkably legible and maintaining a particular character.
14
The new logo is a reference to its founders, Basil and Elise Goulandris. 15
The approach, simple and geometric, applies the Golden section.
16
16
PRESENTATION OF NEW LOGO
The logo and the Foundation’s new visual communication system were designed by Mikri Arktos and Focal Interactive.
PRESENTATION OF NEW LOGO
Γιώργος Μπουζιάνης
Από τον μύθο στην πραγματικότητα
18
The colour pallet is light blue, thus completing the references to the identity of its founders.
19
20
EXHIBITION MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, ANDROS
DICO (KONSTANTINOS) BYZANTIOS
ABSTRACTION AND FIGURATION ANDROS, 30 JUNE – 22 SEPTEMBER 2019
21
22
ANNOUNCEMENT OF SUMMER EXHIBITION
This retrospective tribute to Dico Byzantios is a due debt of remembrance to the illustrious painter of the diaspora who distinguished himself in the Parisian art scene for over half a century. The son of the painter Pericles Byzantios, he was raised in a family environment that influenced (his future choices), his intellectual and artistic pursuits in a number of ways. Aged 16, he was accepted at the ASFA. In December 1945, he was forced to expatriate in order to avoid the vortex of the fratricide divisions of the civil war. He was the youngest among the two-hundred Greek passengers of the legendary transport ship Mataroa, whom embarked on a journey towards freedom of thought thanks to a French government scholarship and at the intervention of Octave Merlier and Roger Milliex, two philhellenes of the French Institute in Athens. In Paris, which was destined to become his second home, he immediately felt the warmth and guidance of the hospitable circle of Dimitris Galanis. He soon became friends with Alberto Giacometti and, over time, with artists such as P. Soulages, S. Poliakoff, Vieira da Silva and others. During his artistic career, there were three important work circles: 1) The abstract period which lasted until 1972 and ended with a retrospective exhibition at the Galliera Museum. (1945 – 1972) 2) The period of black and white drawings on paper which were exalted in an in-depth and visionary text by the philosopher Michel Foucault. (1972 – 1981) 3) The period of anthropocentric compositions that began in 1981, lasted to the end of his life, and were exhibited in numerous exhibitions around the world. (1981 – 2007) His works are included in the collections of the largest European museums. The French government, wishing to highlight his contribution to art and considering him an important representative of the École de Paris, awarded him top honours including Knight of the Legion of Honour (Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur) and later Knight of the Arts and Literature (Officier des Arts et des Lettres).
23
24
I N S I D E T H E F O U N D AT I O N ' S PERMANENT COLLEC TION
Marc Chagall (1887-1985)
Portrait de E.B.G. , 1969 Oil on canvas, 92 x 74 cm Basil and Elise Goulandris Foundation
If painters can be divided into two categories - those who are ‘ruled’ by colour and those who ‘serve’ line - then this portrait, a work of maturity, shows yet again that Chagall belongs to the colourists, those completely committed to the worship of colour. His life and painting have three determining focal points – Russia, the Holy Land and the Mediterranean. Of these three ‘worlds’ -of his childhood, his religious origins and then conscious choice, the latter seemed to allow full expression to his art, with colour as the prime element. On the Côte d'Azur, where the artist lived from 1949, home in Vence and, later, in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, but especially in Greece, which deeply impressed him - he first visited it in 1952 with his friend and eminent Greek publisher, Stratis Eleftheriadis (Tériade) - Chagall was struck by the clarity of the light: “There, everything is light… [a] unique light, [an] amazingly lucid and delicate light.” For Chagall, light exists to show up colour; and colour, in his painting, means love: “Only one colour exists in our life, exactly as on the painter’s palette, which can convey the meaning of Life and of Art; the colour of love.” For him, the motivating force for creativity is love and, in his pictures, a male figure next to a female, can only suggest love. Portrait of E.B.G. combines Chagall’s personal ‘mythology’ with the world of the woman it depicts. Here, lovers and colours become a couple on a boat outing; the effusive oranges and mauves in the dress, the blue of the sky and sea which surrounds the elements of the Greek woman’s happiness. Chagall has painted a small white dog for friendship, fruit for prosperity - on a small but fateful island - flowers and trees for the joy of life, a flying fish for the fairy-tale; and still higher the boat for E.B.G.’s travels and for him, who, like a thought, hovers above her and always by her. “Is not painting and colour inspired in us by Love?”
25
The exhibition catalogue
26
RETROSPECTIVE OF THE ANDROS MUSEUM
Alberto Giacometti 28 JUNE – 6 SEPTEMBER 1992
The Alberto Giacometti exhibition was included in the museum’s planning framework which aimed at presenting artists who had defined 20th century Western art. Giacometti
is, undoubtedly, one of those who played a fundamental role in the prominent aesthetic order of his time.
The exhibition – the third dedicated to Giacometti in the same year (1992), after the retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris and Sara Hildén Museum
of Art in Tampere, Finland – which included 110 works from all categories: drawings, paintings, sculpture, went to great lengths to offer viewers an inclusive retrospective
presentation of his work. It was realised thanks to generous loans by organisations and private collectors who responded positively to our request to contribute to the manifestation of this venture.
27
RETROSPECTIVE OF THE ANDROS MUSEUM
28
29
C U LT U R A L A G E N D A
BASEL
VIENNA
ALBERTINA FROM RUBENS TO MAKART
Over 100 paintings and sculptures from the important collection of the Princely family, which cover an impressive period from the Early Renaissance in Italy to the Baroque era, from the Biedermeier period to the period of Makart.
FONDATION BEYELER: THE YOUNG PICASSO – BLUE AND ROSE PERIODS
The exhibition Picasso Panorama already on show at the Fondation Beyeler has added a further large part entitled “The Young PICASSO - Blue and Rose periods”, thus dedicating the entire museum exclusively to works by Pablo Picasso. Duration of exhibition until 26/05/2019 www.fondationbeyeler.ch
Duration of exhibition until 10/06/2019 www.albertina.at
PA R I S
GENOVA
PALAZZO DUCALE: GIORGIO DE CHIRICO.
IL VOLTO DELLA METAFISICA Retrospective exhibition containing over 100 works covering his entire painting output with loans from museums, foundations and private collections.
Duration of exhibition until 07/07/2019 www.palazzoducale.genova.it
30
CENTRE POMPIDOU VASARELY | SHARING FORMS
The first large retrospective in France is dedicated to Victor Vasarely. Through three hundred works, objects and documents the exhibition explores Vasarely’s world and highlights all aspects of the creative production of the father of Op art. Duration of exhibition until 30/05/2019 www.centrepompidou.fr
MILAN
MUDEC: ROY LICHTENSTEIN. MULTIPLE VISIONS
Through 80 works, the exhibition presents a long creative period spanning 40 years, from the post-war era to the end of the Cold War. Duration of exhibition until 08/09/2019 www.mudec.it
FRANKFURT
STÄDEL MUSEUM: TITIAN AND THE RENAISSANCE IN VENICE
The largest exhibition of works by Tiziano in Germany which presents the particularity of the Venice Renaissance through works by Giovanni Bellini, Jacopo Palma il Vecchio, Sebastiano del Piombo, Lorenzo Lotto, Jacopo Tintoretto, Paolo Veronese and others. Duration of exhibition until 26/05/2019 www.staedelmuseum.de
PA R I S
FONDATION LOUIS VUITTON THE COURTAULD COLLECTION: A VISION FOR IMPRESSIONISM
The exhibition presents the collection of Samuel Courtauld, which has not been presented in Paris for over 60 years, with around 110 works by Manet, Seurat, Cézanne, Gauguin and others. Duration of exhibition until 17/06/2019 www.fondationlouisvuitton.fr
MADRID
NATIONAL MUSEUM THYSSENBORNEMISZA: BALTHUS
Large retrospective exhibition dedicated to the important artist with a remarkable illustrative language, Balthus. He is considered one of the great masters of 20th century art presented through works from every period of his career. Duration of exhibition until 26/05/2019 www.museothyssen.org
31
C U LT U R A L A G E N D A
BILBAO
GUGGENHEIM: GIORGIO MORANDI AND THE OLD MASTERS
STOCKHOLM
THE MODERNA MUSEET GILBERT & GEORGE
Since the period of his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna, Giorgio Morandi concentrated his painting on landscapes and still lifes which represent the majority of his output.
Gilbert & George are two people but a single artist, an undivided artistic entity. This exhibition presents their unique artistic vision through over fifty works selected by them and hung from floor to ceiling.
LONDON
AMSTERDAM
Duration of exhibition until 06/10/2019 www.guggenheim-bilbao.eus
TATE MODERN: PIERRE BONNARD. THE COLOUR OF MEMORY
First large exhibition dedicated to Pierre Bonnard in the United Kingdom after 20 years, at the Tate. A challenge to younger generations to discover Bonnard’s unusual use of colour and a surprise for those who believe they already know him. Duration of exhibition until 06/05/2019 www.tate.org.uk
32
Duration of exhibition until 12/05/2019 www.modernamuseet.se
RIJKSMUSEUM ALL THE REMBRANDTS
This exhibition is divided into three parts and focuses on different aspects of Rembrandt’s life through his works: landmarks in his career, his environment and the people in his life. Duration of exhibition until 10/06/2019 www.rijksmuseum.nl
ROTTERDAM
KUNSTHAL: PICASSO ON PAPER
For Pablo Picasso, the art of printing was a medium he used with great pleasure for experimentation. He produced over 2,500 prints, using a great variety of techniques. Some of the highlights of this exhibition are the colour lino prints representing still lifes, bull-fights, mythological scenes and, particularly, female figures. Duration of exhibition until 12/05/2019 www.kunsthal.nl
AMSTERDAM
VAN GOGH MUSEUM: HOCKNEY - VAN GOGH
The exhibition presents the shared love of both artist for nature. Hockney identifies with the work of Van Gogh and both artists are charmed by the seasons which bring about constant changes. Duration of exhibition until 10/06/2019 www.vangoghmuseum.nl
LONDON
TATE BRITAIN: VAN GOGH & BRITAIN
This exhibition creates a dialogue between the renowned Dutch painter and British artists (such as Bacon, Bomberg and others), highlighting how his vision guided British artists on the path of contemporary art. Duration of exhibition until 11/08/2019 www.tate.org.uk
NEW YORK
MOMA: JOAN MIRÓ BIRTH OF THE WORLD
An impressive presentation of 60 works from 1920 to 1950, centred around his career landmark painting “The Birth of the World”. Duration of exhibition until 15/06/2019 www.moma.org
33
visit our official page in facebook
B E Goulandris Foundation
34