JaZzArt en València

So… even if the world is going crazy I have to get my morning nutrition. I imagine you have heard the US has attacked Iran… What is their president hoping for, another war? Hasn’t there been enough already? Nobody wants a nuclear powered Iran, but I think Israel could have handled them well enough… What do you think?

Me parece que más próxima estaría la destrucción… pero bueno esto lo pensó un comunista y destruir es la solución que ellos buscan… ¿No?

El «Guernica«, ¿Sera el cuadro más famoso del mundo? Bueno, se dice que lo vienen a ver miles y miles diariamente. Yo lo he visitado unas cuantas veces y con tanta gente en el salon (del Museo Reina Sofia) apenas se le puede hacer una fotografía, o mucho menos hacerse un selfie con él. Pero bueno, el cuadro tiene tela marinera… Pintado por Pablo Picasso en 1937, y ojo que le tomó solo dos meses en completar y el lienzo mide 776,6 cm × 349,3 cm.

El titulo alude al bombardeo del pueblo de Gernika, en Euskadi, durante la guerra civil española. Pero Picasso no lo pintó por indignación ni por hacer un planteamiento politico. No, lo pintó por un encargo de Max Aub, director general de Bellas Artes, y a petición del Gobierno de la Segunda República Española. La idea era exponerlo en el pabellón español durante la Exposición Internacional de 1937 en París. O sea, para ayudar a la posición de la República durante la guerra civil. Y le pagaron 200 mil francos.

Dato curioso: El «coste del Guernica supuso el 15 por 100 del costo total del pabellón español, unas nueve veces más que el precio máximo que hasta entonces había logrado Picasso por lo mejor pagado de su arte», (De la Puente, pp. 78-79).

Al comenzar la dictadura de Franco, Picasso permitió que el cuadro se lo llevaran al Museo de arte moderna de Nueva York (MoMA). El museo tuvo que devolverlo, reconociendo que los españoles lo habían pagado, y desde 1992 el cuadro vive en el Museo Reina Sofia de Madrid.

Hay dos cosas muy interesantes que creo debéis saber: Una es que las figuras, y posiblemente el tema, del Guernica las sacó Picasso de su obra «Minotauromaquia» de 1928. La segunda es que cuando estaba pintando el cuadro Picasso llevaba relaciones con tres mujeres: Olga, con quien todavia estaba casado, Marie-Thérèse Walter (la madre de su hija Maya) y Dora Maar. En una ocasión coincidieron Dora Maar y Marie-Thérèse en el estudio y delante del cuadro, que todavia estaba sin terminar, se pelearon las dos mujeres por él, cosa que agrado mucho al machirulo de Picasso. Debo decir que el Museo Reina Sofia guarda las fotos que le hizo Dora Maar documentando el desarrollo de la obra. Estas quizá sean hasta más interesante que la propia obra, digo yo.

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Is «Guernica», the most famous painting in the world? Well, it is said that thousands and thousands daily come to see it. I have visited it a few times and with so many people in the room (of the Reina Sofia Museum) you can hardly take a picture of it, much less take a selfie with it. But hey, this painting has many anecdotes. It was painted by Pablo Picasso in 1937, and he only took two months to complete it and it is immense, the canvas measures 776.6 cm × 349.3 cm.

The title refers to the bombing of town of Gernika, in Euskadi, during the Spanish Civil War. But Picasso did not paint it out of indignation or to make a propaganda painting. No, he painted it because it was a commission from Max Aub, general director of Fine Arts, and at the request of the government of the Second Spanish Republic. The idea was to exhibit it in the Spanish pavilion during the 1937 International Exhibition in Paris. The idea was to help the position of the Spanish Republic, in the midst of the civil war. Picasso was paid 200 thousand francs.

Curious fact: The «cost of the Guernica accounted for 15% of the total cost of the Spanish pavilion, about nine times more than the maximum price that Picasso had achieved until then for his best paid work of his Art», (De la Puente, pp. 78-79). Truth be told…

At the beginning of Franco’s dictatorship, Picasso allowed the painting to be taken to the Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA). The museum had to return it, acknowledging that the Spaniards had paid for it, and since 1992, the painting has been housed at the Reina Sofia Museum.

There are two very interesting things that I think you should know: one is that the figures, and possibly the theme, of the Guernica, Picasso took them out of his work «Minotauromaquia» from 1928. The second is that when he was painting it he was involved with three women: Olga, with whom he was still married, Marie-Thérèse Walter (the mother of his daughter Maya) and Dora Maar. On one occasion Dora Maar and Marie-Thérèse coincided in the studio, and in front of the painting, which was still unfinished, and the two women fought over him, something that Picasso, a «macho-man» really enjoyed and talked about forever. I must say that the Reina Sofia Museum keeps the photos that Dora Maar took documenting the development of the work. These may be even more interesting than the work itself, I say.

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GRACIAS – CHEERS

And here it is…

CHEERS

The cross, the most famous of all symbols and an image that has traversed all of Art History…

What do you think?

CHEERS

This is one of my favourite places on earth…

CHEERS

Just to see those who wear masks and why…

And there is…

And don’t forget…

And we cannot forget these…

And now we also have (supposed) ICE agents in the US who terrorise the population…

ICE claims they need to wear civilian clothes, wear masks and refuse to identify themselves to the public to avoid assaults. That sounds like a poor excuse. Police officers throughout the world make arrests daily and need not cover their faces nor conceal their identity. If ICE was conducting legal raids and making legitimate arrests they would not have to fear reprisals. They never did before. But what they are doing is committing acts of lawlessness. A detainee still has rights, and one of them is to know who is detaining them and why…

A face is the most important feature in living things, especially humans. This is the first thing we see as new-borns and from that moment on our brains become wired to see faces in just about everything. As an artist I am fascinated by faces and for a while I called myself a «Facist Painter». However, that descriptive adjective did not go too well as people thought it said «fascist» and imagined that I was, which I am not, totally against them wherever they might be… So I changed to «JaZzArtiSt»…

Check this out and tell me what you think…

CHEERS

Bueno, es un cuadrito, pero los «expertos» lo consideran una de las pinturas arquetípicas del renacimiento italiano. Yo lo considero un retrato de segunda categoría. Pero, igual, es uno de los cuadros que hay que conocer para poder decir que uno tiene al menos un chin de cultura. Se dice que es el retrato de Lisa del Giocondo, una muer de alta cuna. Leonardo, flojo como siempre, se tardó tres años pintándolo, pero eso me parece un poco excesivo para un cuadrillo de tan pequeñas dimensiones, (77 x 53 cm) pintado al óleo sobre un panel de álamo y que al final el pintor jamás entrego a la familia Giocondo. Se supone que lo que vemos lo haya pintado entre el 1503 y el 1506, pero dicen…las malas lenguas…que Leonardo siguió dándole toques hasta bien entrado el 1517. El rey Francisco I de Francia compró el cuadro en 1519, despues de la muerte de su autor, y desde entonces la Mona Lisa pertenece a la Republica Francesa. Está expuesto en el Louvre desde 1797. Ahora, os dire que la razón por la cual este cuadrito se ha hecho tan famoso. Porque se lo robaron (El hombre que se robó la Mona Lisa) y después de recuperarlo se lo llevaron en una gira por el mundo entero, saliendo constantemente en todos los periódicos. Fue una campaña de marketing brutal. Ahí tenéis mi opinión. Sí, creo que es importante, pero también, muy importante, es saber el porqué de las cosas.

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Well, it’s a wee, small painting, by Leonardo da Vince, but the «experts» (good grief experts!) consider it one of the archetypal paintings of the Italian Renaissance. I consider it a second-class portrait. But, anyway, it is one of the paintings that one has to know to be able to say that one has at least one measure of culture. It is said that it is the portrait of Lisa del Giocondo, a noblewoman. Leonardo, lazy as always, took three years to paint it, but that seems a bit excessive for a square of such small dimensions, (77 x 53 cm) painted in oil on a poplar panel. Well, in the end the painter never gave the painting to the family Giocondo. It is assumed that what we see has been painted between 1503 and 1506, but they say…the gossips… that Leonardo continued to «paint» it until well into 1517. King Francis I of France bought the painting in 1519, after the death of its author. Since then the Mona Lisa belongs to the French Republic. It has been exhibited in the Louvre since 1797. Now, I will tell you that the reason why this wee portrait has become so famous. Because they stole it (the man who stole the Mona Lisa) and after recovering it, they took the painting on a world tour. It appeared constantly in all the newspapers. It was a brilliant marketing campaign. There you have my opinion. Yes, I think it’s important, but also, very important, is knowing the reason why some paintings are important in Art History.

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GRACIAS – CHEERS

So I have asked you, and you have responded. Your definitions of art are phenomenal and I greatly appreciate them. And I agree with all the points of view as expressed. But I must add that to me, art is a profession. It is not a whim, a dream, or a spiritual experience. Neither does it depend on inspiration or muses to exist. I paint because it is my chosen career, my profession and my job, and I love it. But it is a profession which I treat just like if it had been medicine, architecture or engineering.

To be a professional artist one does not need formal schooling, but one needs to learn. And there is no such thing as being a self-taught artist. One cannot teach oneself something one does not know. You cannot teach yourself how to build a rocket to the moon or a submarine to explore the Mariana Trench. So, you either take the classical approach and go to uni or you find yourself a master, or a private academy and you enrol and learn and then you keep on learning, because art is the result of the search and searching means exploring, investigating, and ultimately learning.

So, yes, art is beautiful, meaningful, and a perfect expression of our humanity. But that art that is so appreciated was created by artists that worked hard, explored hard and solved problems within their canvases or sculptures, to arrive at the final product. And finally, artists work because they want to get paid. So, in the end, art is a means of making money. And there is nothing wrong with that. I am sure you, like everyone else, works for money, not for the love of art…

CHEERS