CORNEILLE / Netherlands
CHRISTO und Politeo
MATTA / Chile
ARMAN und Politeo
LÜPERTZ / Germany
The graphic portfolio "Federico Garcia Lorca" of the Collection Politeo
Fifty international artists from four continents are brought together by the first project of the "art place berlin" at the Park Inn Berlin-Alexanderplatz. The artists dedicated their works to the cosmopolitan, poet and dramatist Federico Garcia Lorca, who became an icon of political, artistic-intellectual and religious freedom after his assassination in 1936 by the Spanish fascists.
AGAM Israel ARMAN U.S.A. BERROCAL Spain BOGAERT Netherlands BRACCHITTA Italy BRANDES Denmark BUCAN Croatia CANOGAR Spain CAPA Spain CARUNCHO Spain CHRISTO UND JEANNE-CLAUDE U.S.A. COGNEE France COMBAS France CORNEILLE Netherlands DE GUIMARAES Portugal ERRO Iceland GIRBES Spain GORDILLO Spain GUINOVART Spain KLASEN Germany KOCHI Japan KOUNELLIS Greece KOZARIC Croatia KRIKI France KUCKEI Germany LEIBERG Germany LESIAK Croatia LINDSTRÖM Sweden LLONA Peru LÜPERTZ Germany MARKOS Hungaria MATTA Chile MA TSE LIN China MESSAGIER France MIOTTE France MONDINO Italy MOYA Spain MURTIC Croatia NOVAK Croatia RANCILLAC France SCHLEIME Germany SELDEN U.S.A. SEGUI Argentina SOTO Venezuela STÄMPFLI Switzerland SUNAGAWA Japan TEXIER France VEDOVA Italy VELICKOVIC France YUN HYONG KEUN Korea
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The idea for the project was born in winter 1977 when the Croatian art collector Toni Politeo went for a walk with the Spanish painter Luis Caruncho in Madrid. About sixty years ago a young Andalusian had continued his studies at the university of this city: Federico Garcia Lorca - poet and dramatist, musician and painter, freethinker and reformer, a friend of Salvador Dali and Luis Buñuel, and an avowing homosexual. In 1963, the fascistic Falangists put a violent end to his comet-like career at the age of only 38, after chasing him as a subversive writer, communist and antinationalistic gay. Toni Politeo however wanted to erect a memorial in his honour. Thus the idea of a graphic portfolio on Garcia Lorca evolved. International artists should make artistic contributions in memory of a genius, who became an icon of freedom as a literary avant-gardist and cosmopolitan, not only in the fascistic Franco-regime but also widely beyond the borders of Spain.
Travelling round the world Toni Politeo won over artists from 22 countries - from China to Chile - to his idea. A lot of well-known personalities supported him - for example the art reviewer Pierre Restany who gave the "Nouveaux Réalistes " their name in 1960. From this group "Arman" and the wrapping artist Christo are represented in the portfolio. In the summer of 2003 the project was completed. The Garcia Lorca portfolio which contains coloured lithographies and serigraphs originated in the 1990ies. It is a homage to a generalist who sowed instead of hatred, violence, intolerance and political regress love, truth and understanding and who united the folk art of his homeland with modernity. Politeo's compilation became also an informative tour through the contemporary international art and the list of the involved artists sounds like a "Who is who in modern art?" There are many anecdotes surrounding this project of the cunning Politeo, who opened the first private gallery in the former Eastern Bloc in 1977. Eventually, despite of its recency, it became a document of cultural, artistic and historic importance. Posthumously it is a memorial to those artists involved who died during the first years of the new millennium - among others Arman, Roberto Matta, Jean Messagier, Edo Murtic, Jésus Raphael Soto, Aldo Mondino or Emilio Vedova. In this era of increasing globalisation the portfolio sets an example for international understanding of nations and cultures, for tolerance as well as for the freedom of the individual in a world which is closing ranks more and more. The fact that some involved artists had first-hand experiences with a totalitarian state contributes to the authenticity of the portfolio.
Musicality, mysticism and metaphorical images are shaping Garcia Lorca's virtuoso language which found its congenial expression in the Politeo portfolio by the plurality and internationality of the artists involved. Garcia Lorca's linguistic richness corresponds with the lithographies' stylistic variety and power of colours: ranging from a figurative Naturalism used by Markus Lüpertz and Cornelia Schleime to an abstract or geometrical Expressionism used by Edo Murtic or Peter Stämpfli to a literally "memorial-writ" used by Paul Bogaret and an emblematic abstraction used by Jésus Raphael Soto. Roberto Matta who knew Garcia Lorca personally was inspired by Dali's surrealistic portrait of the poet made in 1924 in Madrid when he created "his" Garcia Lorca whose single eye is setting its sight visionarily on the viewer.
Garcias Lorca's literary work is deeply connected with the traditions of his Andalusian homeland. Born in 1898, as a son of a great land owner near Granada, Garcia Lorca studied jurisprudence, literature and philosophy, first in Granada, then, since 1919 in Madrid. He became co-founder of the later so-called "Generation of 1927" ("Generación del 27") a group of young poets between Symbolism and Surrealism. In 1927 the premier of his drama "Mariana Pineda" staged by himself and decorated by Salvador Dali was a great success in Barcelona. One year later his famous "Gipsy Ballads" appeared. Triumphal stays in New York, on Cuba and in Argentina were following. Although he was partyless, critical of society and belonged to a sexual minority he had friends up to the highest political ranks. Thus, in 1931 the proclamation of the Spanish Republic entrusted him with new tasks: hence he went on tour with the travelling theatre "La Barraca" passing the Spanish provinces to spread the Spanish classical theatre even to the remotest parts of the country. Back then a third of the population still consisted of illiterates. Alongside there were further stage plays in the making - among others the tragedy "Bodas de sangre" ("Bloody wedding") in 1933, his first box-office success. After Franco's putsch of the leftist "People's Front" government Garcia Lorca was caught by the Hitler-backed Falange in 1936, although he was hiding in the house of a poet friend in Granada who himself was a devotee of the Falange. Three days later he was executed by a gun shot near Granada without a legal trial. Thereafter his works were prohibited by the Franco-Regime.
Last but not least the Garcia Lorca portfolio is an appeal to make sure that everything will "not be a terrible repetition" as the poet wrote in his last drama "La Casa de Bernarda Alba" ("The House of Bernarda Alba") - a repetition of a senseless death in a senseless world; Senseless because it is based on hatred, incomprehension and violence.
The fifty graphic works are displaying their signal effect particularly well in the exhibition of "art place berlin" at the Park Inn Berlin-Alexanderplatz where they are seen by many thousands of international guests and visitors, not only from Berlin but from all over the world.