What words could define the design? Beauty, ergonomics, functionality, simplicity… A good design is more complex than a functional object, and its definition is broader than a merely aesthetic object. It is as multifaceted, flexible, dynamic and profound as the daily life of a modern man is.
The name of the city of Naples has been resonating for almost three thousand years, and for good reason it is one of the oldest and most cultural in the world. From Greeks, to Etruscans and Romans among others, its inhabitants left a mark that lasts today. This scenario was the perfect one for the development of an art like in few other places. Despite the convulsive years of epidemics, wars and political changes between Spaniards, Italians and Austrians, Naples seemed to want to show the world its prestige through the splendor of art and patronage.
Antoni Clavé, Francisco Bores and a long etcetera of Spanish artists found in the Paris of the historical avant-gardes, the fertile soil in which to develop their work.
The unparalleled cultural hotbed that took place in Paris at the beginning of the 20th century was an inalienable attraction for a multitude of artists of all nationalities, who came to the French capital in search of new stimuli . Among them, it is worth highlighting the extensive list of Spanish artists who came to Paris fleeing from the artistic practices of a turn-of-the-century society anchored in the past. In this sense, pioneering artists on this journey such as Julio Gonzalez, Maria Blanchard, Juan Gris, Joan Miró or Pablo Picasso are part of the universal history of art and more specifically are considered great references in the evolution of contemporary art. All of them, with the exception of Miró, and despite having settled in Paris before the outbreak of the Civil War, will never return to their country of origin, becoming a catalyst for future generations of artists who, above all, found in Picasso a figure around which they clustered.
Dark eyes full of strength stare at the viewer. They look almost like a beacon within the canvas, totally enveloped in shadows where the brush strokes of the wig and dress intertwine with the background itself. The enigmatic look that the lady possesses is perhaps the main reason why academics a century ago chose her as part of the Goya 1900 exhibition, already as referenced in the supplement to the exhibition catalogue.
Egypt could not be understood without its vision of the Hereafter, the search for eternity after death. Much of the testimonies that have come down to us are a reflection of that idea of life. Religion regulates this aspiration, the ancient beliefs of the Egyptian civilization direct man to prepare his whole life for the journey that awaits him. Every deed he does will be judged at the judgment of Osiris.
Impressionistic? Cubist? fauvist? There are many labels with which Raoul Dufy’s work has been defined and delimited. But the truth is that the painter of Norman origin traveled through these isms without ever leaving his own trail.
In the Paris of Picasso Cocteau or Apolliner and the million isms that swarmed at that time in the world capital of art, Dufy represents a great vortex born in the School of Paris capable of assimilate and adapt the precepts and interests of impressionism, cubism and fauvism based on their own, recording in each and every one of its creative stages the hedonistic character , which as an identity seal earned it the qualification of “born under the sign of pleasure.” However, although the apparent frivolity and superficiality of his aesthetics is true, his work is the result of the continuous experimentation to which he submits it in a constant search for new plastic solutions that slowly developed a completely personal language, more complex than naked eye we guess.
The origins of Christian places of worship were not buildings dedicated exclusively to prayer, but a chamber within a building, such as a room or a small corner, intended for that purpose. Here, one or two people could pray without being part of a congregation. From its origin in the Middle Ages to its heyday in the 17th century, when the altarpieces became authentic magnum opuses, they went through various mutations, among them and one of the most interesting without a doubt, were the changes that came with the Renaissance .
Since ancient times, nature has been a source of inspiration for man. From it, all the artists have drunk for the elaboration of their works, and the goldsmiths could not be less.
In the beginning, bones, skulls, skins served as adornment to the human being, then with the passage of time, jewelry takes the examples of flora and fauna as a creative motif. The animals give the pieces strength, personality and rebelliousness. The plant world offers a varied color palette and is a source of inspiration for all the arts and at all times.
Throughout the history of art, the biblical figure of Eve has been the subject of countless representations whose iconography has built and sustained a certain archetype of the female gender.
The episodes from the life of the first parents of humanity have occupied a preferential place in artistic imagery due in large part to the fundamental role they played in the spread of Christian doctrine, but also and above all during the Renaissance for being a theme that allowed them to combine religiosity with anatomical studies that were so essential in their development. Illustrating bibles and codices, forming part of altarpieces and capitals or in completely independent works, artists of all time as prominent as Memling, Cranach, Dürer, Titian or Rubens wanted to capture one of the great biblical episodes on which culture has been based. Western religion since the Middle Ages.
Originally from Greek and Roman antiquity, the garland as an artistic element became popular again in northern Europe thanks to the Flemish painter Jan Brueghel the Elder, who began to resume the use of those also known as borders, which although whose original objective was to frame, decorate and enhance a central image, they became true masterpieces of still life painting.
One of the pillars of the Christian faith is the conviction that human beings were created in the image and likeness of God. If we transfer this idea to the world of art, we observe that it is done in reverse, that is, the virgins, saints and Jesus acquire the physical features of each population. Art in America assumes this postulate and takes it as a guide to display unique works throughout the world.
The new faith established in the American territories brought with it from renewing ways of life to European artistic influences. For example, a flamenco panel from the beginning of the 16th century, with a virgin with golden hair and pale skin, would be unusual in a city like Mexico or Lima. Art therefore had to adapt to aesthetic canons, local traditions and, of course, to the appearance of its faithful. Let’s start with the most obvious case of all, the Virgin of Guadalupe.
The work of Peter Zimmerman is considered one of the most outstanding contributions to international pictorial abstraction
Throughout the history of art, there have been many great artists who have raised a vital question in artistic practice: How can art be transformed to reflect the new reality of our time? In this sense, Peter Zimmerman has become a paradigm of current art thanks to his revolutionary way of rethinking and conceiving the concept of painting.. From his beginnings, the German-born artist challenged traditional pictorial practice to imbue himself with the possibilities of combining digital art with painting on canvas . Behind this approach lies a deep reflection on the challenges facing current painting, addressing issues such as the relationship between the original and the copy, appearance and reality, content and form, or creation and its reception.
On May 24, the artist from Gijón, who has managed to conquer the current art scene, arrives for the first time at our auction
Picasso claimed that learning to paint like Renaissance artists took only a few years while painting like children took a lifetime. The background of this mythical phrase by the painter from Malaga could well be applied to the singular vision that Edgar Plans prints in his plastic universe: rebelling against the annihilation of the spirit of childhood, the artist from Gijón has decided, as Picasso said, to do the most difficult : paint with the same freedom of a child.
The set of works that we present at the Contemporary Art auction on May 24 highlights the figure of Ponç as one of the most fascinating and enigmatic artists of the second half of the 20th century in Spain.
Last April, Setdart was the protagonist of the television program Comando Actualidad «El business of art» of RTVE.
The imagery of the Spanish 17th century has always been an object of worship and devotion, since beyond its artistic purpose, they were created to bring parishioners closer to faith. In recent years, the international market has echoed the quality and skill of these sculptors.
From the last years of the 19th century, the foundations and formulations under which figuration had been founded began to falter. until generating a change of orientation that left behind its traditional descriptive function to be conceived as a way to unravel the essence of the universe and explain the deepest part of the human being. In this context of rupture, Western painting questioned naturalism whose codes of representation had ceased to identify with the new reality they wanted to express. In this way, the artist faced with the task of redefining the very nature of art decided to act as a “new primitive” completely apart from any aesthetic convention.
Miguel Ortiz Berrocal reached the pinnacle of his career thanks to his iconic removable sculptures
Martín Berrocal came to sculpture by chance. The wishes of his father, a doctor by profession, for him to follow in his footsteps collided head-on with Berrocal’s artistic vocation, who would finally enroll in architecture after completing two years of exact sciences. It was then, when, thanks to his mathematics classes, his interest in issues such as combinatorial topology and the dimension of space awoke, which finally led him to discover his passion for sculptural practice.
The collection that Setdart auctions comes from the Hotel Cambón in Paris and from an old Spanish private collection and is a unique testimony of the art of glass in Roman times. Accustomed to seeing pieces such as ointments or lachrymatory bottles on the market, which were more usual and common, the containers in the collection stand out for their rarity and their exceptional state of preservation. The dimensions of the objects are a detail that influences that they have reached us. The pieces of larger formats or with complex decorations such as handles or borders imply greater difficulty in terms of their survival. Let us bear in mind that the blowing of glass in the imperial era, with the techniques that were available, implied an extreme level of precision and thoroughness. Added to this would be the trade of those pieces that were distributed to all corners of the empire and later by their owners.
The pair of watercolors in tender next May 3 shows us that above all the Cuban artist is a virtuoso of drawing
The creative impulse of the plastic arts in Cuba during the decade of the forties of the last century, symbolized the beginning of an artistic projection of the Cuban arts that has managed to conquer the competitive international art market. Within this process of revaluation and artistic expansion, the recognition of Roberto Fabelo occupies a fundamental place., who incorporating and reinterpreting the most avant-garde trends of the moment from a vision influenced by his insular roots, has become, as his excellent results at auction demonstrate, a sure value within the artistic circuit.
Baroque images that are so profound, dynamic and theatrical tend to focus the viewer’s gaze on the main character or scene, thus leaving the setting itself as an element that often goes unnoticed. Today’s public has partly lost the language to which they were accustomed in the 17th century, which is why we often leave the content of a painting uninterpreted. The sky plays a fundamental role in it.
The bucolic and fantastic landscapes that the scenes usually contain flee from the real world and take us to a scene that could be taken from a biblical or mythological episode. Here the representation of the sky acquires a very high value almost as if it were one more character since it marks a common thread in the narration or can even reveal the outcome of the painting.
We hardly know of two autograph works by the first documented painter in the history of Mexico, Guadalupe de Moncada, which reveals how history has treated the female role in art. The protagonist of our history achieved the highest recognition for her mastery, from being the first academic of the institution of the Royal Academy of San Carlos, as well as its honorary director of the branch of painting. These honors would prove that his talent was indisputable in the cultural panorama of New Spain society. Unfortunately these merits were questioned by her contemporaries alleging that it was the result of nepotism and influences of her husband the Marquis of San Román.
The Antonio Orzaez collection has three of Pablo Picasso’s most personal and revealing works. A collage from 1957 and two photomontages resulting from the series “Variaciones de las Meninas” which was an arduous research work that Picasso carried out in the 1950s. In this series, the artist from Malaga not only reinterprets the work of Velázquez, but also supplants the role of the baroque painter, imposing himself on his figure and consolidating himself as the great contemporary master of the history of Spanish art, being a meritorious heir to the pictorial tradition of the country.
The perfumery firms have not only commissioned their formulas from relevant “noses”: they have also ordered the bottles from great craftsmen and consecrated artists. The result is pieces of great value that are acquired to collect.
The Easter holidays are here and with them the time to enjoy all those plans that we have been waiting for for a long time. Among all of them, cultural leisure will always be a great option to escape from our routine, traveling through art to bygone eras and multiple geographical enclaves. From Setdart we encourage you to spend a vacation full of art with a selection of some of the most interesting exhibitions offered by the current cultural agenda in our country
Setdart Auctions is pleased to present the private collection of Concha Barrios that will be put up for auction on April 19, 2022.
Concha Barrios began her career in the art world with a gallery on Claudio Coello street in Madrid, in 1977, specializing in ancient and 19th-century painting, and in 1994 she opened a gallery in Naples with her husband Claudio Brandi, a Neapolitan antique dealer. specialist in decorative arts.
Setdart presents at auction, on April 20 and 21, the unpublished collection of photographer Antonio Orzáez made up of more than three hundred pieces that bring us closer personally and intimately to the most relevant artists of the 20th century.
Since Goya there has not been a Spanish painter with greater international projection than the one achieved by Mariano Fortuny in his short career. Within a generation of extraordinary painters who raised Spanish art of the 19th century to its maximum power, Fortuny led an absolute renewal of the plastic arts that marked not only his closest friends but also a whole generation of European painters.
After showing a precocious fondness for the arts, the young Fortuny began his academic training at the La Llotja school where he won the scholarship that would take him to Rome for the first time in 1858. In the Italian capital, Fortuny developed a fundamental part of his career that would deeply mark his personality and artistic projection . In this sense, the multiple trips that Fortuny made throughout his life, supposed a constant evolution in his painting, managing to abstract from them a learning that, with an extraordinary instinct, led him towards a completely innovative plastic conception, promoting his painting beyond academic conventions.
Two great references of contemporary art such as Soledad Sevilla and Cristina Iglesias share the limelight in our auction on April 5.
The history of art has featured countless women whose talent and significance was systematically ignored and made invisible. The old structures that governed the artistic system and the excluding dynamics that condemned them to oblivion and relegated them to the simple role of muses, are currently collapsing as a sign symptom of an era that cannot continue reproducing the discriminatory clixes of past times. The need to introduce and integrate women artists in the historiographic narrative has promoted new avenues and research methodologies, whose impact in recent years has led to a symptomatic increase in their presence within museum institutions, as well as in museums. approaches that have dominated traditional hegemonic discourses.
This incipient change of paradigm has been translated into the growing interest of the art market in his work, whose presence (and price) has experienced a significant boom, doubling during the second decade of this century the value of the figures that were registered throughout the first. This trend is especially visible in the field of contemporary art, where the weight of women artists represents an upward value that from Setdart we want to support and consolidate, in this case, hand in hand with two of the great references of contemporary art in our country: Soledad Sevilla and Cristina Iglesias.
At 94 years old and converted into one of the cult figures of American art of the 20th century, Alex Katz maintains intact that creative impulse guided by the conscience of someone who knows that he cannot stop doing what he does.
At a time when abstractionist trends led by American expressionism predominated, Katz challenged the art establishment by entering the scene as a representative of the new American figuration. Little did he care about the criticism and contempt that his work aroused when in the 1950s he made himself known with a work that fled from the fashions and orthodoxies that prevailed in the art world at that time. In fact, thanks to that time of marginalization and misunderstanding, Katz managed to find his own artistic identity that over time has managed to unanimously conquer the artistic circuit. The contempt of a critic who was never very clear about where to place him, has given way to endless acknowledgments and praises that translate into the good moment his work is going through in the art market.