"The Ages of the Sea" at Calouste Gulbenkian

 Organized by the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum with the support of the Musée d’Orsay, the exhibition "Ages of the Sea" (As Idades do Mar) can be visited until January 27th, 2013.

 This major exhibition presents one hundred and nine works created between the sixteenth and the twentieth century, lent by fifty institutions from ten different countries, including public and private collections.

 Based on an historical survey of the visual representation of the Sea, the exhibition seeks to identify the major themes which led to its extensive and recurrent depiction in Western Painting. "Ages of the Sea" developes the concept that provides the title to the project in six sections: ‘The Age of Myths’, ‘The Age of Power’, ‘Sea and Labour’, 'Storms and shipwrecks’, ‘The Ephemeral’, and ‘The Quest for Infinity’.

 Arnold Bocklin, Eugène Boudin, Constable, Courbet, Giorgio de Chirico, Friedrich, Hopper, Fattori, Francesco Guardi, Paul Klee, Claude Lorrain, Manet, Monet, Signac, Sorolla, Turner and Van Goyen, as well as the Portuguese Amadeu de Souza-Cardoso, Henrique Pousão, João Vaz, Maria Helena Vieira da Silva and Menez, are some of the eighty-nine authors represented in the exhibition.

 "Ages of the Sea" can be visited between until January 27th, 2013 (10:00 am - 20:00 pm) at the main buliding of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Av. Berna, 45-A (GPS: 38.738286,-9.154821).
Admission is €5,00.

Last days of In the Presence of Things. European Still-Life Painting (1840 - 1955) with extended hours

The major exhibition In the Presence of Things. European Still-Life Painting (1840 - 1955) will close at 23h00 during its last three days (6,7 and 8 of January 2012).

Only 120 people are allowed each time and during these last days the waiting time can be longer than usual.

This still life exhibition organized by the Gulbenkian Museum and curated by Neil Cox PhD, offers a rare opportunity to see the works by some of the most celebrated artists of the 19th and 20th centuries.

In The Presence of Things. Four Centuries of European Still-Life Painting - Part Two: 19th - 20th Centuries

Today inaugurates one of the most expected exhibitions organized by the Gulbenkian Museum and curated by Neil Cox PhD.

Exhibiting the works by some of the most prominent names, with particular focus on modern still life in the 19th century and on the fundamental changes which occurred during the first half of the 20th century, "In the Presence of Things. Four Centuries of European Still-Life Painting (1840 - 1955)", invites the viewer to observe the different approaches to still-life painting through different ages and geographical places.

The exhibition, which in portuguese is entitled "A Perspectiva das Coisas. A Natureza-Morta na Europa 1840-1955," includes 93 paintings from 70 artists, including those of Realists and Impressionists such as Claude Monet, with his painting Still-life with Melon, one of the most important pieces owned by the Gulbenkian museum, the paintings of Post-Impressionist painters like Cézanne, Van Gogh, Manet and Gauguin, as well as works by Picasso, Duchamp, Braque, Matisse, Magritte, Dalí, Man Ray and Max Ernst.



This is a unique opportunity to observe in person, works of art which were gently loaned by some of the most important museums in the world, in a total of 37, including Centres Georges Pompidou (Paris), Kunstmuseum (Basel), Musée D'Orsay (Paris), Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza (Madrid), Philadelphia Museum of Art (USA), Tate (London), National Gallery of Art (Washington), The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), and The Museum of Modern Art (New York).



In The Presence of Things. Four Centuries of European Still-Life Painting - Part Two: 19th - 20th Centuries (1840 - 1955), can be visited between 21 Oct 2011 to 8 Jan 2012 at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Temporary Exhibition Gallery:
Tuesday to Sunday 10:00 - 18:00
Thursday and Saturday 10:00 - 20:00
Admission: 5€ | Admission + audio-guide: 6€

The first part (17th - 18th Centuries) took place last year, with curatorship supervised by the Prof. Peter Cherry.

Mozambican Painter Malangatana Died With 74 Years of Age

The Mozambican painter Malangatana passed away at the age of 74, in the Hospital Pedro Hispano (Matosinhos, Portugal).

Malangatana Valente Ngwenya (6 June 1936 - 5 December 2010) was born in Matalana, a village of the district of Marracuene, located in the outskirts of at the time called Lourenço Marques, present Maputo.

His father was a miner in South Africa and his mother embroided trousers and would sharpen the teeth of local young girls, a trend at the time.

With a sick mother and an absent father, Malangatana went to live with an uncle, studying until the third grade. He started working with 11 years of age, carrying out tasks such as babysitter or catching balls at the tennis club.

Spending great part of his youth together with portuguese settlers, it was with them that his awaken to the arts took place. One night at the house of the biologist, sculptor and painter Augusto Cabral (1922-2006), Malangatana saw him painting and requested to be taught. He was given some paints, brushes and plywood panels.

The young Malangatana also had the sponsorship of the portuguese architect Pancho Guedes, who offered him a space in the garage of his home in Maputo and would buy him two paintings every month, offering a generous amount.

In few months he manifested the will of showing his works to the public, and the exhibition became an enormous success.

During the 70s he travels to Portugal for the first time, thanks to a Gulbenkian's scholarship.

Politics also played an important role in his life, he was a deputy of FRELIMO between 1990 and 1994 . During the portuguese colonization he was placed into custody due to the suspect of connections with the same group, being released after 18 months at the lack of evidence.

He was one of the founders of the National Art Museum of Mozambique, Unicef colaborator, and initiated the creation of a Cultural Center in his homeland Matalana.

His works were exhibited in Mozambique, Portugal, Angola, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Austria, United States, Bulgaria and India, and can be found in museums, galleries and private collections.

Murals can be found in Maputo, Beira, Colombia, South Africa, Suaziland and Sweden.

The Mozambican artist also tried his artistic skills with pottery, tapestry, engraving and sculpture, he was also an actor, poet, dancer, musician and philantrophist.

Malangatana Valente Ngwenya (crocodile) was attributed the Honoris Causa degree by the Évora university, the Prince Claus award, the medal of the Ordem do Infante D. Henrique, and was nominated Artist for Peace, by Unesco.

Photo by Carlos Lopes (Público newspaper archive)

In the Presence of Things. Four Centuries of European Still-Life Painting. Part One: 17th - 18th Centuries

Organized by the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum and the first of its kind in Portugal, the exhibition In The Presence of Things - Four Centuries of European Still-Life Painting (Part One: 17th - 18th Centuries) brings to the public 71 paintings, many of them loaned by famous museums worldwide, such as the Louvre (Paris), The Metropolitan (N.Y.), Fitzwilliam Museum of Cambridge, Museo del Prado (Madrid), National Gallery of Art (Washington), Mauritshuis (Hage) and the Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam)
The depiction of the still-life theme, with its inherent differences between countries, can be appreciated through subjects such as fruit, game, cabinet of curiosities, trompe-l'oeil and vanitas.

In this first part of the exhibition, visitors will have the chance to see works by renowned names such as Antonio de Pereda, Jean-Baptiste Oudry, Jean Siméon Chardin, Juan van der Hamen, Juan Zurbarán,Nicolaes Gillis, Luis de Meléndez and Rembrandt van Rjin.

The curatorship is supervised by the Prof. Peter Cherry ( Chief of the Art History and Architecture department from the Trinity College of Dublin, Irish Republic) who is a specialist in spanish and italian still-lifes and counts with the colaboration of Dr. John John Loughman for the dutch, flemish and german paintings and Dr. Lesley Stevenson for the french paintings.

Prof. Neil Cox (Essex University) will colaborate in the second part of the exhibition, selecting and composing the texts about the still-life of the 20th century.
The first part of In The Presence of Things runs through May 2, 2010 at the Temporary Exhibition Gallery of the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum (Lisbon, Portugal).
The second part, representing the 19th and 20th centuries, will be shown to the public from October 21, 2011 through January 8, 2012.

Painting: "Smoking Kit With a Drinking Pot" by Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin (Musée du Louvre)