- Title: MEXICO: Exhibition on painter El Greco to open for the first time in Mexico City
- Date: 3rd September 2009
- Summary: MEXICO CITY, MEXICO (SEPTEMBER 01, 2009) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF EXTERIOR OF BELLAS ARTES MUSEUM VARIOUS OF EXHIBITION GENERAL VIEW OF NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) CURATOR ANA CARMEN LAVIN, SAYING: "It's a unique opportunity, I can assure you, to discover a different El Greco. It's an exceptional occasion to see a series of museum works, because concrete works and such an important and complete El Greco collection has never travelled as you can imagine, outside Spain. It is the first time it is presented in Mexico and I would like to assure you, in the whole of Latin America. It's exceptional because these paintings you can see here never left museums, not even during the Spanish Civil War." NEWS CONFERENCE UNDERWAY END OF NEWS CONFERENCE VARIOUS OF PAINTINGS ON EXHIBITION
- Embargoed: 18th September 2009 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Mexico
- Country: Mexico
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
- Reuters ID: LVA7HXYATLDX9LA7E5TM1IMEPQHW
- Story Text: El Greco's elongated, ascetic figures will dominate a Mexico City exhibition on the master's paintings, giving Mexicans the chance to experience at first hand the once obscure and misunderstood artist.
The show titled "Domenikos Theotocopoulos 1900," which will open its gates on Friday (September 4), displays work by the Greek-born painter whose work was met with skepticism by some of his contemporaries but inspired artists such as Pablo Picasso.
It is the first time the display, which brings together paintings from several Spanish museums as well as the Mexican museum Soumaya, is shown outside Spain.
"It's a unique opportunity, I can assure you, to discover a different El Greco. It's an exceptional occasion to see a series of museum works, because concrete works and such an important and complete El Greco collection has never travelled as you can imagine, outside Spain. It is the first time it is presented in Mexico and I would like to assure you, in the whole of Latin America. It's exceptional because these paintings you can see here never left museums, not even during the Spanish Civil War," curator Ana Carmen Lavin, told a news conference in Mexico City on Tuesday (September 01).
Born in 1541 on the island of Crete, El Greco traveled to Italy, where he honed his craft under the influence of artists like Titian, before emigrating to Spain in 1577.
He set up his workshop in Toledo, where he received numerous commissions and produced the best of his work - large, religious paintings in a distinct, personal style.
The exhibition, expected to be seen by 200,000 people according to exhibition organizers, gathers 43 oil paintings, including some signed by El Greco - typically in his Greek name Domenikos Theotocopoulos - and those of his pupils and later followers.
Exhibitions by El Greco proves he was a commercial success. Unable to cope with demand after his best known work, The Burial of Count Orgaz, he was obliged to hire assistants and train them to keep up with his commissions.
Original paintings, such as St Ildefonso, are juxtaposed with copies by students or later artists, showing that even the best of his pupils could not match the master, famous for the gaunt, uplifted faces of his saints and worshipers.
Generations immediately after his death in 1614 dismissed his work as too strange and anti-naturalistic but he was later rediscovered and recognized as an artist ahead of his time.
The exhibition at the Palacio de Bellas Artes Museum, which will be inaugurated by Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Thursday (September 3), will run until Sunday (November 1). - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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