Lisbon Chronicles | José de Almada Negreiros - A Way of Being Modern

"Isto de ser moderno é como ser elegante: não é uma maneira de vestir mas sim uma maneira de ser. Ser moderno não é fazer a caligrafia moderna, é ser o legítimo descobridor da novidade."

"Being modern is like being elegant: it's not a way of dressing but a way of being. Being modern is not making modern calligraphy, it's being the legitimate discoverer of novelty."

José de Almada Negreiros, 1927

Recently visited the magnificent exhibition that Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian is presenting on the work of Almada Negreiros. This anthological exhibition, with about 400 pieces, is a comprehensive retrospective on the work of an artist who propelled the avant-garde in the 1910s and whose career spanned the 20th century.

Almada Negreiros (1893-1970) was a prolific and varied artist, being a master of multiple crafts. To him, every art was a part of the “spectacle” an artist was required to present to the public, so that every piece, gesture or attitude was a means to reveal a total idea of modernity.

Creative, provocative and autodidact, Almada Negreiros worked with different techniques, and artistic languages. He was a painter, an actor, a writer and an enthusiast of cinema.

This impressive exhibition presents paintings and drawings that are closely linked to the work the artist did in collaboration with architects, writers, publishers, musicians, set designers and stage directors. Some of the drawings and paintings are studies done in preparation of larger works that can be found all over the city. The exhibition presents a map of the sites where one can find these works of Almada Negreiros.

The exhibits are organized according to 7 key themes present in the work of the artist, beautifully presented in two galleries of the museum. The lobby of the Foundation presents itself one major work of Almada Negreiros, the mural with over 12 meters long is an ode to Geometry, one of the passions of the artist, and it was his final work. The title expresses once more his undeniable genius. Começar, which is the Portuguese word for To Begin!

JOSÉ ALMADA NEGREIROS : A WAY OF BEING MODERN
FUNDAÇÃO CALOUST GULBENKIAN
3 February to 5 June 2017

Chronicles from Paris | Jardin des Tuileries

The Tuileries Garden (Jardin des Tuileries), located between the Place de la Concorde and the Louvre Museum, was originally commissioned by the Queen Catherine de Medici in 1564. The gardens and the Palace with the same name (destroyed in a fire in 1871) get their name from the tile (tuile, in French) workshops that stood on site previously to their construction.

In 1664, the famous gardner of King Louis XIV, André Le Nôtre (have you seen the movie A Little Chaos?) re-landscaped the gardens to the French formal style they present until today. Opened to the public in 1667, the gardens became a public park after the French revolution and currently are one of the Paris places of choice to relax and promenade, both for visitors and locals.

To seat by the pond, enjoying the sun and savoring an ice cream after the long walk from the Arc du Triomphe, was pure heaven. You can find several cafés and food stands in the gardens. In wintertime my choice goes to crepes (does Nutella crepe sounds good to you?) and in the summer to something fresher. If its not your starting point of the day, its a really cool place to rest for a while before resume your walk trough Paris.

The statuary collection displayed in the park is huge and you can see works from Maillol, Rodin or Giacometti standing alongside on the gardens grounds. If you are into cultural traveling you surely will be visiting the Louvre Museum, but if you have the time the Musée de L'Orangerie (in the south-west side of the garden) is a place to go if you love the work of Monet.

Walking towards the Louvre, eventually you reach the Place du Carrousel, where features the Arc du Triomphe du Carrousel, built to celebrate the victories of Napoleon and that is perfectly aligned with the arch at the Place d'Étoile.

Jardin des Tuileries
113 Rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris, França

Opening Hours and Ticket Prices:

Opens between 7.00am and 7.30am, and closes between 7.30pm and 11.00pm according to season.

Free access to garden for all public.

Chronicles from Paris | L'Arc du Triomphe

The Arc du Triumph is, along with the Eiffel Tower, one of the most iconic monuments of Paris. Located on the right bank of the Seine, is situated at the centre of Place Charles de Gaule (formerly named Place de l'Etoile due to the twelve avenues that radiate from its center). Commissioned in 1806 by Emperor Napoleon to celebrate his victory at Austerlitz, this was for many years the biggest arch in the world.

At the base of the arch there are four sculptural groups. The Triumph (1810), Resistance (1814), Peace (1815) and the most renowned the Departure of the Volunteers (1792), commonly called La Marseillaise. Inside the arch, on the top floor, is a stunning replica of the head of the winged figure (Genius of Liberty). The drama and strength in the expression are impressive.

Beneath the arch is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where an eternal flame was lit on Armistice Day in 1920, burning in memory of those who died in the War and were never identified.

Nevertheless all the interesting features displayed in the outside, and the museum inside the structure, a visit is not complete without a visit to the terrace on the top of the monument. Must warn you, that climbing what seemed to me like a thousand steps of a spiral staircase, left me breathless and with my legs muscles burning. But the panoramic view that one can reach from the top of the arch is really worth it.

The city lies at our feet stretching to the horizon. The Eiffel tower on the left bank, the Sacrée Coer to the right. In front, Les Champs-Elysées go down to the Louvre and in the other side  are prolonged to reach a new arch built in 1982, the Grand Arch de La Défense, that rises in the new part of the city.  This line that connects the Grande Arch, to L'Arc du Triomphe de l'Étoile and than to the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel (next to the Louvre) form Paris's historic axis or royal route. Closer to the arch, the grey rooftops of the buildings in the boulevards are a charming view.

Arc de Triomphe
Place Charles-de-Gaulle
75008 Paris
Phone : 33 / (0)1 55 37 73 77

Opening Hours and Ticket Prices:

January to March - Daily, 10:00 to 22:30 (closes January 1st)
April to Septembre - Daily, 10:00 to 23:00
October to December - 10:00 to 22:30

Adults - 12€ | Students, teachers 9€ | Children under 18 / People with disabilities  - free

Get there taking the subway and exiting at station Charles de gauge - Etoile (Lines 1, 2 and 6).

Chronicles from Buenos Aires | MALBA

In our recent visit to Buenos Aires, the walk through Palermo district ended with a visit to MALBA – Museo de Arte LatinoAmericano de Buenos Aires. Not being possible, in the four days we spent in the city, visiting more than one museum, we decided  for the MALBA to be one were we would have the opportunity to see the works of different artists less represented in European museums. I do not lie if I say that the names of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera weighed heavily in the decision.

As the museum’s website informs “The exhibition is divided into four main areas: the variants of modernity and avant-garde Latin American ’20s; a set of paintings of the 30s and 40s, which reflects the diversity of surrealism and affirmation art / politics as the focus of production and reflection, abstract, concrete, visual and kinetic trends that developed in Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela, and contemporary art from the new figurative painting, pop, minimalism and conceptualism to the scene of years 80, with the return to painting. “

The building where the museum is installed  has a very appealing architecture with interiors full of light and dynamism. However, perhaps due to my high expectations, the main collection let me a little disappointed, especially with the (few) exhibited works of artists that I was more eager to see. However, some works and art installations  have surprised me very positively.

Before we see the exhibition, we had lunch in the restaurant Cafe des Arts, adjacent to the Museum. The terrace is a delight and the dishes are really appetizing. We ate pasta and salads, but one also can enjoy beautiful sandwiches (saw some pass) or have tea or a snack in the afternoon. Recommend!

All the pictures (from various origins) find in Pinterest


Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires
Av. Figueroa Alcorta 3415
C1425CLA Buenos Aires
Argentina
Phone: +54 11 4808 6500


Opening Hours and Ticket Prices:

Thursday to Monday and Holidays: 12:00 to 20:00
Wednesday: 12:00 to 21:00

Adults - 100$ | Students, teachers and seniors: $50 | Children under 5 / People with disabilities  - free

Chronicles from Paris | Place des Vosges

Once a swamp, the Marais (french word for marshland) district grow in importance on the fourteenth century due to its proximity to the Louvre Palace. In the seventeenth century became the favorite living place for the richest families in Paris, who built sumptuous mansions characteristic of the neighborhood. Today the Marais is a dynamic part of the city, with modern boutiques, great art galleries, upscale hotels and restaurants.

One of my favorite places in Marais, and probably one of the Parisian squares that I love the most is Place des Vosges. Perfectly symmetric, is one of the oldest planned squares in Paris. Entering through an arch, one can admire the surrounding red brick facades of the houses, stroll under the arcades, visit the shops, cross along the central garden or seat in a restaurant or cafe.

We opted for having crepes with ice-cream at Ma Bourgogne (19, Pl des Vosges) and they were delicious. But if you want to have a full meal and you're not under a tight budget there is a three Michelin star restaurant L'Ambroisie (9, Pl de Vosges) considered one of the best and most beautiful restaurants in Paris.

This square was the scenery of many historical events through the centuries and house of several prestigious people, like cardinal Richelieu or the writer Victor Hugo. Its possible to visit the Maison Victor Hugo (6, Pl des Vosges) where the autor lived for sixteen years and where he wrote most of his master piece Les Miserables.

The Place des Vosges can be the ideal place to start (or to finish) a walk in the Marais, currently one of the most charming districts of Paris. Some of the must visit spots include the Musée Picasso Paris, the Hotel de Ville and the Rue des Rosiers, the main street of the Jewish quarter.

You can get there by subway (stations Bastille and St-Paul), or walking from Île de la Cité, crossing Pont Notre Dame.