Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya

North Africa. Ortiz Echag�e

Free entry

Curator: Javier Ortiz Echag�e

Organised by the Museu Nacional d�Art Catalunya and the Museo Universidad de Navarra

Jos� Ortiz Echag�e (1886- 1980) travelled to Rif for the first time in 1909 where he realised aerial images as a member of the photography service of the Spanish Army. But even from these heights Ortiz remained down to earth. Concurrently, he began to portray local realities; capturing the life, landscapes and customs of the region. Somewhere between documentation and anthropology, his work embraces the emotion of Pictorialism, but without the allegory or literary evocation usually associated with this movement. His photographs of Fez and Tetuan are a good example of this.

However, on returning to Morocco in the 1960s, Ortiz Echag�e was confronted with a different reality: the modernisation of the country. The African typologies that he had captured before, those of such picturesque and ideal exoticism - had now disappeared. Ortiz interpreted this transformation by capturing rarefied environments, persons out of context and solitary landscapes with backdrops of surreal clouds. The result was nostalgia for a vanishing world. In this vein, Sirocco in the Sahara (1965) is his last great achievement. As if at a junction in his work, the experimentation of texture and composition takes precedence over documentation.

Now, the Museu Nacional d�Art Catalunya, in collaboration with the Museo Universidad de Navarra, presents the most spontaneous and creative moment of Ortiz Echag�e�s photography: the initial nucleus of his activity, where we encounter one of the most creative periods in the history of photography. Nevertheless, the exhibition not only focuses on the canon of the photographer, but also lesser known stages of his work: his military photographs captured from aboard the army�s hot air balloons. Ultimately, the total of seventy-nine photographs, together with essential documents, facilitates an understanding of this junction in the work of Ortiz Echag�e during his time in North Africa.

Free guided tours: Saturdays at 4 pm in Spanish and at 5 pm in Catalan

Exhibition Catalogue

'The Battle of Tetouan' of Fortuny. From the Trench to the Museum

Mari� Fortuny. The Battle of Tetouan. Roma, 1863-1865. Oil on canvas. 300 x 972 cm

Curators: Francesc Qu�lez and Jordi A. Carbonell

The immense canvas �The Battle of Tetouan� (1863 � 1865), realised by Mari� Fortuny, has become an icon of our cultural imagination.
On occasion of the 175th anniversary of the artist�s birth, the Museu Nacional d�Art de Catalunya joins the acts of commemoration with an exhibition providing the viewer with a range of perspectives in understanding the richness and complexity of this great composition. More than 130 pieces occupy the space where Fortuny�s great work has been displayed since 2004.

The first section of the exhibition highlights the preparatory drawings of the work, drawings belonging to the collection of the Museu Nacional and the Institut Municipal de Museus de Reus. A further space has been dedicated to �The Battle of Wad-Ras�, also by Fortuny, complimented by a watercolour study of Tetouan by the painter and a selection of photographs by Enrique Facio. The second part of the exhibition presents a graphic chronicle of the history of the painting: the processes of intervention, translations and changes of location, etc.

Mari� Fortuny. Wounded Moroccan, circa 1863-1865, MNAC Detail of the Battle of Tetouan

A further section is dedicated to Salvador Dal�, author of a version of the Battle of Tetouan which was exhibited alongside the homonymous work by Fortuny in the Sal� del Tinell in the year 1962. A series of photographs of Dal�s work and some of his preparatory drawings recall this event. In addition, the exhibition features major loans from important public and private collections, like those of the Real Biblioteca de Madrid, the Fundaci�n L�zaro Galdiano, the Museo Nacional del Prado or the Fundaci� Gala-Salvador Dal� of Figueres.

Activities centring on the exhibition

Videos from the exhibition

Exhibition Catalogue

Press file (pdf)

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With the cooperation of the carrier SIT Grupo Empresarial SL

Gods and Myths of Antiquity. The evidence from Hispanic coins

Curator: Marta Campo, Head Keeper of the Numismatic Cabinet of Catalonia of the MNAC

The exhibition Gods and Myths of Antiquity provides a close-up of the divinities, myths and cults of the inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula from the 5th century BC to the arrival of the Visigoths.

The exhibition is organised in three sections, the first of which examines Greek and Oriental cults. The coasts of the Peninsula and of Eivissa were colonised by Greek and Phoeno-Punic populations who founded cities in which the inhabitants worshipped the gods of their lands of origin. When these colonies produced coins they engraved them with images of the divinities and mythological beings forming part of their beliefs, such as Artemis, Athena, Zeus, Melqart, Bes and Tanit.

The second part of the exhibition is devoted to the religious beliefs of the indigenous populations of the Iberian Peninsula. Very little is known about Hispanic divinities, either as regards their names or what they looked like. This is why coinage is of special interest, as it provides a record of the natives' gods in metal. What's more, the representations of plants and animals on the Hispanic issues confirm the importance of cults relating to the sacred universe of nature, also documented in shrines and material remains such as votive offerings or decorated ceramics.

The third section looks at the presence of Roman gods and cults in Hispania up to the arrival of the Visigoths. Romanisation of the Peninsula went beyond just the economic organisation and exploitation of the territory. It also involved the introduction of Roman culture, in which religious beliefs played a very important part. Rome gradually imposed its gods and its holy rituals, something which is demonstrated by the monetary iconography of the early days of the empire. Roman religious practices persisted in the coins used by the Hispanic peoples until the arrival of the Visigoths, when the Christian cross replaced the pagan gods in monetary iconography.

Catalogue: Gods and Myths of Antiquity

The Image of the Hero in Catalan Sculpture (1800-1850)

The exhibition The Image of the Hero in Catalan Sculpture (1800 � 1850) is the latest intervention to be found amongst the museum�s modern art collection, due to the collaboration of the GRACMON group ( Research group of the History of Contemporary Art and Design) of the University of Barcelona. Its inauguration coincides with the start of the II Jornades Internacionals d�Activitat del Cl�ssic (Second International Conference of Classic Acitivity) which takes place in Barcelona on the 30th and 31st of May 2013.

Pau Monta�a, Male Nude. Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya

The Image of the Hero in Catalan Sculpture (1800 � 1850) is a dialogue of sculptures created during the first half of the 19th century, which share the same thematic paradigm, that of the representation of the Hero, and drawings or academias by up-and-coming artists who, precisely because of their drawings of models, have achieved international acclaim. The drawings realised for the exhibition are based on the sculptures that form the route of the overall display/ exhibition, interpreted and elaborated freely, with surprising and suggestive results.
The artists work pays tribute to the sculptures which, generations before them, made that drawings of models became one of the fundamental bases of their work.

The display can be seen in a simultaneously in various museums and institutions in Catalonia: in the Museu Nacional d�Art de Catalunya, the emphasis is placed on the work of Dami� Campany, an artist who is also the centre of the work displayed in the Biblioteca Museo V�ctor Balaguer in Vilanova I la Geltr�. In the Museu de la Reial Acad�mia Catalana de Bellas Arts de Sant Jordi, the majority of the sculpture produced in the Escuela de Belles Artes during this time is conserved. In the Museu Frederic Mar�s of Barcelona, the selected to form part of the exhibition bring us a magnificent selection of anatomic fragments in gesso, belonging to the former academic collection.

Interiors of M'odermisme': Gaspar Homar and Joan Busquets

Two-section display cabinet with mirror (1907-1908). Gaspar Homar

The search for beauty, utility and comfort and a certain element of exhibitionistic luxury are essentials of Modernism, as found in the interiors of bourgeois housing.
Together with architects, carpenter-decorators became a fashionable profession, receiving commissions from the bourgeois and concerning themselves with the furniture design and decoration of the houses; a reflection of the tastes of the time and the new way of living. Gaspar Homar and Joan Busquets are two outstanding examples of this profession. The Museu Nacional d�Art de Catalunya holds a notable range their work, both projects and furniture.

Chair from the Caendoya�s Oratory (1905). Joan Busquets Jan�

A display of this collection is currently on exhibition in room 56 of the museum, within the frame of Partage Plus-Digitising and Enabling Art Nouveau for Europeana, a project partially financed by the European Union, which makes this valuable modernist collection of the museum accessible to the public.

You can see more works by Gaspar Homar and Joan Busquets in the Online Collection

Partageplus has received funding from the Union's ICT Policy Support Programme as part of the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme

The music and the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya

The Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, together with the Escola Superior de M�sica de Catalunya, is organising a course of Music and the Museu Nacional d�Art de Catalunya. Musical Iconography Course, which is included in the school's summer schedule. Taking a selection of representative works from the Museum's collection, the course sets out to analyse related music with the aim of furthering interrelation between art and music.

All classes will be held at the MNAC, in the Auditorium and the exhibition rooms.

Inscriptions are now open on the ESMUC web site.

There is an enrolment fee of 150� and a certificate of attendance will be issued to those requesting it who have attended at least 80% of classes. Students may, if they wish, submit a monographic work to be assessed by the course coordinator, for the academic certificate to specify that the course is equivalent to 1 ECTS.

I spy with my little eye... lots of hats

SUNDAYS FOR CHILDREN

+ 8

I spy�
Rhyming route. Workshop visit

Clever puns, rhymes and verses will give us the keys to discovering details hidden behind each work.

Dates: November 11th, January 27th, March 17th, May 19th

GENERAL INFORMATION

Time
Sundays at 11.30 am

Duration
2 h

Price
�4/person - �82 group

Amics del MNAC, 30 % off

Children who don�t have the recommended minimum age for the activity has free admission

Information and bookings:
Tel. 93 622 03 75 and grups@mnac.cat (you will be sent confirmation of your booking)

Limited room
Groups between 10 and 25 people may make appointments at different times to these.

Children must always be accompanied by adults

Postgraduate programme in 'Museum Management: how to make a museum work'

With this postgraduate course, the participants will have: acquired the tools for planning and developing museological-museographic projects, known strategies and techniques for patrimonial communication and acquired a base of legal and administrative knowledge applicable to the management of heritage centres.

Further information here

'«The Battle of Tetouan» of Fortuny. From the Trench to the Museum'

Works under the pencil. Sculpture drawing sessions in the museum

On Saturday 9 February we�ll be holding the first of our life drawing sessions organised in collaboration with the Cercle Art�stic Sant Lluc.

For this activity, you can practice your favourite artistic technique observing one of the museum�s sculptures, which will be located in the C�pula Room throughout the weekend of the activity.

If you�re not coming to draw, you can take advantage of this exceptional occasion to see a masterpiece in a very special setting and how artists draw.

In accordance with the 15/1999 Law regarding the protection of personal data, photographs can not be taken. Thank you for your collaboration