Sense of abstraction: this medieval Spanish church forms a powerful setting for modern abstract art.Crammed between two towering river gorges, Cuenca is a triumph of human obstinacy Obstinacy Obtuseness (See DIMWITTEDNESS.) Oddness (See ECCENTRICITY.) Oldness (See AGE, OLD. over topography. Medieval casas colgadas (literally 'hanging houses') cling precariously to cliff faces and the local monastery of San Pablo San Pablo (săn păb`lō), city (1990 pop. 25,158), Contra Costa co., W Calif., on San Pablo Bay, a suburb of Oakland; inc. 1948. One of the oldest Spanish settlements in the region, the city is a commercial and medical center with light appears as a geological outcrop, its stone walls melding with the rocky terrain. Dating from the fifteenth century, the monastery's defunct church found a predictable contemporary role as a concert hall, but now it makes a different kind of cultural contribution, housing the Espacio Torner dedicated to Spanish abstract artist Gustavo Torner, a native of Cuenca. Interest in abstract art came late to Spain, due to its strong figurative tradition and political isolation during the early twentieth century. Yet from the late '50s onwards, galvanised by the efforts of Philippine-born collector Fernando Zobel
Fernando Zobel de Ayala (born 1960) is a Filipino businessman of German and Spanish blood and member of the influential Zobel de Ayala family of the Philippines. (who settled in Spain in 1961), Cuenca developed into a lively centre for the abstract art movement. Artists such as Torner, Gerardo Rueda and Antonio Saura Antonio Saura (b. September 22, 1930, Huesca, Aragon - July 22, 1998, Cuenca) was one of the greatest Spanish artists of the last 50 years. Antonio Saura lived with his family in Madrid, Valencia, and Barcelona. colonised Adj. 1. colonised - inhabited by colonists colonized, settled inhabited - having inhabitants; lived in; "the inhabited regions of the earth" abandoned casas colgadas in the upper part of town as studios and homes, their presence revitalising the wider neighbourhood. Torner and Rueda went on to establish the Museum of Abstract Art in 1966, which now contains Spain's foremost collection of abstract works. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] At the end of last year Torner's paintings and sculptures were re-housed in the church of San Pablo to a scheme by the Madrid-based partnership of Angela de Paredes and Ignacio Pedrosa. Theirs is a strategy of admirable understatement that does not attempt to compete with or physically impinge upon the impressive medieval interior. From the outside, the only clue to the building's latest incarnation is a new revolving door. Inside, the lofty space is divided up by a series of elongated e·lon·gate tr. & intr.v. e·lon·gat·ed, e·lon·gat·ing, e·lon·gates To make or grow longer. adj. or elongated 1. Made longer; extended. 2. Having more length than width; slender. , free-standing installations around 3.5m high that resemble giant shoeboxes turned on their sides. Torner's paintings are displayed with utter neutrality on white painted panels and illuminated by cunningly integrated light sources. Selected sculptures are also set at intervals around the interior and the former sacristy now houses offices for the Torner Foundation. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Though the contrast between the clinically bright art boxes and the sepulchral se·pul·chral adj. 1. Of or relating to a burial vault or a receptacle for sacred relics. 2. Suggestive of the grave; funereal. se·pul gloom of the church adds an invigorating in·vig·or·ate tr.v. in·vig·or·at·ed, in·vig·or·at·ing, in·vig·or·ates To impart vigor, strength, or vitality to; animate: "A few whiffs of the raw, strong scent of phlox invigorated her" frisson to the viewing experience, the arrangement of the new installations respects the formality of the church's plan. There is no fashionable fracturing or posturing here, only a bracing sense of sobriety that treats the art works and their setting with the dignity they deserve. C.S. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] |
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