They exhibit eight works from their collection, signed by geniuses of the genre such as Richard Estes or Charles Bell. The museum advises on their purchases to the couple who have already bought a large canvas by Alex Katz that will be displayed in its rooms
Slowly but surely, Borja y Blanca and Thyssen-Bornemisza strengthen and strengthen their presence and ties to the public museum, whose son of Baroness Carmen Thyssen is already patroness. Months after the renewal of the lease for Tita Cervera’s collection to the Spanish state – 97.5 million for 15 years – her son and daughter-in-law are displaying their hyper-realistic jewels in the public museum.
There are eight spectacular pieces, some in large format and signed by geniuses of the genre such as Richard Estes or Charles Bell. It is a delicate camera show that runs until January 15, 2023 and is curated by Guillermo Solana, the museum’s chief curator.
It begins with two New York views, a more classic, “People’s Flowers” (1971) and a more recent, “Self-portrait near the Oculus at the World Trade Center” (2017), both by the most iconic representative of American hyperrealism, Richard Estes (1932), an artist whose museum already offered a retrospective in 2007.
There is a still life, ‘Tropical Nights’ (1991), by Charles Bell (1935-1995), who, like Estes, belongs to the first generation of the movement. ‘The 49 with Broadway’ (2019). is an evocative cityscape of Don Jacot (1949-2021). In ‘Lucky Dragon’ (2009), Bertrand Meniel (1961) paints a corner of Chinatown in San Francisco with a fascinating level of detail. ‘Bunny in the corner’ (2019) is a still life by Roberto Bernardi (1974). The exhibition will conclude with ‘The Path’ (2019) and ‘Schweppes’ (2022), both by Raphaella Spence (1978).
Born in the United States in the 1960s, the hyper-realist movement emerged as a departure from “Pop Art” and was dubbed “Photorealism” by gallery owner Louis K. Meisel. Based on the pictorial reproduction of photographic originals, it “at the same time points us to great precedents in art history,” according to the curator. “Urban landscapes, panoramic views of cities or suburban environments, follow the tradition of Italian vedutismo of the eighteenth century,” explains Solana. “In still lifes, the dominant references are 17th-century Dutch still life and late 19th-century American trompe-l’oeil paintings,” he adds.
Blanca and Borja consulted Thyssen about their recent acquisitions, some of which have already been installed in the museum’s galleries: from a beautiful Cubist still life by María Blanchard (1918) to a canvas by Francis Picabia from his series of transparencies (1925-1927), or a large-format painting by Julian Opie (2014) or the aforementioned self-portrait by Richard Estes at ground zero in New York (2017).
On the occasion of the Alex Katz retrospective last summer, Blanca and Borja bought a large canvas by the North American artist (‘Vivien’, 2016), previously selected for the exhibition and soon on display in the galleries of the public museum.
Blanca and Borja Thyssen-Bornemisza “have long had a passion for art and especially for modern and contemporary painting”, they tell from the museum. “They have been collecting very discreetly so far, away from the public eye. But coinciding with the Thyssen’s thirtieth anniversary, “the couple have decided to open their collection to the public in our museum.”
Source: La Verdad
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