by Maria DeBlassie
Daily Lobo
Spain is back, in "Prelude to Spanish Modernism: Fortuny to Picasso" at the Albuquerque Museum.
One of the most impressive artists was Mariano Fortuny. His paintings were so real, it was as if the viewer could walk into each and every one of them. One could almost smell, taste, hear and touch everything in his paintings. Each person within them was like a close friend on whose countenance the viewer could read their hopes, fears and memories. In one painting, a woman leans against her piano with a note in her hand and flowers on the bench, it is easy to crawl inside her head and rummage through her thoughts. The room too, would have the musty smell of yellowed music sheets and old piano keys.
Yet while much of Fortuny's work showed an unnerving eye for detail, many of his paintings departed from a painstaking sense of realism and turned to the exploration of a dream world. The paint becomes wisps of color. The images are disjointed. It's like being enveloped by a fantasy.
Another fascinating artist was Joaquin Sorolla. Over the course of his lifespan, he changed styles repeatedly. It is hard to recognize him as the same artist from painting to painting.
Perhaps his most famous paintings portray children playing on a beach. The brushstrokes are irregular, the color bleached. In one image, the paint is so thin the gray canvas leaks through and becomes a part of the sandy beach. The mood is carefree in these paintings, the imagery bordering on abstract.
Sorolla also did several portraits, most of which are done with clean, crisp lines and heavy realism.
One of the most fascinating things in this show was the absence of religious imagery in most of the works. Instead, the subjects represented are secular, everyday things - people of all walks of life going about their business. Even the portraiture has a uniquely humane quality to it, insisting that each person, be it financial tycoon or duchess, is an individual with his or her own history.
His portrait of his eldest daughter in "Mar°a at La Granja," combines both these effects. Her facial expressions are emphasized by his close attention to detail. The viewer's gaze is pulled from her face by the glowing whiteness of her dress. The rest of the painting is completed in abstract strokes that merely leave an impression of the dirt road, the sunlight and the shadows.
The show continues to fascinate with some early works of Pablo Picasso. They are far from the cubist style that would later make him famous. Yet this does not make them unexceptional. In one painting, three people are walking down a deserted street, facing away from the viewer. The image explores themes of isolation and loneliness with its dark, brooding colors.
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His other two pieces include a portrait of a lady and a still life of flowers. Although both pieces are tame compared to cubism, they show signs of Picasso's emerging identity as an artist.
The show is inspiring to see and excites contemplation on the lives and dreams of the people portrayed - be they artist, subject or viewer.
