Well I had condense and updated several of these posts before, and I am coming back to my beloved Spain. Let me recap my series of some news from Spain January-July 2020 !!! Hope you enjoy it as I
Some news from Spain LXXXIX January 20 2020
The 34th Goya Awards (Spanish equivalents of the Oscars). From the headquarters of the Film Academy, applicants to the 28 categories that include the awards. The 146 Spanish films premiered in this country have been presented to the screening, of which 88 are fiction films, 55 are documentaries and 3 are animated. There are also 53 European films, 15 Latin American films and 35 short films. Of the total number of applications, 56 are raw operas. As for the scripts, 112 are original and 29, adapted. The film with the most nominations are Mientras dure la Guerra (While the war lasts), of Alejandro Amenábar,with 17 nominations. Dolor y gloria,(pain and glory) from Pedro Almodóvar, with 16 and La trinchera infinita, (the Infinite Trench ) of Aitor Arregi, Jon Garaño and Jose Mari Goenaga with 15 nominations. The 2020 Goya of Honor has fallen to actress Pepa Flores (aka Marisol). More info here: https://www.premiosgoya.com/
The exhibition Extra Moda! (extra fashion) will be on in Madrid until March 1st 2020 at the Museo del Traje or Costume museum . What is considered the first publication with fashion content Mercure Galant, founded in 1672 in the France of Louis XIV, already speaks of what is carried and what is not. Harper’s which first appears in November 1867, and Vogue, whose number one dates from December 17, 1892 , are not far from other periodicals such as The New York Times, founded in 1851. A century after the creation of Mercure Galant, The Pensadora Gaditana or Thinker from Cádiz (1763-1764) is published, which was born in Cádiz with fashion content. While in France, the cradle and still today the center and axis of the fashion industry and everything that it drags, the Paris brand was exported from the beginning, in Spain, Cádiz plays an important role . It is the moment of the Enlightenment, the diffusion of thoughts and a cosmopolitan city that is the entrance and exit of ideas and merchandise that come from America and the United Kingdom, among other places With respect to the press, everything changes from 1791, when under the reign of Carlos IV, the Count of Floridablanca prohibits the publication of any type of newspaper in fear of the entry of revolutionary ideas from France! The Spanish Ministry on Culture and Sports on the Extra Mode: http://www.culturaydeporte.gob.es/mtraje/exposicion/temporales/historico/2019/extra-moda.html
At the foot of the Pyrenees of Huesca, in the Sobrarbe region, little Aínsa is one of the most beautiful villages in Spain. It is indeed , we passed by it on our way to Spain from France for many years. The medieval village, belonging to the former Kingdom or County of Sobrarbe, emerged more than a thousand years ago at the confluence of the Cinca and Ara rivers, on a promontory at 589 meters of altitude, from where the surroundings dominate, has all the ingredients to enjoy a complete weekend in which to practice both active and cultural tourism The nerve center of the town is its arcaded Plaza Mayor, the City/Town Hall or Ayuntamiento, and surrounded by two of its most important monuments: the Romanesque Church of Santa María, 12C, and considered one of the best examples of Romanesque Alto Aragón (upper Aragon) And the Castle, initially built in the 11C and renovated and expanded in the 17C. It has two access gates and a moat, and concerts and festivals, such as the Castillo de Aínsa Music, are held in the Plaza del Castillo in summer. The castle is linked to the imposing walls that surround the old town of Aínsa, which in some sections reach 14 meters high and still retain five of the seven gates that existed, such as Portal de Abajo, Portal de Afuera, Portal Alto, Portal de Tierra Glera and Portal del Callizo. The Ainsa Tourist office : https://villadeainsa.com/la-villa-de-ainsa/
Some news from Spain XCI June 16 2020
Benito Pérez Galdós (there is a new bio coming out on him) toured the mid-19C and the first bars of the 20C with a vocation to look at everything, understand it on site when possible and write it without fatigue. It is not a modern pawn nor a vintage one by installments. He was a writer unleashed in all directions. A Canarian (Las Palmas) boy who came to Madrid at the age of 19, in 1863, with the purpose of studying Law until the city, journalism, theater and the upheaval of those years turn him to writing. He was the giant who starting from nothing (no family of education, nor great fortune), he became one of the best European writers of his time. He was such a popular author that on the day of his death, the mayor of Madrid dictated a side ” With his books he honored his homeland, with his life he honored himself “, who encouraged the neighbors to honor him. More from Casa del Libro in Madrid here: https://www.casadellibro.com/libros-ebooks/benito-perez-galdos/78143
The Council of Ministers is expected to approve two museum expansions: that of the Prado (see post) salon de Reinos or kingdom hall; and that of the Sorolla house-museum,(see post) both located in Madrid. Originally scheduled for 2019 and postponed on successive occasions until 2024 due to the tumultuous political situation of recent years, the works of rehabilitation and museum adaptation of the Salon de Reinos of the Prado National Museum will be carried out by the studies of the British architect Norman Foster and the Spanish Carlos Rubio. These two buildings are the last remains of the Royal Palace of Buen Retiro, a complex erected between 1633 and 1639 under the reign of Felipe IV. The urban reorganization of the project, called Campus Prado, will connect the Prado and the Salon de Reinos, facilitating the transit on foot of visitors through Calle Felipe IV and joining in the same complex the buildings of Villanueva, Los Jerónimos, El Casón del Buen Retiro and the Salón de Reinos. This extension is linked to the candidacy of El Paseo del Prado and El Buen Retiro, Landscape of Arts and Sciences for World Heritage, which UNESCO must decide soon!! And update , they are in !!!!
Five absolute premieres this year make up the program of the most special Classical Theater Festival in Mérida in recent years. Throughout a month -from July 22 to August 23- the event will take place under security and hygiene measures and with the idea of being an example of the revival of the performing arts. The program proposes five great shows at the Roman Theater, all absolute premieres, both in Mérida and in other parts of Extremadura’s geography. More info on the festival: https://www.festivaldemerida.es/en/
The Almagro Festival will celebrate its 43rd edition between the 14th and 26th of July 2020, there will be shows in the Corral de Comedias, the flagship of the La Mancha theater event; at the Adolfo Marsillach Theater (former Hospital de San Juan), the summer headquarters of the National Classical Theater Company; in the Old Renaissance University of Almagro (AUREA), and in the Palacio de los Oviedo, an old summer cinema recovered as a stage space two years ago. The Almagro Festival will be held guaranteeing all health regulations for workers, companies and the attending public, More info on the festival: https://www.festivaldealmagro.com/en/
Some news from Spain XCII June 23 2020
And now a new book on one that definitively enjoyed all Latin cultures even if not one.A new book is out 2020 ,and I got it, not read it all yet but fascinating. I will start with the title first, «Hemingway en otoño» or Hemingway in Autumn/Fall by Andrea Di Robilant ; essay and translation by Susana Carrale. Editor: Hatari! Books, 319 pages retail for 36 euros in Spain. Been so intricate related to the history of countries all dear to me and in which I carry a passport, Spain, Cuba, USA, and France. The Nobel Prize came to him in 1954, when many thought he was a finished writer. But the publication of The Old Man and the Sea (1953 from Cojimar Havana ,Cuba) stirred the old lion and returned to the lists of the best-selling books and to the columns of the most demanding literary critics, even, sometimes even rigorous, since a year later he was awarded what, even today, is considered by Andrea Di Robilant’s book the highest literary award . The book is published in an edition exquisitely cared for by Hatari! Books, with an excellent translation by Susana Carral and illustrated with a series of complementary photographs of the events that are narrated, is a moving story of the years that elapsed between 1948, the trip he undertook to Venice with his fourth wife, Mary Welsh, and 1961, the year the author of Paris is a Moveable Feast committed suicide, He had returned to Finca Vigía (his farm near Havana, Cuba now nationalised) , return to Pamplona, encounter with Dominguín and Ordóñez, and the running of the bulls, and with Ava Gardner in Madrid, his curious relationship of deep friendship with Marlene Dietrich. Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir visit Havana and pay homage to him. Whatever the reader’s opinion about Hemingway’s excess and the value, or not, that he grants to his literary and journalistic work, Di Robilant has written one of the most exciting and definitive portraits of an author from the first half of the 20C, a faithful reflection of his time, his miseries and his greatness, that one can read without, in the end, understanding that a good part of a time of wine, roses and literature was melancholy left behind. Indeed a wonderful book on an icon of our times, Ernest Hemingway!
Three centuries ago, the first stone of the Sabatini building was placed in that lusterless corner through which the workers with helmet and mask now come and go. Today it houses the Reina Sofía museum, but it opened as a hospital in 1788, shortly after the death of its promoter, king Carlos III. Around that corner, the art center that would change four years later into a national museum also began operating in 1986, based in the imposing illustrated construction that languished for decades after having served the city during the worst of the Spanish Civil War. The Reina Sofia museum’s collection includes around 30,000 works (1,000 of them on display) from the end of the 19C and currently; 1700 sculptures, 3600 drawings, 4100 paintings and 4,230 Photographs. As well as other Installations, decorative arts, architecture, videos and cinema. Th new space at the AO floor has a project that will allow two things: add to the permanent collection 21 new rooms (about 2,000 square meters) and resolve Sabatini’s coexistence with the Jean Nouvel expansion inaugurated in 2005. Now you can go directly from the ground level of Nouvel to the -1 of Sabatini, which gives continuity and fluidity to the route. The reception facilities, such as the box office, the luggage room or the information desk, will also be improved. The golden triangle of arts gets better in my Madrid. Webpage: https://www.museoreinasofia.es/en
The Palacio de Liria reopen June 23 (today) in Madrid. A novelty at the Palacio de Liria. You will be able to admire for the first time the only work by the French artist Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres located in Spain: “Felipe V imposing the Golden Fleece on the Duke of Berwick”. It is a programmatic commission to one of the most important artists of the time, with which the Duke Carlos Miguel wanted to commemorate the most important events and characters in his family: from the Álvarez de Toledo family, with the 3rd Duke Don Fernando, and of Stuart ancestors with the first duke of Berwick. In the Palacio de Liria, it is also preserved with a sketch of the same painting made in 1817. It was a gift that the author himself made in gratitude to Mr. Poublon, attorney for the 14th Duke, who was the intermediary in commissioning the painting. The drawing has an autograph dedication from the artist. It is important to highlight the painting’s own value and its sketch, since it represents a fundamental moment in the History of the House of Alba, when the Marshal of Berwick, ancestor of the current duke, is awarded the Gold Fleece decoration and receives the duchies of Liria and Jérica, where the name of the palace comes from. Indeed gorgeous architecture and history Webpage: https://www.palaciodeliria.com/en
Artemisia Gentileschi, from forgotten painter to feminist icon. The Artemisia Gentileschi, the 17C Italian painter. Born in a country marked by antiquity by great figures of painting, who do not overshadow her, she has become from the last third of the 20C and to this day a media artist, especially by the feminist trend of art history , who has presented her as a victim of men and whose art would emerge, Freudian, as revenge for the violence against her in her adolescence. She is the only female artist of Western culture that has attracted the interest of novelists and filmmakers, and there have been several works that have dealt with her life, rather than her art, trying to find answers to the mystery that the painter continues to embody in the present. Among others, the viceroy of Spain, who had three of her works and commissioned for king Felipe IV “The Birth of Saint John the Baptist “. The painting hangs, for a few days, in the Prado Museum, which has included it in her new exhibition tour, Reunion, until September 13. Her name does not appear among the artists killed in the epidemic and perhaps she should be searched among the more than 40,000 skulls that lie in the Neapolitan cemetery of Fontanella. An inscription on the Neapolitan Church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, destroyed in WWII, perhaps indicated the location of her tomb: Hei Artemisia or “Here Artemisia”, even though late-century news reported it 18C, surely imagined. To be found! Webpage : https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/artist/gentileschi-artemisa/699ae686-7bf1-4a29-b88f-86ebdc035f3c
Some news from Spain XCIII July 8 2020
The Madrid Art Triangle, made up of the Prado, the Thyssen-Bornemisza and the Reina Sofía museums, have experienced a sharp fall in June 2020 due to the reduced capacity and social distancing measures adopted to combat the pandemic. The most pronounced fall is that of the Reina Sofía, which from June 6 to 30 of this year has had 13,133 visitors at its main headquarters, where the “Guernica” and the bulk of its collection is housed, while the same period in 2019 had 113,779 visitors. The museum reopened on June 6 with only part of its route, which houses the most important pieces, such as the central work of Picasso, and other reference rooms, such as those dedicated to Dalí. The Thyssen-Bornemisza is the one that falls the least. Unlike the other two, the museum reopened all of its facilities, albeit with reduced capacity as indicated by the government’s de-escalation program. Of the 63,378 visitors it received in June 2019, it has now received 25,079 (from June 6 to 30).
There you go folks, short and hot just for your thinking mind. This is Spain, everything under the Sun, Again,hope you enjoy this post as I. And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 