Meadows Museum and Prado Bring Spanish Masterpieces to U.S.
By STAN PARCHIN
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| El Greco, born Domenikos Theotokopoulos (Greek, 1541-1614). Pentecost (ca. 1596-1600). Oil on canvas. 275 x 127 cm. Museo Nacional del Prado. |
June 11, 2010
Dallas, Texas'
Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University and Madrid, Spain's
Museo Nacional del Prado announced today the launch of a three-year academic partnership. The Prado’s first-ever international collaboration includes: the loan of three Spanish Old Master paintings to the Meadows; interdisciplinary research at SMU; an internship exchange; and public programs. The Dallas institution is a world-renowned bastion of Spanish art.
The Meadows Museum’s trio of focused exhibitions will explore the historical, cultural, political and religious contexts of important works from the Prado:
Pentecost by El Greco (September 12, 2010-February 1, 2011);
Mary Magdalene by Jusepe de Ribera (2011); and
Philip IV by Diego Velázquez (2012). Each show will be accompanied by a bilingual publication, a symposium and educational events.
Beginning in Fall 2011, the Algur H. Meadows/Prado Internships will allow both museums to appoint graduate students annually to work closely with their curatorial staffs.
Special ExhibitionsIn conjunction with the presentation of
Pentecost (ca. 1596-1600) by El Greco (1561-1614), the Meadows Museum is offering two related special exhibitions.
Spanish Muse: A Contemporary Response (September 12-December 12, 2010) examines how modern-day artists have reacted to iconic works in Spain. Thomas Struth, Eve Sussman, Yinka Shonibare and others are represented.
Sultans and Saints: Spain's Confluence of Cultures (September 12, 2010-February 1, 2011) analyzes the impact of religion on El Greco's art. On view are paintings, sculptures, manuscripts and ceramics that reflect the cultural exchange among Jews, Muslims and Christians from the Middle Ages to the Counter-Reformation.
Pentecost by El Greco
The Pentecost or Descent of the Holy Spirit was a popular theme in 16th- and early 17th-century retablos (altarpieces) in Castile. According to the New Testament (Acts 2:2-4), fiery cloven tongues appeared above Jesus Christ's disciples. His followers suddenly began to speak in different languages, thus enabling them to spread the Savior's message to various peoples.
El Greco's dramatic oil on canvas Pentecost was part of a gilded seven-image retablo created for the high altar of the Augustinian seminary's Church of the Colegio de Doña María de Aragón in Madrid. The artist was paid the incredible sum of slightly under 6,000 ducats for the entire work, his career's most prestigious commission.
It is in Pentecost and the five extant companion images that El Greco's late "mystical" style of art emerged. His intensely colorful compositions are characterized by elongated shapes and forms, flickering light effects and the subjects' ecstatic gestures and gazes.
The catalogue for the Meadows Museum's El Greco presentation will feature scholarly essays about the artist's patrons, his final style, the Pentecost in early modern Spanish art and the painter's technique.
Pentecost was last seen stateside in the special exhibition El Greco of Toledo (1982-83). The painting visited four American cities, including Dallas.
Sources
Brown, Jonathan, et al. El Greco of Toledo (exh. cat.). Toledo, OH: Toledo Museum of Art, 1982, 148, 156-164, 243-244.
Davies, David (ed.), et al. El Greco (exh. cat.). London: National Gallery Company, 2003, 168-175.