Artistas iraquianos
Em dezembro de 1962, o Dr. José de Azeredo Perdigão deslocou-se ao Iraque para participar na celebração do Milenário da Cidade de Bagdade. As relações económicas da Fundação com o Iraque eram muito fortes na época, o que se refletiu igualmente no incentivo aos artistas iraquianos através da aquisição de um conjunto obras que estavam expostas no Museu de Arte Moderna de Bagdade.
Em novembro de 1966, na inauguração da Sociedade dos Artistas Iraquianos e da Arte em Bagdade foi realizada uma exposição internacional, com obras de artistas portugueses e estrangeiros pertencentes à Coleção da Gulbenkian, ao mesmo tempo que era mostrada arte moderna iraquiana, que resultou na aquisição de importantes obras para a coleção de arte da Fundação que aqui apresentamos algumas.
Um dos grandes artistas iraquianos aqui destacado, Dia Al-Azzawi, encontrou na arte islâmica signos e símbolos que influenciaram a sua obra, bem como viu na arte popular ou na poesia Palestiniana fonte de trabalho. Al-Azzawi influenciou uma série de outros artistas que procuraram nas raízes da arte islâmica inspiração para as suas obras.
Patricia Rosas, curadora
I like this combination because it works at various levels. Firstly it makes the point that Rodin and Calouste Gulbenkian were contemporaries, and then it adds the fact that Franco was too. It brings together people from different places: France, Portugal and England via Turkey. Gulbenkian seemed to be unusually keen to meet Rodin, and although we can’t be sure that he did, we do have four letters (in the Musée Rodin in Paris) which show that he wanted to. The piece which Gulbenkian had spotted in Brussels was the portrait head of Legros, and he was obviously able to buy another cast, because we have it today in the collection. It makes a very good pair with the anonymous head of an old man by Franco, and the Legros portrait almost could be just a character head of an older model. And indeed the first work by Rodin to achieve any kind of visibility was his portrait head of an old man, modelled after one of his favourite models. The lively modelling for which Rodin became famous, originally in the clay, is very evident in the Legros example, and he probably worked hard at this piece because he admired Legros as a fellow artist. I like the way the two sit beside each other, probably for the first time in their lives, but seem so well balanced. The Legros suspended in the air, with no base to speak of; the Franco quite massive, more like a bust which might be used on a plinth to mark a famous man. Instead of this, Legros is famous but the bust modest, and Franco’s model is unknown, but the work is substantial in comparison. You would expect it to be the other way around.
Penelope Curtis, curator