Auguste Rodin e Francisco Franco
Julgo que a escolha destas duas esculturas traduz um pouco daquilo que penso ser um dos objetivos da exposição: proporcionar encontros entre a Coleção do Fundador e a Coleção Moderna. Este exercício não apresenta grandes dificuldades tratando-se destas obras, adquirida uma (Rodin) e produzida outra (Franco), com apenas um ano de diferença. A curiosidade de a peça de Francisco Franco, artista nascido no Funchal, ser datada do ano em que parte para Paris, 1909, com bolsa do legado Valmor, coloca-a numa fase inicial da sua obra escultórica, permeável à lição de Rodin, considerado o pai da escultura moderna. Enquanto o Retrato de Velho de Francisco Franco segue a temática clássica da representação das idades do homem, modelo idealizado, afrontando através da plasticidade da técnica o cânone estabelecido, Rodin reproduz o busto de um amigo seu, o pintor Alphonse Legros, individualizando a fisionomia do artista através do gesto e da modelagem registada a partir do modelo vivo. Calouste Gulbenkian adquiriu diretamente a Rodin o busto de Legros, que tinha visto na Exposição Universal de Bruxelas, nesse mesmo ano, escrevendo a Rodin que desejava que o artista executasse um «exemplar idêntico» para a sua coleção. Existe no Arquivo Gulbenkian uma carta de Rodin dirigida ao Colecionador, manifestando o prazer que seria recebê-lo na rue de Varenne, ficando por confirmar se os dois se vieram a encontrar.
João Carvalho Dias, curador
It was both a surprise and not a surprise to find the Iraqi works, hidden away in a remote cupboard of the Modern Collection, which is usually known as a collection of Portuguese modernism. And indeed one result of this exhibition is to show works from other countries. Britain and France are perhaps to be expected, but when one remembers Gulbenkian’s interests in oil, Iraq is obvious too. Perhaps the more surprising thing is not that these works stand out for being Iraqi, but rather the opposite. They blend remarkably well with the Portuguese paintings beside them, and indicate a common search for a language of modernism in the 1950s and 60s. In this the links between Iraq, and other countries in the area, with Europe, and especially France, are very evident. This was equally true of Portugal. If the links had been with the USA, the predominant style might have been very different. Instead what we see here, in these small- scale, tentative works, a cautious attempt to blend figurative motifs – women, houses, landscape – with a generalised abstract pattern-making. In fact it may well be the decorative tradition, shared by Portugal and Iraq, which dominates, and which makes these works such sympathetic neighbours. So apparently at home, side by side, it is only now, when Iraqi artists are being rediscovered by Western institutions such as the Tate, or the Pompidou, that an artist like Dia Al-Azzawi is given individual recognition. Such is his current standing that the work which opened this show is currently on tour to Doha. It has been replaced with a painting by Hafidh Al-Druby. The works were bought from shows organised by the Iraqi Artists Union and Society in 1962 and 1966: the works were recent, and often by young artists. Saadi Al-Kabi, for example, was only 25 when his work was bought for the Modern Collection. They were contemporary with artists like Rui Filipe who were bought directly from the 1957 Exhibition of Visual Arts in Portugal, in similar acts of philanthropic patronage.
Penelope Curtis, curator