Room information sheet

ROOM 3

ARS CITERIOR OF THE VALENCIAN COMMUNITY COLLECTION

— A Way of Seeing

A private collection adheres to the collector’s taste and implies a way of seeing, not by chance or whim.

Fernando Zóbel

 

The Ars Citerior of the Valencian Community collection has its origins in the figure of the painter and engraver Abel Martín (1931–1993), considered a master in the field of graphic arts and who, together with the artist Eusebio Sempere (1923–1985), introduced silk-screening in Spain.

 

As a pioneer of this technique, and with the excellence that characterised his work, he made prints for artists as renowned as Mondrian, Vasarely, Arp, Zóbel, Antonio Saura and Manolo Millares, among many others. Without Abel Martín’s contribution, graphic work wouldn’t have acquired the artistic recognition that it now enjoys in Spain, and many artists wouldn’t have had the opportunity to present their art to the general public.

 

At present, Ars Citerior (which in Latin means ‘closer to art’) is a familiar collection whose origins are found in the print work that Abel Martín carried out for artists such as Sempere, Chillida, Rueda, Saura, Millares and Zóbel, among others. His direct contact with them allowed him to begin his own collection. Following his dramatic death in 1993, his heirs took control of the artistic heritage, and then in 1999 grouped together a large part of the work with the intention of expanding the collection. Today, Ars Citerior is an extensive art collection in which the figure of Abel Martín’s nephew, Javier B. Martín, performs a key role as director and curator.

 

The collection consists mainly of medium or small-sized paintings by Spanish artists—or artists who have developed their work in Spain—from the mid-twentieth century to the present day. Geometric or constructivist abstraction characterises a large part of the works. Among the artists who are most present in the collection are Albano Hernández, Dis Berlin, Monika Buch, Francisco Farreras, Robert Ferrer i Martorell, Joan Hernández Pijuan, Rafa Macarrón, Gerardo Rueda, Eusebio Sempere, Salvador Victoria and José María Yturralde.

 

A Way of Seeing is an exhibition that stems from an analysis of the connections between the pieces that make up the collection. This has resulted in grouping the work into five sections that offer a vision of painting in Spain over the last 70 years, from 1950 to our current times. 94 works of art by 54 different artists born between 1910 and the 1980s are exhibited. Seekers of Beauty, In the End Everything Is a Line, From Timbuktu to Folquer, Gesture and Matter and Latest Art are the titles of each section.

 

1. Seekers of Beauty. Section dedicated to lyrical abstraction and the painters who belonged to the Cuenca group (Gerardo Rueda, Gustavo Torner, Eusebio Sempere and Fernando Zóbel). The exhibited pieces represent a reflective way of thinking on behalf of their creators. They have reached equilibrium and attained control of their compositons.
2. In the End Everything Is a Line. Section dedicated to geometric work and constructivism, with pieces mainly from the fifties, sixties and seventies. In the Spanish art sphere, geometric art appears in Paris in the 1950s, among a group of artists who emigrated to the French capital in search of new artistic and cultural inspiration. It eventually arrived in Spain, when in the 1960s and 1970s a great emergence of geometric and constructive trends took place, during which the line and the plane became fundamental elements.
3. From Timbuktu to Folquer. Section dedicated mainly to the contemporary landscapes of Dis Berlin and Hernàndez Pijuan, two generationally distant artists who both created consciencious and thorough work. Two ways of seeing and interpreting the landscape are contrasted against each other.
4. Gesture and Matter. Section dedicated to the gestures of the members of the El Paso group, formed by Manolo Millares, Manuel Rivera, Luis Feitó and Rafael Canogar. Here we find a division between gestural and material artists.
5. Latest Art. Section comprised of painters who are currently producing work, most of whom were born in the 1980s, share the experiences of the current era and proclaim a new way of doing, each with their own language.