Self Portrait In Palace Or The Dog | MACA - Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Alicante

Equipo Crónica

Self-Portrait in Palace or The Dog

1970

Technical data

Authorship:

Equipo Crónica

Title:

Self-Portrait in Palace or The Dog

Date:

1970

Dimensions:

122 x 100 cm

Collection it belongs to:

Collection 20th Century Art

Inventory no.:

XX.044

Artwork text

Self-Portrait in Palace or The Dog belongs to the series Autopsy of a Craft, in which Equipo Crónica worked between 1969 and 1970. Composed of ten paintings and as many multiples, the series takes as reference the iconography of Las Meninas by Velázquez to analyze the craft of painting and place painting in its place as queen and mirror of the arts.

An explicit vindication in this work. The two artists, in the foreground in the same way that the original work places the main characters of Las Meninas, appear as two house painters who, during a break from their work (the painting is not finished since a white, empty area appears), stop to reflect on the work they are carrying out. Or they have stopped their work because someone has entered the room, in the same way that Velázquez pauses his work and the Infanta Margarita makes a gesture of reverence because the kings have entered, whom we see reflected in the mirror at the back of the room. Another distortion appears in this Self-Portrait. The Dog becomes the main character of the painting, occupying with a gigantic volume the entire space of the canvas.

The series was presented for the first time in 1970 at the Val i 30 Gallery in Valencia and at the Honda Room in Cuenca. In both spaces the artists filled the exhibition with figures representing the public watching, wooden character portraits of themselves and their friends, visualizing the paintings. In 1976 when these works were presented in the individual exhibition of Equipo Crónica at the Juana Mordó Gallery in Madrid, the authors themselves write an explanatory text in the catalog: "This time the backdrop is again the "Classical" painting, especially Velázquez's Las Meninas. In almost the entire series we have included our own image, as belonging to the action that each painting describes. We consciously use associations of images that in some way refer to "surrealism". Technically we continue to use the flat ink procedure. We occasionally incorporate fluorescent colors and Walt Disney images, since we want to achieve a certain "Kitsch" atmosphere in the treatment of Velázquez. ".

Exhibitions

- "Equipo Crónica. Works from the series "Autopsy of a Trade", Valencia, Galería Val i 30, 1970.

- "Equipo Crónica", Cuenca, Sala Honda, 1970.

- "Equipo Crónica. Work Process 1964/1974", Rotterdam, Kuntstichting, 1974.

- "Equipo Crónica", Paris, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville, 1974. Touring: Saint-Etienne, Maison de la Culture, 1974; Rennes, Maison de la Culture, 1974; Pau, Musée des Beaux Arts, 1975.

- "Equipo Crónica 1965-1981", Valencia, IVAM, Centre Julio González, 1989. Touring: Barcelona, Casa de la Caritat, 1989; Madrid, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, 1989.

- "Equipo Crónica", Murcia, Palacio Almudí, 1990.

- "Self-Portrait in Spain. From Picasso to the Present Day", Madrid, Fundación Cultural Mapfre Vida, 1994.

- "Equipo Crónica. Royal Chronicles", Palma, Museu d'Art Espanyol Contemporani, 2007. Touring: Cuenca, Museo de Arte Abstracto Español, 2007.

- "Equipo Crónica", Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao. From February 9 to May 17, 2015.

- "Equipo Crónica. Anthological Exhibition", Valencia, Fundación Bancaja. From September 22, 2016 to January 8, 2017.

- "Valencia 1972. Towards a Monster City", Valencia, Centre Cultural La Nau. Universitat de València. From November 22, 2022 to April 23, 2023.

Bibliografía

- Equipo Crónica. Works from the Autopsy of a Trade series, Valencia, Galería Val i 30, 1970, s.p.: il.

- Equipo Crónica, Cuenca, Sala Honda, 1970: il.

- Llorens, Tomás: Equipo Crónica, Barcelona, Gustavo Gili, New Orbit Collection, 1972, p. 44: il.

- Llorens, Tomás: Equipo Crónica, Paris, ARC. Museum of Modern Art of the City, 1974, p. 29: il.

- Equipo Crónica. Work Process 1964/1974, Rotterdam, Kunstschtichting Lijnbaancentrum, 1974, cat. 4: il.

- Equipo Crónica, House of Culture, Saint-Etienne/Rennes/Pau, 1974, p. 29: il.

- Spain, Artistic Avant-garde and Social Reality, 1936-1976, Central Pavilion. International Biennial of Art, Venice, 1975: il.

- Equipo Crónica. Retrospective, Madrid, M 11-Sevilla Art Center, 1975.

- Equipo Crónica, Madrid, Juana Mordó Gallery, 1976, p. 12: il.

- Iglesias, J. M.: "Presence in Madrid of "Equipo Crónica" (Chronicle of the exhibition at Juana Mordó Gallery)", Madrid, Bellas Artes 52, July-August 1976, p. 24-25.

- Equipo Crónica. "Data on the Formation of Equipo Crónica and Chronology by Series", in Equipo Crónica. [Exhibition Catalog, Madrid, National Library Halls]. Madrid: Ministry of Culture, General Directorate of Fine Arts, Archives and Libraries, Sub-directorate General of Plastic Arts, 1981, p. 107.

- Marín Viadel, R.: Social Realism in Valencian Plastic Arts (1964-75), Valencia, 1981, p. 218 and 281: il.

- Bonet Correa, Antonio: Municipal Museum "Casa de la Asegurada", 20th Century Art Collection, Alicante, Ed. Municipal Museum "Casa de la Asegurada", 1981, b/w il. p. 20.

- Dalmace-Rognon, A. M.: Plastic Arts in Spain from 1956 to 1976. Research and Recovery of an Identity, Unpublished. State Thesis, University of Paris-Sorbonne, 1988, 480: il.

- Equipo Crónica 1965-1981, Valencia, IVAM, Julio González Center, 1989, p. 100: il. cat. 20.

- Equipo Crónica, Murcia, Almudí Palace, 1990, s.p.: il.

- Self-Portrait in Spain. From Picasso to the Present Day, Madrid, Mapfre Vida Cultural Foundation, 1994, p. 155: il. cat. 63.

- La Asegurada Museum, 20th Century Art Collection, Alicante, Alicante City Council, 1999, p. 38 and 81.

- José F. Picó: "Eusebio Sempere donated four works that were not his to the La Asegurada museum". Madrid, ABC, July 28, 1996.

- Marín Viadel, R.: Equipo Crónica: Painting, Culture, Society, Valencia, Institució Alfons el Magnànim, 2002, p.61 il.

- Dalmace, Michele (Ed): Equipo Crónica, annotated catalog, Valencia, IVAM Valencian Institute of Modern Art, 2002, p. 128, cat. 7:il.

- Castells Gonzalez, Rosa Mª (Coord): Municipal Heritage. 5 Years of Restoration in Alicante, Alicante, Municipal Culture Board, Alicante City Council, 2002, p. 243, il.

- Dalmace, Michelle (com): Equipo Crónica. Royal Chronicles, Madrid, Juan March Foundation, 2007, p. 74, 75: il. cat. 9.

- Llorens, Tomás: Equipo Crónica, Bilbao, Museum of Fine Arts, 2015, cat. 9, p. 21-22.

- Album of Trading Cards. 20th Century Art Collection. 40th Anniversary, Alicante, Museum of Contemporary Art of Alicante, 2017, p. 16, card no. 34.

- Castells González, Rosa Mª: "Eusebio Sempere as a Collector. The 20th Century Art Collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Alicante" in Atlas Sempere Canelobre no. 69, Alicante, Alicantino Institute of Culture, 2018, p. 280-291.

Artist

Equipo Crónica

Valencia, Spain , 1964 - 1964

In 1964, a group of artists tired of the dominant informalist trend in the Spanish artistic landscape of the time decided to create a movement that would reflect on the representation of reality. Thus was born Equipo Crónica, founded by Manolo Valdés...

See Artist