12 March 2008

Global Seminars & Invited Speaker Series

DECORATIVE ARTS AND ARTISTIC TECHNIQUES

PRESENTATION OF THE REPORT 2007 OF THE CHAIR OF HERITAGE AND ART OF NAVARRE.

From left to right, Víctor Nieto, María Concepción García Gainza, Carmen Saralegui and Ricardo Fernández Gracia.

The Chair de Patrimonio y Arte Navarro has continued during its third year of existence to organize a considerable issue of activities that have been attended by a wider public, interested in the novelty of some of the topics dealt with and in the topicality of their approaches. In this line, the lecture series graduate Lessonson Contemporary Art in Navarre was a very successful activity, as it systematically proposed a exhibition of Pamplona's architecture of the 19th and 20th centuries at position by Javier Azanza, with special attention to the architecture of Victor Eusa, glossed by Fernando Tabuenca. Contemporary sculpture and painting were also dealt with in four sessions that dealt with the successive phases, from 19th century Realism to painting (1940-1960) and abstraction (1960-1980), and which were at position by Ignacio J. Urricelqui, Pedro Luis Lozano and Francisco J. Zubiaur successively. A lecture on Photographers and society in Navarre in the 19th and 20th centuries, at position by Asunción Domeño Martínez de Morentin, concluded the series, which was followed with great interest by the audience.

The Painting and History series dealt with the relationship established between the two, both from the point of view of illustrated history, as highlighted by Ricardo Fernández Gracia with respect to the Annals of Moret in his eighteenth-century editions promoted for political reasons, and from the point of view of the great history paintings that were so successful in the nineteenth century for aesthetic and social reasons, which were commented on by Carlos Reyero and related to the national exhibitions of Fine Arts.

A burning and unresolved topic , the relationship between religious art and contemporary art forms, was raised in the series Sacred Art and Contemporary Art through two conferences by Alfonso G. R. de Ceballos and Gerardo Díaz Quirós, specialists in the subject, and in a roundtable formed by Joaquín Lorda (architect), José Antonio Eslava (painter, sculptor and engraver), Javier Aizpún (Delegate of Diocesan Historical Heritage) and Gerardo Díaz Quirós and Javier Azanza (professors of Art History), among whom an interesting and lively discussion took place with the participation of the public.

From agreement with the calendar, the Chair of Patrimony and Navarrese Art organized a cycle on The sculptural image in the Holy Week and Worship and Celebration of San Fermin. The first one counted on Francisco de la place to explain The Step and the Processional Image in the Holy Week and of the one who writes this to trace the history and to value the artistic merits of the Christ of Lekaroz, work of Alonso Cano. The second cycle was composed by a very documented lecture of the Iconography and cult to San Fermín, and a roundtable in which the photographers Pío Guerendiain, Koldo Chamorro and José Luis Larrión participated, moderated by Asunción Domeño.

Particularly suggestive was the lecture Disfrutar el Patrimonio Artístico given by Mr. Alfonso Nieto Tamargo, who exposed the reflections and surprising findings that a "non-expert" makes in his approach to the work of art and the pleasure of contemplation. For his part, Juan José Martinena made a documented exhibition of the Navarrese castles, their rise and decline.

La exhibition de Fitero: El bequest de un monasterio, curated by Ricardo Fernández Gracia, was a cultural event that gave rise to its corresponding lecture series with the participation of professors from the Chair Pedro Luis Echeverría, Ignacio Miguéliz and the curator himself, and to an interdisciplinary session on art, literature and music with the participation of Julián Ayesa and Javier Medrano. On the other hand, the desire of cultural diffusion of the Chair by Navarra led him to organize a cycle in Oteiza de la Solana under the degree scroll A context for an image, which ended with a cultural outing to position by Román Felones, and another one in Corella and Cintruénigo.

The 2007 summer course organized by the Chair de Patrimonio every year with the generic degree scroll Acercar el Patrimonio, took place in Olite. It consisted of several conferences that were explaining to the numerous assistants the different moments and artistic works of the city, from the urbanizing process until the 20th century, and were to position of Carmen Jusué, Asunción Domeño, Carmen Lacarra, Mercedes Jover, Javier Martínez de Aguirre, Ricardo Fernández, Javier Azanza, Carmen Morte and Ignacio Urricelqui, and was directed by Asunción Domeño. There was also a tour of the town center of Olite guided by Javier Corcín.
 

During the past year, the Chair continued with its work professor giving the seminar of Navarrese Art to both university students and people from the city, since it is a course open to anyone interested. In this way, the university teaching of agreement is opened to society in general with a systematic and updated methods. Within the activities of this seminar a lecture series was organized under the degree scroll New views on the Cathedral of Pamplona, which took place in the cathedral's baroque sacristy. position The conferences, which focused on aspects of royal, episcopal and ecclesiastical patronage and on the bequest of new works of art in accordance with changes in worship, were given by Fernández-Ladreda, García Gainza, Fernández Gracia and Lorda Iñarra, all professors at the Chair. In conclusion, Canon Librarian Julio Gorricho showed the attendees the cathedral's Library Services .

In parallel with these activities of the Chair , the line publishing house has been increased with the publication, in partnership with the Osasuna Foundation, of a brand new book written by Javier Azanza on Football and architecture: stadiums, the new cathedrals of the XXI century. Its publication gave rise to two interesting conferences at position by the author, who delighted the audience with the modernity of sports architecture. On the other hand, the web page of the Chair has continued with the classroom Abierta and its usual sections of the Piece of the Month, Recensión de publicaciones, Recorriendo nuestro Patrimonio, which offers some itineraries as proposal cultural. The second issue of the Cuadernos de la Chair de Patrimonio y Arte Navarro is also in press with the degree scroll "Promoción y Mecenazgo artístico en Navarra" (Promotion and Artistic Patronage in Navarre).

At the end of the year, the traditional Christmas Cycle was held at position by Francisco J. Zubiaur, who spoke about the customs, rites and staging of Christmas in Navarre, and Soledad de Silva, who presented the complete iconography of the Christmas cycle in Navarre's medieval art.

With the above activities, certainly numerous and diverse, the Chair of Heritage and Art of Navarre has continued to show its cultural vitality aimed at knowledge, dissemination and conservation of our own and nearby heritage. In this way, the Chair wants to maintain in this line and to make the society participant of the current questions that are related to our Cultural Patrimony.

María Concepción García Gainza
Director of the Chair de Patrimonio y Arte Navarro (Navarrese Heritage and Art)