Year Joaquín Sorolla, Sorolla in black
This 2023 has been the Year Francisco Sorolla.
Several exhibitions on the Spanish Painter were healed around the country and most especially in its beloved city, Valencia.
Valencia is a city that I personally love to visit from time to time. Of course this was a special occasion not to be lost! We are used to admire the colours of Joaquín Sorolla, the light, the sun, the brightness… but we are not used to get the opportunity to see a diffwerent artist, a “dark Sorolla”. A more monochrome version of the master painter. The exhibition ”Sorolla in black” was one of those rare oportunities.
Maria del Pilar de la Bastida, 1900, Joaquin Sorolla, ©photo by Mamut 2023
Retrato de Antonio García, 1908, Joaquin Sorolla. ©photo by Mamut, 2023
Clotilde con mantilla negra, 1919, Joaquin Sorolla. ©photo by Mamut pastels, 2023
Clotilde con mantilla negra (detalle), 1919, Joaquin Sorolla. ©photo by Mamut pastels, 2023
Clotilde con mantilla negra (detalle), 1919, Joaquin Sorolla. ©photo by Mamut pastels, 2023
This exhibition aims to focus attention on black, starting from the apparent contradiction involved in associating it with Sorolla, the painter of the light and colour par excellence. He himself recommended that modern painters should not do black painting or drawing. And yet black is present in his palette: ivory black, bone black, carbon black, lead grey, blue black. Sometimes intense, at others times nuanced.
Retrato del Conde de Albox, Joaquin Sorolla 1905 ©photo by Mamut 2023
Retrato del Conde de Albox (detalle), Joaquin Sorolla 1905 ©photo by Mamut 2023
Exposición Bancaja, Joaquin sorolla ,Valencia 2023
Like every combination of words with opposite meanings, the expression raises the complex ambiguity of sensations as a way of taking us out of our comfort zone of comprehension. Aesthetic pleasure requires a fresh gaze. It invites us to think about whether it is a paradox, or whether, on the contrary, it just represents another point of view for understanding and appreciating the artist. After all, it was in Sorollas´s time that black began to be accepted as a colour like any other.
Asando sardinas en Zarautz, 1910, Oleo sobre lienzo, Fancisco Sorolla. ©photo Mamut Pastels 2023
Asando sardinas en Zarautz (detalle), 1910, Oleo sobre lienzo, Fancisco Sorolla. ©photo Mamut Pastels 2023
Asando sardinas en Zarautz (detalle), 1910, Oleo sobre lienzo, Fancisco Sorolla. ©photo Mamut Pastels 2023
Asando sardinas en Zarautz (detalle), 1910, Oleo sobre lienzo, Fancisco Sorolla. ©photo Mamut Pastels 2023
Triste Herencia 1899, Oleo sobre lienzo, Francisco Sorolla, ©photo Mamut Pastels 2023
Triste Herencia (detalle) 1899, Oleo sobre lienzo, Francisco Sorolla, ©photo Mamut Pastels 2023
It ceased to be the tone of darkness and attracted attention in its own right: it suggests elegance and discretion, artifice and simplicity; it is associated with states of mind and constitutes a device for producing contrasts, intensifying the painting surface and creating new harmonies without resorting to midtones.
Triste Herencia (detalle) 1899, Oleo sobre lienzo, Francisco Sorolla, ©photo Mamut Pastels 2023
María con sombrero, Francisco Sorolla, ©photo Mamut Pastels 2023
Clotilde con traje gris, 1900, Oleo sobre lienzo, Francisco Sorolla, ©photo Mamut Pastels 2023
Detalle Clotilde con traje gris, 1900, Oleo sobre lienzo, Francisco Sorolla, ©photo Mamut Pastels 2023
