Arcimboldo, the (fruit salad) master of the Renaissance is exhibited at the Centre Pompidou Metz until the 22.11.2021
Concept, reality and back again...
Therefore, the Palazzo Grassi exhibition curated by Pontus Hultén and Yasha David (one of the curator of the "new version") laid the foundation of this second exhibition due to his historical importance as the first monograph exhibition of Arcimboldo at the time.
Nonetheless, the group of curators of the Centre Pompidou Metz decided to widen the path of Arcimboldo oeuvre with modern and contemporary outlook on his works and practices as a pioneer of his time.
Even tough, the Lombard painter was always up for avant-garde, beside tradition. He shook the Renaissance movement to take up the Mannerism, a movement focus on the disapproval of perspective and inspired by Raphaël and Michelangelo.
Therefore, he trained with his father (Duomo) in his Milan Workshop, before turning itself to the Habsburg court in 1562. There, he will meet Ferdinand I, Maximilian II and Rudolf II. This learning curve gave him a national and European recognition with many trip to Vienna and Prague.
Nonetheless, this new show is considered as a link between the thought and research of Pontus Hultén and the new representation of Arcimboldo oeuvre beside new and old pictures produced from the 16th century to the 21st century.
One another difference from the original exhibition is to reveal the lesser known side of the artist oeuvre with works such as drawings, seated portraits or stain-glass windows.
Le Bibliothécaire, a symbolic case
This 1566 work is a good example of this shift in perception between the two shows. While Le Bibliothécaire (or the librarian) was showed in the two exhibitions, this work as a long story, from his provenance to the model.
Everything started in 1648 with the Conquest of Praque, when the battle and the war "destroy" the original work by Giuseppe Arcimboldo. Therefore, this work was analysed by scientists and art historians for a long period before it was questionably authenticate as a genuine work by the master.
During the show at the Palazzo Grassi, the specialist of his work doubt about his authenticity due to the many copies and the fact that we "lost" the original work in Prague in 1648. But, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BNF) realised an exhibition about it in 1997 and they genuinely accepted it as a "real" Arcimboldo.
Anyhow, this type of painting is still a mystery in the chronology of the artist oeuvre. During the creation of Le Bibliothécaire, the artist created the first version of the Four Seasons, the earliest one is in the collection of the Museo de la Real Academia de Bellas Artes de Sam Fernando in Madrid. In his second version, Arcimboldo soften the tone of the figure and created a border between the figure and the background with an "enleminure" of flowers.
Nonetheless, Arcimboldo also created the Four Elements (air, earth, fire and water) in the same time, they're now exhibited at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (2 works) and in private hands (2 works).
Therefore, it's quite mysterious to find a full length portrait in the series of face portrait made during the 1560s. It might be due to his arrival in the Habsburg court in Prague and his depiction of the entourage of the King. Two other works will follow : The Lawyer (1566) and The Chef (1570).
But, as Max Ernst created Ubu Imperator in the 1920s and 1930s, he was quite inspired by the composition of Le Bibliothécaire. From the full length view of the personage to his reflection of Freund physiology, Ernst depicted a personage created in his dream.
Therefore, the two artists was on the same road. While Arcimboldo was making the portrait of the King of Prague, Ernst was dreaming about his family from Germany.
The scenography, an endless dialogue between centuries
To match this new and avant-garde exhibition, the designer and scenography Laurent P. Berger and Cyrille Berger (Berger&Berger) decided to use an unconventional material : cement brick. Nonetheless, the use of brick and monochromatic wall remind me of the stairway or a room in an old castle, therefore Arcimboldo workplace in the 16th century.
Therefore, the exhibition design also reflect the choice of the six curators. They wanted to show the oeuvre of Arcimboldo as something special, never linear, never repeating himself and never chronological. This is why you will be able to encounter a work by Arcimboldo between a painting by Giorgio de Chirico and a work by Francis Bacon.
This is why each work balanced they fought on each other like a long and big reflection on the work of Arcimboldo and his contemporaries. It also focuses the attention of the visitors to see each corner of the room (made like a labyrinth) to see every detail, every similarity and experimentation of this ensemble of 200-300 works of art.
Moreover, this "link" gave us a bridge between the works of Arcimboldo and the one from the avant-garde of the 20th century.
It was even linked to the French writer and poet André Breton during the "Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme" presented in Paris in 1947. To some extent, Breton define his work as a "pre-Surrealist" such as the one from Odilon Redon, Gustav Klimt and William Blake.
But, you can clearly see the scope and inspiration of Arcimboldo on modern and contemporary artists such as Francis Picabia, Marcel Duchamp and Annette Messager.
Even if we think about Arcimboldo as an "outsider", he was always inspired by Leonardo da Vinci due to his studies, his drawings and his fragmentation and he would be proud of what we've done with his work... From Hannah Höch surrealist collage, Gilbert & George, René Magritte, Meret Oppenheim and TOYEN.
Informations about the exhibition
Place: Centre Pompidou Metz
Date: 29.05.2021 – 22.11.2022
Curators: Chiara Parisi, Anne Horvath, Maurizio Cattelan, Patricia Falguières, Antonie Pinelli and Yasha David
Ticket: Available at the front desk of the museum
Informations about the Centre Pompidou Metz
Centre Pompidou Metz
1 Parvis des Droits-de-l'Homme
57 000 Metz
Phone: +33 (0)3 87 15 39 39
Mail: contact@centrepompidou-metz.fr