ART-PRESENTATION: The Serralves Collection 1960-80, Part I

Jannis Kounellis, Sem título, 1969, Iron, wool, 41 x 190 x 82 cm, Coll. Fundação de Serralves - Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Porto, Portugal. Acquisition 1999The Serralves Foundation currently holds over 4300 works in its collection, of which more than 1700 belong to Serralves with a further 2600 works from various Private and Public Collections on long-term deposit. Deposits that have served as points of reference for the development of the collection include the Collection of the Portuguese Secretariat of State for Culture and the Collection of the Luso-American Development Foundation (FLAD). The Serralves Collection also includes approximately 5000 artists’ books and editions (Part II).

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: The Serralves Foundation Archive

The inaugural exhibition of the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art in 1999, “Circa 1968”, served to highlight the ‘60s and ‘70s, a historic period of political, social and cultural change that took place around the world, as seminal decades out of which emerged new paradigms in art making and the beginning of the post-modern era. The exhibition “Serralves Collection: 1960-1980” marks the visible and permanent presence of the Serralves Collection in the Serralves Museum as part of a dynamic program of changing displays. The decades surveyed in the exhibition are marked by profound social and cultural changes as well as radical developments in art making. The art of this period reflects a redefinition of artistic forms, media and production, influenced by profound transformations in technology. The exhibition presents works by Portuguese and international artists and surveys the art produced in the decades considered foundational to the history and development of contemporary art and the place of Portuguese art in that history. As well as iconic art works made between 1960 and 1980, the new displays also include a selection of more contemporary pieces that highlight the continued relevance of these earlier artistic positions and attitudes. With a visually dynamic and rich presentation of paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs, films and videos, the Collection display surveys various themes central to the artistic practice of the post-art period and influential on the artistic practices of the 21st  Century, including: materials and process, abstraction and figuration, language and concept, and the body and performativity.The decades surveyed in the exhibition are marked by profound social and cultural changes as well as radical developments in art making. The art of this period reflects a redefinition of artistic forms, media and production, influenced by profound transformations in technology. Artists in the exhibition: Grupo Acções Colectivas (Kollektivnye deistviya), Etel Adnan, Helena Almeida, Armando Alves, Manuel Alvess, Richard Artschwager, John Baldessari, Artur Barrio, Eduardo Batarda, Lothar Baumgarten, René Bertholo, Dara Birnbaum, Mel Bochner, Marcel Broodthaers, James Lee Byars, Fernando Calhau, Alberto Carneiro, Zulmiro de Carvalho, Manuel Casimiro, E. M. de Melo e Castro, Lourdes Castro, Guy de Cointet, Merce Cunningham, Marlene Dumas, José Escada, Hans-Peter Feldmann, António Quadros Ferreira, David Goldblatt, Dan Graham, Giorgio Griffa, Richard Hamilton, Ana Hatherly, Sanja Ivekovi?, Joan Jonas, Jannis Kounellis, Fernando Lanhas, Álvaro Lapa, João Machado, Dimitrije Basicevic Mangelos Marwan Cildo Meireles, Ana Mendieta, Robert Morris, Antoni Muntadas, Bruce Nauman, Eduardo Nery, Silke Otto-Knapp, Nam June Paik, António Palolo, António Costa Pinheiro, Jorge Pinheiro, Vítor Pomar, Charlotte Posenenske, Yvonne Rainer, Paula Rego, Gerhard Richter, Arlindo Rocha, Joaquim Rodrigo, Artur Rosa, Martha Rosler, Dieter Roth, Ed Ruscha, Julião Sarmento, António Sena, Nikias Skapinakis, Robert Smithson, Ângelo de Sousa, Salette Tavares, Ana Vieira, Pires Vieira, Franz Erhard Walther, Hannah Wilke and  Lynette Yiadom-Boakye.

Info: Curator:  Suzanne Cotter, João Ribas and Ricardo Nicolau, Design: COR ARQUITECTOS (Roberto Cremascoli and Edison Okumura), Serralves Foundation, Rua Dom João de Castro 210, Porto, Duration: 8/5/17-28/1/18, Days & Hours: Mon & Wed-Fri 10:00-19:00, Sat-Sun 10:00-20:00, www.serralves.pt

Armando Alves, Pássaros, 1963, Indian ink on cardboard, 69.3 x 100.2 cm, Coll. Museu Nacional de Soares dos Reis, long-term loan to Fundação de Serralves - Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Serralves, Porto. Deposit 1990
Armando Alves, Pássaros, 1963, Indian ink on cardboard, 69.3 x 100.2 cm, Coll. Museu Nacional de Soares dos Reis, long-term loan to Fundação de Serralves – Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Serralves, Porto. Deposit 1990

 

 

Armando Alves, Objecto, s.d., Synthetic paint on wood, 63 x 100.5 x 34 cm, Private collection, long-term loan to Fundação de Serralves - Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Porto. Deposit 2002
Armando Alves, Objecto, s.d., Synthetic paint on wood, 63 x 100.5 x 34 cm, Private collection, long-term loan to Fundação de Serralves – Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Porto. Deposit 2002

 

 

Marcel Broodthaers, A Voyage on the North Sea, 1973, Film (16 mm, b/w, silent, 4’23’’), book, Dimensions variable, Coll. Fundação de Serralves - Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Porto, Portugal. Acquisition 1999
Marcel Broodthaers, A Voyage on the North Sea, 1973, Film (16 mm, b/w, silent, 4’23’’), book, Dimensions variable, Coll. Fundação de Serralves – Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Porto, Portugal. Acquisition 1999

 

 

René Bertholo, Une Année a Berlin, 1973, Silkscreen on paper. A.P., 56.8 x 76 cm, Coll. Fundação de Serralves - Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Porto. Donation by Galeria 111 1989
René Bertholo, Une Année a Berlin, 1973, Silkscreen on paper. A.P., 56.8 x 76 cm, Coll. Fundação de Serralves – Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Porto. Donation by Galeria 111 1989

 

 

Fernando Calhau, # 76, 1970, Acrylic paint on canvas (2 elements), 99.2 x 99.2 cm (each), Coll. Fundação de Serralves - Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Porto, Portugal. Acquisition 1999
Fernando Calhau, # 76, 1970, Acrylic paint on canvas (2 elements), 99.2 x 99.2 cm (each), Coll. Fundação de Serralves – Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Porto, Portugal. Acquisition 1999