La excelencia de ‘L’Amic de les Arts’ irrumpe en una exposición que presenta obras de Dalí, Miró, Torres García y García Lorca

Museus de Sitges pays tribute to the legendary magazine L'Amic de les Arts, published between 1926 and 1929, which was a national reference for the arts and thought of the time, with an exhibition. L'Amic de les Arts (art and poetry in Sitges 1926 - 29) presents a hundred pieces, including paintings, sculptures, drawings, manuscripts, correspondence, books and the publication itself that is the focus of the exhibition. Highlights include pieces by Salvador Dalí, Josep Maria de Togores, Joaquín Torres García, Pau Gargallo and Federico García Lorca, among many others.

L'Amic de les Arts (art and poetry in Sitges 1926-29) is curated by Aitor Quiney, a doctor in Art History, and can be seen until 16 March 2025 in the Sala Vaixells of the Palau de Maricel, recently recovered by Museus de Sitges as an exhibition space. On Friday 22 November there is free admission, between 10am and 5pm. The exhibition will be inaugurated on Thursday 21st by the president of the Sitges Heritage Consortium (CPS) and deputy for the Department of Culture of the Barcelona Provincial Council, Pau González, and the vice-president of the CPS and mayor of Sitges, Aurora Carbonell.

The magazine. One hundred years later, L'Amic de les Arts is still considered one of the main cultural publications in Catalonia. bringing together a list of artists and writers who would end up marking the arts of the 20th century. Promoted by the cultural promoter Josep Carbonell i Gener, it was a reference for the first avant-garde movements and managed to bring together a list of artists and writers who would end up marking the arts of the 20th century. In its 31 issues it featured the signatures of Federico García. Lorca, J.V. Foix and Paul Éluard, as well as the critics Sebastià Gasch, Lluís Montanyà and Salvador Dalí himself.

The works published and reproduced by the magazine include Dalí, Picasso, Joan Miró, Joaquín Torres García, Rafael Barradas, José Obiols and Guillem Bergnes, among many others, who were essential in the arts of the 20th century

L'Amic de les Arts began its journey with a local character, but the incorporation of first-rate critics allowed it to begin to express the avant-garde artistic and literary ideas of the time, such as expressionism, cubism, surrealism or the poetry of Federico García Lorca. These authors were decisive in the aesthetic and conceptual radicalisation of its positions and in its desire to influence the artists themselves.
Published during the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera, L'Amic de les Arts used Catalan as its language of expression, although it renounced the political aspect. However, he did pay special attention to Occitan culture, which was a project of Carbonell and Gener and which he had already included in the magazine Monitor (1921-23), also published in Sitges.

The exhibition. L'Amic de les Arts (art and poetry in Sitges 1926-29) is divided into two large chronological areas: art criticism and poetry that the different critics propagated from their pages: in some cases, with a clear sense of combat and renewal of the arts, and in others, with more conservative views. But the constant, reaffirmed by Josep Carbonell i Gener, was the acceptance of all positions, even though they might seem contradictory.

The exhibition at the Sala Vaixells presents, on the one hand, works by artists defended by the critics of L'Amic de les Arts and, on the other, also by some who were not accepted in their canons for different reasons. The art exhibition is made up of paintings, drawings and sculptures and is complemented by a wide range of diverse documents (such as correspondence, magazines and books), which allow us to contextualize the determining role that the magazine played in the cultural ecosystem at the time. The works on display correspond to a long list of artists, writers and critics: Rafael Barradas, Evarist Basiana, Guillem Bergnes, Emili Bosch-Roger, Francesc Camps Ribera, Francesc Canyelles, Artur Carbonell, Montserrat Casanova, Magí A. Cassanyes, Antoni Costa, Salvador Dalí, Francesc Domingo, Agustí Ferrer, Pedro Flores, Luis Garay, Federico García Lorca, Pau Gargallo, Josep Gausachs, Josep Granyer, Joan Junyer, Pere Jou, Joan Miró, Josep Obiols, Àngel Planells, Joan Rebull, Enric C. Ricart, Joan Sandalinas, Alfred Sisquella, Emili Store, Josep M. de Togores, Joaquim Torres Garcia and Hernando Viñes.

All these pieces dialogue with the documentation chosen and exhibited, especially magazines that included the participation of critics from L'Amic de les Arts, such as Ciutat, from Manresa; Gallo, from Granada and created by Federico García Lorca; Mediodía, from Seville; Sagitario, Circunvalación or ¡30-30!, from Mexico, etc. The exhibition also displays Manifest Groc, the anti-artistic manifesto published by Salvador Dalí, Sebastià Gasch and Lluís Montanyà, which in 1928 burst onto the artistic and ideological scene with a clear agitating and disruptive intention.

The works on display come from different funds and collections, in addition to those of Museus de Sitges. The lending institutions include the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, the Abelló Museum, the Museum of Manresa, the Museum of Hospitalet de Llobregat, the Library of Catalonia, the Santos Torroella Archive and Library, the Archive of the J.V. Foix Foundation, the Margarita Mansà Foundation, the La Mirada Ingenua Foundation and the Gaspar Gallery, in addition to an extensive list of private collections.

The catalogue. To accompany the exhibition, Museus de Sitges has published a book-catalogue, which analyses in depth the role played by artistic and literary criticism in contemporary culture. The catalogue emphasises the role of L'Amic de les Arts in the dissemination and projection of the most radical ideas on the international visual arts of the time and on Catalan and Spanish poetry of the so-called Generation of '27. The articles published are the fruit of research carried out based on the magazine L'Amic de les Arts itself and on original documents, many of which were previously unpublished.