Balenciaga and Spanish painting

Eloy Martínez de la Pera; Hamish Bowles; Estrella de Diego; Pamela Golbin

Editorial: Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza • 2019

• (In English / En inglés). Exhibition Catalogue / Catálogo de la exposición. 24 x 30cm. An elegant clothbound volume celebrating the master fashion designer Balenciaga's affinity for Spanish painting. Balenciaga and Spanish Painting links the works of Cristóbal Balenciaga, the most admired and influential fashion designer of all time, with the tradition of Spanish painting from the 16th to the 20th centuries. With 90 of his designs on display, this is the first major exhibition dedicated to the Basque couturier to be held in Madrid in almost 50 years and the first to also bring together an important selection of paintings by great names in the history of Spanish art such as El Greco, Zurbarán, Velázquez, Carreño de Miranda, Murillo, Goya, Madrazo and Zuloaga, one of his main sources of inspiration. The catalog proposes a tour through 56 canvases, which are accompanied by the garments linked to each style or each painter. Connections based on conceptual features, architectural shapes and volumes and chromatic complicities present a fascinating dialogue between couture and painting, between the creativity of the talented fashion designer and his influences. This presentation also allows us to look at art from a different perspective, focusing on painters as creators and transmitters of fashion and as masters of representation of fabrics, textures and pleats. This book surveys the significant influence that the painters of the so-called Spanish School had on the creative process of Cristóbal Balenciaga, the great master couturier of the 20th century. Balenciaga was born in the Spanish coastal town of Getaria in 1895 and was the son of a seamstress. His mother made clothing for prominent families including the Marquis and Marquise of Casa Torres who spent their summers in Getaria. It was at their mansion that the young designer first admired the garments by the best London tailors and the most reputed Parisian couturiers, and where he was able to enjoy the magnificent art collection owned by the couple. Balenciaga was known for his ability to take historical garments and render them in a highly modern way, with the use of clean lines and pure forms that earned him the epithet of "the architect of fashion. Throughout his career, Balenciaga took delight in the colors, volumes and forms of the fabrics depicted in the paintings of Velázquez, El Greco, Zurbarán, Goya, Raimundo de Madrazo and Zuloaga, among others. References to Spanish culture were present in his work and continued to be seen even in his most groundbreaking period. Balenciaga and Spanish Painting features a selection of paintings and valuable items of clothing from the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza and other national museums, as well as private collections. "Though it would seem impossible to replicate El Greco's gleaming fabrics in real life, Balenciaga manages to do just that." -Hyperallergic Exhibition: The Thyssen-Bornemisza museum is presenting an exhibition that connects the work of Cristóbal Balenciaga, the most admired and influential fashion designer of all time, with the tradition of 16th- to 20th-century Spanish painting. References to Spanish art and culture are a recurring presence in Balenciaga’s work. The simple, minimalist lines of religious habits or the architectural volume of their cloth are to be found in many of his designs. The billowing train of a flamenco dancer’s dress echoed in the flounces on some dresses, the glinting reflections on a bullfighter’s suit, brilliantly conveyed in the sequin embroidery on a bolero jacket, and the aesthetic of Habsburg court dress echoed in black velvets embellished with jet trim in some creations are just a few examples. Balenciaga constantly studied the history of art and made use of these influences, expressed through his own powerful and unique style, throughout his career, including his most avant-garde period, reviving historic garments and reinterpreting them in a strikingly modern manner. The exhibition, curated by Eloy Martínez de la Pera, includes a carefully-selected group of paintings loaned from private Spanish collections and public museums, including the Museo Nacional del Prado and the Museum of Fine Arts of Bilbao. They are accompanied by a group of important creations by Balenciaga -loaned from the Museo Balenciaga in Guetaria, Museo del Traje in Madrid and Museu del Disseny in Barcelona and other international and national private collections- some of them never previously exhibited before.