french writer henri-francois rey, in his book “les pianos mécaniques”, adapted to film by the director juan antonio bardem, captured cadaqués in the 1960s and made it known to the world. in his book “dalí dans son labyrinthe”, rey vividly describes cadaqués as a drug, ‘a narco-place that situates people at once outside time and space’ and where ‘space is elastic’.
there are magnetic places that draw people in, and those entering its force field seduce others to its centre. dalí brought lorca, buñuel, magritte, max ernst; later, duchamp attracted richard hamilton. the architect lanfranco bombelli, founder of galería cadaqués, was also a force field to other bodies. as such, artistic scenes and close encounters accumulated in this locality conceived by the catalan poet josep pla as an ‘island’ whose only exit is the sea.
in 1971, catherine sagnier (at the time skira) arrived in cadaqués with albert skira, with whom she worked in geneva. they came to discuss and finalise with dalí a print series to be published by editions d’art albert skira. her attraction to the village was immediate, and in 1975, catherine relocated to cadaqués and began to work with bombelli as the gallery director in its third year of activity. it was a radical move for catherine, to leave a european centre for a fishing village with a small, but elite and vanguard artistic scene. at its highest cultural-tourist development, cadaqués was not just thriving but offered endless potential. in the 1970s and 1980s, galeria cadaqués was a pioneer being the first gallery in spain to hold solo exhibitions of leading international figures. catherine contributed by attracting a younger generation of artists such as the british-born canadian cozette de charmoy, exhibiting in 1976, and the swiss conceptual couple chérif and silvie defraoui, in 1977.
after eleven years with bombelli, catherine became independent and opened her own space in 1986, galería nota bene, at a moment when new local galleries were flourishing. for eight years, nota bene organised six exhibitions over the summer months featuring catalan and national visual artists such as josé albiol, jaime lorente, jaume plensa and miguel sancho, as well as international artists including lisa bateman, jacques bosser, mary jane dean, dougal, jean-luc parant, lisa rehsteiner and alfredo romano. these exhibitions brought vigour, diversity and a plurality of visual languages to the artistic scene in cadaqués.
in 1990, catherine built the loft in the attic of her house, a space designed by bombelli, as a new initiative, the first artist residency in cadaqués. for over three decades, the loft has hosted over one hundred artists, some of them frequently — sabine friesicke, marietta hoferer, bill thompson and the korean artist cheonae kim, now in her sixth residency. these extended stays offer valuable opportunities for establishing close ties with the artists and sharing time and experiences that are essential to the cultural life of cadaqués.
huc malla was enthusiastic about this exhibition, which presents a selection of works by fifty artists, some exhibited in nota bene; others were residents in the loft or shared links with galeria cadaqués. it is representative of the diversity of visual and artistic languages and generational and geographic locations.
there are documentary formats with cadaqués as its subject, such as fred mortagne’s photograph capturing a solitary walker on the road in cap de creus the day before the covid lockdown, or jacques berthet’s photographic series of olive trees. the mountains are also present in many of the works featured here, such as peter schroth’s painting studies of the orange-coloured landscape created by a sun optical illusion, elvira voynarovska’s drawings reflecting on the magnanimous omnipresence of the pení mountain, which protects and isolates the village, or the photo-collage of burned land by marieke palocsay. the 1980s abstract painting characterised by impasto, surfaces and textures is also represented here (bateman, dean, romano), as well as conceptual art, the collage and textual works (de charmoy, janz, minkoff, muntadas, pineau), art concrete (bombelli, fontana, kim), and figurative art, narration and cartoon (morosan, wolf).
mercedes vicente
london-based lecturer, art critic and curator of this exhibition
exhibition from 22 June to 17 July 2024
