Man at Work painting in Bilbao exhibit
| Published: 10/02/2006 |
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An oil painting from Man at Work: The Eckhart G. Grohmann Collection at Milwaukee School of Engineering, is on loan to a major international exhibition in Bilbao, Spain.
A Visit to the Armor Shop by Spanish artist Eduardo Zamacois y Zabala is included in an exhibition of Zamacois' works at Bilbao's Fine Arts Museum. The retrospective is the first one devoted to the painter and includes 50 works from European and American private collections and museums including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Mass., and the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid. The works mainly represent genre scenes of literary and historical subjects and of local customs and manners. A Visit to the Armor Shop was made in 1868 not long before the artist died in 1871 at age 29.
Bilbao-born Zamacois began his schooling with the painter José Balaca and attended Madrid's San Fernando Royal Academy of Art. In 1860, he moved to Paris where he studied with Ernest Meissonier, the most well-known painter of the genre at that time, and where he established relationships with the most important artists and intellectuals of the time, such as Cabanel, Gérôme, Bonnat or Alejandro Dumas. In 1866, he met Mariano Fortuny, whose paintings were already widely appreciated. Zamacois helped him to get onto the Parisian artistic circuits and a close professional and personal relationship was established between the painters.
In Paris, Zamacois found favor with wealthy clients such as Princess Matilde Bonaparte. In 1870 his painting The Education of a Prince received the Gold Medal del Salón Oficial. A year later the Franco-Prussian war forced him to abandon France and he settled in Madrid, where he died.
To give context to his output, the
exhibition also includes works by Zamacois' master Meissonier and his colleague
Fortuny. The show runs Oct. 17 - Jan. 28, 2007.
With nearly 600 European
and American paintings and sculptures that depict various forms of work, Man
at Work: The Eckhart G. Grohmann Collection at Milwaukee School of
Engineering is the world's most comprehensive collection of its kind. The
artworks span nearly 400 years of history (17-20th centuries) and comprise a
variety of styles and subjects that document the evolution of organized work,
from manpower and horsepower to water, steam and electrical power. The works
were gifted to Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) in 2001 from the
collection of Milwaukee businessman and collector Dr. Eckhart
Grohmann.
Construction of MSOE's art museum has begun. The 38,000-square-foot building will feature a three-story steel and glass atrium entrance and a rooftop sculpture garden. When completed, it will provide space to display MSOE's Man at Work art collection and for General Studies faculty.