Helena Almeida: 'Seduzir' [To Seduce, 2002] (detail)

Collection

Piscina [Swimming Pool]

Image caption
JUAN NAVARRO BALDEWEG

Piscina [Swimming Pool]

  • 1990
  • Oil on canvas
  • 191,5 x 201 cm
  • Cat. P_492
  • Acquired in 1991
By:
Beatriz Herráez

In Swimming Pool (1990), some of the defining characteristics of Juan Navarro Baldeweg’s art converge, particularly his simultaneous work as an artist and an architect. This position based on certain ‘communicating vessels’ was decisive in the development of his art. Thus, approaching painting from the viewpoint of architecture is a constant feature in his art. Reflection on space and representation, perspective, colour, landscape and light also have a strong presence in his work. There are common interests, influences and references that flow in both directions and shape an all-round oeuvre that exceed the limits of both disciplines.

Using simplified volumes and a progressive geometrisation of forms, the space in Swimming Pool invites measured, tempered reflection through a minimalist use of colour that contains hints of the light of the Mediterranean, which the artist frequently references.  There is deliberate thought and a balance that is strengthened by applying a range of colours where pastel and bright tones prevail.

As case in earlier series, in Painting, Navarro Baldeweg seeks to study architectural aspects – variations on the interiors of a house, a swimming pool and ‘empty rooms’ -, showcasing liveable spaces in an enclave somewhere between the figurative and the abstract. They are places that spring from the imagination of the artist from his earliest works, to be activated by viewers on looking at them: ‘Looking is a very complex action, and the viewer always creates a perspective that is false and which is their own, but it can lead to a certain dreaminess, to a certain placidity, to what I call painting as the siesta”. Navarro Baldeweg’s output confirms, to quote him directly, that “painting celebrates our bodily presence in the world”.

Beatriz Herráez

 
By:
Beatriz Herráez
Juan Navarro Baldeweg
Santander 1939

Juan Navarro Baldeweg is one of the most outstanding figures of art and architecture in Spain. In the 1970s he began his career in the field of visual arts with exhibitions at the Fernando Fe, Edurne and Buadés galleries. After studying at the School of Fine Arts of San Fernando (1959-1960) and at the School of Architecture in Madrid (1969), Navarro Baldeweg finished his education at the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Massachusetts, USA, 1974) thanks to a grant from the Juan March Foundation. In 1977, he was appointed to the Projects Chair at the School of Architecture.

His work is linked to the conceptual practices that emerged from projects such as the Computation Centre in Madrid and such legendary events as the 1972 Pamplona Encounters. In the 1980s he shifted to studying forms of pictorial expression, and has continued this focus in his latest works. ‘I have always painted and I am first and foremost a painter […] Painting is a real need, producing works in all the physical fields of manipulation,” he stressed in an interview in which he also referred to his iconic Light and Metal installation, exhibited at the Vinçon Gallery in Barcelona in 1976. His words show the ability and potential that he attributes to painting as a tool for understanding the world.

Navarro Baldeweg’s many prizes and awards include the National Architecture Prize (2014); the Italian National Architecture Prize - IN/ARCH and ANCE from the Hertziana Library in Rome (2014); the Professional Career Award at the VIII Ibero-American Biennial of Architecture and Urban Design (2012); the Gold Medal of the Council of Spanish Architects (2008); the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts (2007); and the National Award for Plastic Arts (1990). He has also been made a member of such prestigious institutions as the European Academy of Sciences and Arts (1997); the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid (2003); and is an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects (2001).

His work has been exhibited in solo shows at the Marlborough Gallery in Madrid (2016) and in New York (2011); the ICO Museum (Madrid, 2014); the Alzuza Museum (Navarre, 2011); the Max-Planck Gesellschaft (Munich, 2008); the Chapel of the Palace of Charles V at  the Alhambra (Granada, 2007). His architectural works include the Castilla y León Exhibition and Conference Centre (1992), the Altamira National Museum and Research Centre (2001) and the Hertziana Library in Rome (2013).

Beatriz Herráez

 
«Painting» (Madrid, 1990).
Vv.Aa. Colección Banco de España. Catálogo razonado, Madrid, Banco de España, 2019, vol. 3.