photograph and copyright manfredi bellati
Majorca:
Yannick and Ben Jakober Foundation:
Contemporary and Modern Art.
The Yannick and Ben Jakober Foundation was created in 1993 and is a
private cultural foundation. Its
objective is principally the conservation and restoration of Spanish Heritage
and also the promotion of the arts in general, and painting and sculpture in
particular, through the exhibition of the pictures and works in it’s
collection, and the exchange of cultural and artistic ideas and material. The main building conceived by
the great Egyptian architect Hassan Fathy (see below) houses the Karlweis Wing,
where the largest collection in the world of paintings, sculptures and drawings
by Domenico Gnoli (Rome 1933-New York 1970) are on show, with another room
dedicated to Rebecca Horn. There are also works by Alan Rath, Miralda, Meret
Oppenheim, Takis and Ben Jakober / Yannick Vu. There is no pretence that this
is a collection but rather an accumulation of works by artists close to the
founders acquired by exchange, gift or inheritance.
Above: Two paintings by Domenico Gnoli from
the series An Afternoon at the Bulls, 1966 published in Sports Illustrated, New
York, acrylic on silk glued paper and panel.
photograph and copyright manfredi bellati
Domenico Gnoli
photograph and copyright manfredi bellati
Domenico Gnoli's Back View and Chair paintings.
The
Domenico Gnoli corridor. In the
Domenico Gnoli corridor there is a selection of his best drawings, like the
above Woman Sole in Bath Tub, 1967 from the Series of Robert Graves’ article A
Modern Bestiary. What is a Monster?, published by Horizon, New York, 1968 in
Indian Ink, tempera and acrylic on cardboard. All in all this is the most important body of Gnoli’s work
in any museum.
The Sculpture Court. Frank
Benz Silla chair, assembled wood; in the middle Rolf Sach’s Dirty Thoughts chair,
2009; Miralda’s Have a Good Year chair 7/11, 1995 recycled tires, TV screen,
foot rest; above, Hamaca, 2001 fibre optics, stainless steel by Ben Jakober and
Yannick Vu. In this room there are also works by Meret Oppenheim, Takis, Alan
Rath.
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The
first floor landing. A series of
Ben Jakober’s MVSEV, 1991. Eight colorful wall sculptures, which represent
scale models of well-known museums. In the foreground Donald Lipski’s Red,
White and Blue Flag Ball, 1990.
Photograph
and copyright Manfredi Bellati
The
Yannick Vu room. A selection of
paintings and sculptures by Yannick Vu.
On the table some early sculptures of family and friends. Yannick Vu made her first three
dimensional work in 1963 using part of a cement balustrade with vinyl glue and
sand and polished. However she did
not develop this talent until 1986 apart from some small bronzes made in Rome
in the seventies. Having seen her
father the well known Vietnamese artist Vu Cao Dam working clay she had the
urge to dedicate herself seriously to the modeling of heads, using once fired
in the kiln a technique of patinas whose secret her father had passed on to
her.
Photograph
and copyright Manfredi Bellati
The
Yannick Vu room: the sculptures on the table; Maima, 1987; Ben, 1986; Yannick avec Perles, 1987; and
Reza,1987.
The
Rebecca Horn room – details. On the first floor the first room is dedicated to
the famous German artist Rebecca Horn who made an interactive mechanical
installation called Dreaming Stones, 2006 especially for this space.
Chairs
in the Sculpture Court. A Damien
Hirst whimsical butterfly deckchair and an armchair by Japanese artist and
designer Shiro Kuramata How High the Moon chair, 1986 in expanded steel net.
The
stairway. Artist among the founder’s friends fill the wall of the stairway to
the second floor with drawings.
The
stairway. Works donated by Yoko
Ono to Ben and Yannick.
The
Vu Cao Dam 1908-2000 rooms. Vu Cao
Dam’s Retrato de Nina, c. 1940.
Two adjacent rooms harbour the work of Vu Cao Dam, father of Yannick Vu,
a Vietnamese painter and sculptor who studied under Victor Tardieu. He and Le Po are undoubtedly the most
important Vietnamese artists of the 20th century with works in major
international museums.
The
Vu Cao Dam 1908-2000 rooms.
Previously a bathroom tiled with XVII and XVIII century Cuerda Seca
ceramics are a number of bronzes by Vu Cao Dam, including one of his father Vu Dinh Thi, executed when he was only nineteen. In the same room is a sculpture of Ho Chi Minh, which was
modeled in Paris 1946.
The
Library. The library is on two
floors and has rich wooden beams and balustrades; it is lined with oak
bookcases, sculptures and works of art.
The
Founders. Ben Jakober and Yannick
Vu sit in the portico under their work Cruxigram, 1992.
