14.11.2018

Bombas Gens focus on norwegian Anna-Eva Bergman

This morning Bombas Gens Centre d’Art has presented to the media De norte a sur, ritmos (From North to South, Rhythms): a solo exhibition by Anna-Eva Bergman that aims to make known the work of this significant Norwegian artist within the context of Spain. At the press conference the general director of the Fundació Per Amor a l’Art, Susana Lloret, has explained: “The Per Amor a l’Art collection—which is exhibited at Bombas Gens—has a special interest in contributing to the dissemination and value of overlooked artists in the histories of art. Anna-Eva Bergman, along with other artists who are also part of the collection such as Irma Blank or Barbara Kasten, are examples of female names barely known to the general public in Spain. And from our foundation we do everything possible to give them the visibility they deserve.”

While Anna-Eva Bergman did not have an impact in Spain, during her lifetime she was fairly recognised in Europe. Although it is true that after her passing in 1987—as often happens with many artists—her figure entered a more discreet background. The Fondation Hartung Bergman (Antibes, France), partner of this exhibition, is currently working to give her the rightful place in art history. As stated by their president, Daniel Malingre, the collaboration with FPAA may lead to an enriching experience while contributing to disseminating and expanding the knowledge around the work of Anna-Eva Bergman.

ANNA-EVA BERGMAN, THE ART OF ABSTRACTION
The work of Anna-Eva Bergman represents one of the most rigorous and important projects of Abstract Art of the second half of the twentieth century, and therefore her inclusion in the Per Amor a l’Art collection is crucial. “It is an original body of work that, while framed within the romantic tradition of pictorial landscape, nevertheless offers a unique point of view that is hardly classifiable. In the Per Amor a l’Art collection, it constitutes a very important connection between the classical abstraction of artists such as Esteban Vicente and the post-abstraction of Uslé or Brandl,” explained Vicent Todolí, director of the Art Area of FPAA. According to Christine Lamothe, an expert on the work of Bergman and co-curator of the show: “Anna-Eva Bergman started in figurative painting, but from the 1950s onwards she invented a completely personal abstraction that rather than ‘Abstract Art’ she preferred to call it ‘the art of abstraction,’ since she captured the essence of nature and translated it into artworks that contain a symbolic language of personal and yet simple forms.”

Stones, horizons, cliffs, fjords, stars, mountains, earth, water, fire, air… Most of the motifs of Bergman’s paintings are included in this exhibition of 85 pieces, from the Fondation Hartung Bergman (Antibes), the Henie Onstad Kunstsenter (Oslo), the Museum of Modern Art in Paris, and the Per Amor a l’Art collection. In the words of Nuria Enguita, director of Bombas Gens Centre d’Art and co-curator of the exhibition: “the exhibition is not a traditional retrospective as it focuses on a specific period, 1962-1971, coinciding with a series of trips the artist took to Spain and Norway, which posed a permanent dialogue between North and South within her landscapes: formally similar, but with a very different representation of colour and light.”

The exhibition opens its doors to the general public this afternoon at 8 pm, after an introduction by the curators at 6:30 pm, and followed by a conference by the art critic Romain Mathieu.

Press kit with all kinds of materials available here