Findings: Works from the Spanish Collection

Curators of the exhibition:
Vladimir Janchevski / Blagoja Varoshanec / Iva Petrova Dimovski

The exhibition entitled Findings: Works from the Spanish Collection in the Museum of Contemporary Art – Skopje marks 30 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Spain and North Macedonia. The exhibition is the result of the cooperation of the Museum of Contemporary Art – Skopje and the Embassy of Spain in the Republic of North Macedonia and is part of the celebration of the National Day of Spain on October 12.

After the catastrophic earthquake that shook the city of Skopje in 1963 and the establishment of the Museum of Contemporary Art-Skopje in 1964, the contribution of Spanish artists is also notable, which over the years has resulted in a remarkable collection of donations through direct contacts. The collection has been further expanded, and artists from Spain are also included in some of the contemporary exhibitions.[1↓]

The MoCA-Skopje collection holds a total of over 5300 works, among which the Spanish collection has a significant impact with 42 works by 19 artists, such as Ángel Duarte, Manolo Millares, Mil Lubroth, Rafael Canogar and others, as well as 8 works by 4 artists of Spanish origin who lived and worked abroad and are included in other collections such as the French and the Brazilian: Doroteo Arnáiz, Joan Rabascal, Isabel Pons and of course Pablo Picasso. Donor artists are the bearers of a creative continuity throughout the 20th century.

Although it is a smaller collection compared to others, the works from the Spanish Collection qualitatively represent an essential part of the MoCA-Skopje collection, as a representative overview of the achievements in art in the 1960s and 1970s, embedded in the basic concept on which the Museum is based. This is also confirmed by the fact that works by Spanish artists were regularly exhibited in Museum’s permanent exhibitions (1970,[2↓] 1982, 1991, 2014), within the exhibitions of Donated Works, as well as within the exhibitions of a selection of works from the Graphic Collection (1972, 1983, 1988, 1991).

During the decades long communication between the two countries, several collaborations in the field of fine arts have been achieved. Other important guest exhibitions have been held in MoCA-Skopje, among which the exhibition of the Spanish Informel in 1983,[3↓] stands out for its importance, being an event that caused great interest and opened a debate regarding the dominant artistic discourse.[4↓] Works by Spanish artists were also included in the most important guest exhibitions such as the recent ones at the Kunsthalle Vienna (10 April 2023 – 28 January 2024),[5↓] and the National Gallery in Prague (21 March – 29 September 2024),[6↓] which include works by Picasso and Rabascal.

Until now, the Spanish collection has not been separately presented, and this is the first more extensive separate overview, through an exhibition and the publication of a publication that includes the authors from the Spanish collection, as well as the authors of Spanish origin. We believe that their presentation is particularly important in today’s moment, in order to highlight the openness and aspiration of MoCA-Skopje for the promotion of international cooperation.

The exhibition titled Findings presents a selection of paintings, graphics, photographs, tapestries and mosaics, created in the period from 1937 until 2006, by several generations of Spanish artists who lived and created in and outside of Spain. A total of 39 works by 26 artists are presented, including 27 works by 19 artists from the Spanish Collection of MoCA-Skopje (R. Canogar, M. Millares, Lisa Rechsteiner, Luis Ortega, Gérard Lomen, Jose Luis Galicia, etc.), as well as 6 works by 4 artists of Spanish origin or born in Spain (Isabel Pons, J. Rabascal). In addition, the exhibition presents 6 works by 3 artists inspired by Spain (Albert Soulilou from France, Bruno Talpo from Italy and Ivo Veljanov from Macedonia). The exhibition is complemented by a selection of documents, catalogs and photographs from the MoCA-Skopje archive, which shed light on the context in which the MoCA Collection was created and document the Spanish contribution to this collection.

Through the presented works of important authors who are part of the world’s artistic heritage, this exhibition also imposes the basic intention of highlighting universal values and updating the need for further complementing the collection with works by authors open to modernity through an innovative and critical approach to art. This exhibition, which opens on the day when the National Day of Spain is celebrated, in the year that marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of MoCA-Skopje, is a reminder of world solidarity – on which the Museum is based – and the importance of international cooperation, which is the basis for coping with the common challenges of our time. 

Exhibition Coordinator
Juliја Manojlоska

Conservation Team
Jadranka Milčоvska, Ljupčo Ilјovski

Visual Identity
Nada Prlja Serafimovski

The exhibition and the catalogue are realised with the financial support by the Embassy of Spain in Skopje.

[1] Such as Daniel García Andújar’s participation in the exhibition All That We Have in Common, MoCA-Skopje, December 2019, curated by Mira Gakjina and Jovanka Popova.

[2] Boris Petkovski, Exhibited paintings and sculptures from the MoCA collection. Publication from the perma-nent exhibition opened in the new building on November 13, 1970.

[3] Informel in Contemporary Spanish Painting, MoCA-Skopje, May-June 1983. Organizer of the exhibition: Victoria Vaseva Dimeska. Text: Ceferino Moreno.

[4] Vladimir Georgievski, Abstraction in art: Who needs the Spanish Informel?, Commentary (on the occasion of the exhibition Informel in Contemporary Spanish Painting, MoCA Skopje, May – June 1983) Published in Nova Makedonija, Skopje 04.06.1983; Untitled – Commentary from the column Cultural Life on the occasion of the debate between Vladimir Georgievski and the Professional Collegium of the Museum of Contemporary Art Skopje, published in Nova Makedonija, Skopje, 11.06.1983.

[5] No Feeling is Final: Skopje Solidarity Collection, MoCA Skopje, Kunsthalle Vienna 10/04/2023-28/01/2024. Exhibition curated by WHW, in collaboration with MoCA-Skopje.

[6] No Feeling is Final: Skopje Solidarity Collection, MoCA Skopje, National Gallery of Prague 21/03/2024-29/09/2024. Exhibition curated by WHW and Rado Isztok in collaboration with MoCA-Skopje.