Elena Asins in Alicante

Installation view of Elena Asins: The Sound of the Wind is an Indefatigable Whistle, Alicante, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Alicante – MACA, February – May, 2023. Image courtesy of MACA, Alicante, Spain.

In 2019, the Robledo-Palop Collection signed an agreement with the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Alicante (MACA) facilitating the long-term loan of five drawings and one iron sculpture by Spanish artist Elena Asins (1940-2015). This partnership was further enhanced in 2023 with the addition of another major drawing, Canons from 1990. Asins, one of the most prominently featured artists in the Robledo-Palop Collection, significantly contributes to expanding MACA's holdings. The foundational collection of MACA is the personal collection of artist Eusebio Sempere (1923-1985), which included one drawing and a piece of visual poetry by Asins. With the long-term loans from the Robledo-Palop Collection, Alicante now boasts one of the most comprehensive collections of Asins' work, second only to the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid.

In 2023, our seven works by Elena Asins were featured in a groundbreaking exhibition curated by MACA’s Chief Curator, Rosa M. Castells. Titled Elena Asins: The Sound of the Wind is an Indefatigable Whistle, the exhibition spanned five decades of Asins’ work, from her initial exploration of abstraction and visual poetry to her later series fully executed with computers. As a pioneer of geometric abstraction and conceptualism in the 1960s, Asins played a crucial role in bridging theoretical computer science with the minimal and geometrical tendencies of her time.

The exhibition drew from the collections of Museo Reina Sofía, MACA, and private collections from Spain and the United States such as the Robledo-Palop Collection, bringing attention to overlooked works and contextual relationships. The first section presented early works linked to the experimental circles that emerged in Spain during the final decades of the Francoist dictatorship, where avant-garde groups combined fine arts with poetry, linguistics, music, and architecture. Another section focused on Asins’ years at the Centro de Cálculo of the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, where she created her first computational works and collaborated with artists such as Eusebio Sempere and Abel Martin, whose works form the foundation of this museum. Following her time in Spain, Asins continued her research and collaborations with intellectuals like Max Bense and Noam Chomsky at institutions such as the University of Stuttgart, Columbia University, and the New School for Social Research in New York. This section of the exhibition included works from the series Quartetos Prusianos, Scalae, Canons, and Menhires, showcasing the mathematical beauty, delicacy, and precision of her artistic language.

This exhibition provided an excellent opportunity to revisit and celebrate the work of Elena Asins. The words and onomatopoeias in her visual poetry from the 1960s, along with the music of Mozart and Bach that permeates her later visual compositions, broke the silence that has often overshadowed the career and legacy of this crucial 20th-century artist.

Josep Renau's Long-Term Loan to Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid

In 2016, the Robledo-Palop Collection entered into a long-term loan agreement with Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid, allowing the museum to exhibit Josep Renau’s painting, Trópico (1945), from 2016 until 2022. Trópico was showcased within the museum's collection dedicated to Surrealism in exile, highlighting the contributions of Spanish artists who continued their work abroad after the Spanish Civil War. The room (206.10) emphasized the diverse experiences of the Spanish diaspora, with artists, intellectuals, architects, and writers resuming their careers in various host nations such as Mexico, Argentina, the Soviet Union, and France. Despite the heterogeneous nature of their experiences, common themes persisted, including the imagery of the Spanish landscape, the significance of the mother tongue, and a continued response to the political situation in Spain.

The Spanish diaspora, after Franco's victory, was marked by a multitude of circumstances that made it difficult to define a singular culture of exile. Many artists experienced trauma and nostalgia, yet some successfully integrated into their host countries' local scenes and engaged with international trends, drawing from their Republican experiences. These artists maintained a connection to their homeland through persistent imagery of Spanish geography, an emphasis on their native language, and ongoing political commentary. Their work often questioned the audience for whom it was intended, reflecting the complexities of their exiled identities and the duality of their cultural influences.

Josep Renau, an influential Spanish painter and graphic artist, fled to Mexico after the Spanish Civil War in 1939. During his time in Mexico, he engaged with the Mexican avant-garde, which was deeply rooted in social and political consciousness. Renau's work during this period was significantly influenced by the horrors of war and the changing political landscape. He found solidarity and creative kinship with muralists like José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros, whose dedication to public art for education and social empowerment resonated with his own beliefs. This exchange of ideas enriched Renau's artistic approach, blending European avant-garde styles with the vibrant cultural and political environment of Mexico.

Renau’s painting Trópico, completed in 1945, stands as a powerful testament to this period of his life. The painting captures the angst and devastation of a world scarred by World War II, the Holocaust, and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Using a dark and somber palette, Renau reflects a world mourning its lost innocence, with a thick, textured impasto that conveys a palpable sense of urgency and despair. The barren, distorted landscape and skeletal remnants in the foreground serve as chilling reminders of the destructive power mankind wielded. Trópico juxtaposes a typically vibrant tropical setting with bleak imagery, symbolizing the disillusionment of the era and warning of the dangers of technological advancement unchecked by ethical considerations. Displayed alongside Picasso’s Guernica at the Museo Reina Sofia, Trópico engaged in a powerful dialogue about the horrors of war and the responsibilities of the exile’s gaze, creating a poignant and enduring statement on the human condition.