Enfilade

Press release (21 December 2016) from the Rijskmuseum (as announced by The Burlington Magazine via Twitter, the magazine will publish an article on the painting in February).

Jean-Etienne Liotard, A Dutch Girl at Breakfast, ca. 1756–57, oil on canvas, 47 × 39 cm (Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum).

The British government today granted an export license for the painting A Dutch Girl at Breakfast by Jean-Etienne Liotard, which the Rijksmuseum has recently purchased from a private collection in which it had remained for more than 240 years. The painting is an intimate ode to Dutch Golden Age painting. The peripatetic Genevan pastellist Jean-Etienne Liotard (1702–1789) created the work in the style of Dutch seventeenth-century masters during a long sojourn in Holland around 1756. As one of his few oil-paintings, A Dutch Girl at Breakfast is an important addition to the famous group of pastels by Liotard that have been in the Rijksmuseum since 1885. This stunning new acquisition will be shown in the Rijksmuseum’s Gallery of Honour from mid-January.

Taco Dibbits, General Director of the Rijksmuseum, states: “A Dutch Girl at Breakfast radiates the same atmosphere of peace and simplicity as Vermeer’s Milkmaid. In this sensitive representation, the painter allows us to get very close to his subject. As the girl carefully opens the tap of the coffee-pot, she won’t allow herself to be disturbed by the millions of visitors who will come to see her. We are extremely grateful to the funds and private donors who made it possible to acquire this masterpiece for The Netherlands.”

With the support of the BankGiro Loterij, Rembrandt Association through its ‘Nationaal Fonds Kunstbezit’, Mondriaan Fund, VSBfonds, Rijksmuseum Fonds, and many private donors, the Rijksmuseum was able to purchase this work at auction in London for nearly €5.2 million (commission included) [Sotheby’s London, Old Masters Evening Sale (6 July 2016), Sale L16033, Lot #36].

A Dutch Girl at Breakfast is one of Jean-Etienne Liotard’s most beautiful works. In it, he reveals himself as one of the earliest eighteenth-century artists from abroad to put his fascination with Dutch painting of the seventeenth century into practice. On this small canvas (47 × 39 cm) he portrays a young woman sitting in a typically Dutch interior. All the characteristics of Dutch seventeenth-century ‘genre’ are present: the everyday scene, the intimate ambiance, the sober colours, the sophisticated rendering of textures, and the painted church-interior in the background. Nevertheless the furnishings and tableware are all from Liotard’s own time. The mise-en-scène is strongly reminiscent of the well-known interiors of his predecessors Johannes Vermeer, Gerard Dou, and Frans van Mieris.

After long sojourns in Vienna, Paris, and London—where he enjoyed great success as a portraitist—Liotard travelled to Holland in 1755 to pursue this lucrative career. A Dutch Girl at Breakfast was clearly inspired by his experiences in the country. As a connoisseur of Dutch Golden Age painting, he also managed to assemble a collection of over 60 works by Old Masters. In 1756 at Amsterdam he married Marie Fargues, born and bred in Holland but a Huguenot like himself. His splendid pastel portrait of her is in the Rijksmuseum’s collection. Their eldest son later settled in Amsterdam, bringing many of this father’s works with him.

Eighteenth-century European painting is not particularly well represented in the Netherlands. The subject of this painting, the way it is presented, and the work’s close historical connection with the Netherlands will give iconic status to A Dutch Girl at Breakfast within the Dutch national collections. After its presentation in the Gallery of Honour it will take pride of place in the Rijksmuseum galleries for the arts of the eighteenth century. It will also be reunited there with the remarkable group of Liotard’s pastels donated by his Dutch descendants at the end of the nineteenth century. Only some 30 oil paintings by Liotard are known—as opposed to 540 pastels. Genre pieces by him are even scarcer, though this is a type of art for which he is well known, especially in works such as The Belle Chocolatière at Dresden. With this acquisition, the Rijksmuseum’s representation of Liotard’s oeuvre has been considerably strengthened.

Liotard appears to have kept the A Dutch Girl at Breakfast for himself until 1774, when he included it in a sale of his collection in London. It was bought there by his principal British patron, the 2nd Earl of Bessborough (1704–1793), with whose descendants it has remained until now.

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And if the acquisition weren’t enough reason by itself to visit the Rijksmuseum, there’s also the news that RIJKS, the Rijksmuseum restaurant led by chef Joris Bijdendijk, has just been awarded a Michelin star, as announced during the launch of the Dutch edition of Michelin’s 2017 hotel-and-restaurant guide in Amsterdam.

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As reported by Lorena Muñoz-Alonso for ArtNet News (21 December 2016) . . .

On Tuesday, Pope Francis announced that the new director of the Vatican Museums will be the Italian art historian Barbara Jatta. This is a momentous occasion as it marks the first time in history that a woman will helm the art institution, one of the most important in the art world. The new director will take up the post in January 1, 2017, succeeding Antonio Paolucci, an art historian and former Italian culture minister who’s held the position since 2007. Previously to this appointment, Jatta worked at the Vatican Library, overseeing its collection of prints . . .

The full article is available here»

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Hannah McGivern and Arianna Antoniutti report on Jatta’s appointment for The Art Newspaper (21 December 2016)

Born in Rome, Jatta worked as conservator and cataloguer for Italy’s Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica (national institute for graphic arts) from 1981 to 1996. She has been in charge of the Vatican Library’s works on paper since 1996, with responsibility for its exhibitions, acquisitions and archives. Jatta has also published extensively on the Vatican’s prints and drawings collections, including the first catalogue of drawings by Bernini and his school in 2015.

Her appointment anticipates the reopening of the Vatican Museums’ New Wing (Braccio Nuovo) on 22 December. Commissioned by Pope Pius VII, the 19th-century gallery was designed by the sculptor Antonio Canova to house the repatriated papal collections of classical sculpture, which had been plundered by Napoleon during his Italian campaign . . .

The full article is available here»

Press release (15 December 2016) from The Cleveland Museum of Art:

The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) has announced the appointment of Marjorie E. (Betsy) Wieseman as the Paul J. and Edith Ingalls Vignos Jr. Curator of European Paintings and Sculpture, 1500–1800. The museum’s collection of Old Master European paintings and sculpture is of international importance, ranging from works created in the early years of the Renaissance through the Rococo period. Wieseman’s appointment follows an international search. She will assume her responsibilities at the CMA sometime this spring.

“Betsy is an extraordinarily accomplished and productive curator and an elegant writer. The exhibitions she has curated for the National Gallery, London, have been celebrated for their scholarship, sensitivity, and beauty,” said Director William Griswold.

As Curator of European Paintings and Sculpture, 1500–1800, Wieseman will oversee the care and development of the collection and work closely with the Director and Chief Curator on the identification and acquisition of artworks to augment the collection. She will oversee special exhibitions exploring all aspects of European painting and sculpture from 1500 to 1800. The collections for which Wieseman will be responsible span three hundred years of artistic production throughout Europe and encompass paintings on panel and canvas and sculpture in wood, terracotta, bronze, and marble. Areas of particular strength are the museum’s Italian and Spanish Baroque paintings and German and Austrian Baroque sculpture. The collection also has a number of internationally significant Italian Renaissance paintings and French and Flemish paintings of the 16th and 17th centuries. The museum’s holdings of portrait miniatures are among the most outstanding in the world.

“I am thrilled to have been chosen to be the next Paul J. and Edith Ingalls Vignos Jr. Curator of European Paintings and Sculpture, 1500–1800. I look forward to working with my new colleagues at the CMA to share the museum’s world-class collection with even wider audiences. The collection offers an endless source of inspiration, and I am honored to have the opportunity to bring these beautiful works to life for museum visitors,” said Betsy Wieseman.

Wieseman brings more than twenty-five years of curatorial work and museum experience to the CMA. She has been Curator of Dutch Paintings, 1600–1800, at the National Gallery, London, since 2006; 17th- and 18th-century Flemish paintings were added to her purview in 2012. At the National Gallery she curated and co-curated acclaimed exhibitions such as Dutch Flowers (2016); Rembrandt: The Late Works (2014–15); Vermeer and Music: The Art of Love and Leisure (2013); Close Examinations: Fakes, Mistakes, and Discoveries (2010); and Dutch Portraits: The Age of Rembrandt and Frans Hals (2007). Also, while at the National Gallery, she curated an exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge: Vermeer’s Women: Secrets and Silence (2011–12).

Before moving to London, Wieseman held curatorial positions in two Ohio museums. As Curator of European Paintings and Sculpture at the Cincinnati Art Museum, she curated a wide variety of exhibitions including Perfect Likeness: European and American Portrait Miniatures from the Cincinnati Art Museum (2006); Drawn by the Brush: Oil Sketches by Peter Paul Rubens (Bruce Museum of Arts and Science, Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive, and Cincinnati Art Museum, 2004); and A Brush with Nature: The Gere Collection of Landscape Oil Sketches (2003). As Curator of Western Art before 1850 at the Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, she spearheaded projects that focused on her area of specialization—17th-century Dutch painting—as well as working on exhibitions that featured (among other topics) American landscapes, German Expressionist paintings, and portrait miniatures.

Wieseman is a prolific scholar. Recent work has included contributions to numerous exhibition catalogues including: Vermeer and the Masters of Genre Painting: Inspiration and Rivalry (Musée du Louvre, Paris; National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin; and National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, 2017); Beyond Caravaggio (The National Gallery, London; National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin; and The Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 2016); and Vermeer and Rembrandt: The Masters of the 17th Century Dutch Golden Age (Kyoto, and Tokyo: Mori Arts Centre Gallery and Fukushima Prefectural Museum of Art, 2016). Among her many other contributions to the literature on 17th-century Dutch art are essays such as “A Courtly Art Comes to The Hague: Portrait Miniatures at the Court of Elizabeth of Bohemia,” in Face Book: Studies on Dutch and Flemish Portraiture of the 16th–18th Centuries, edited by Edwin Buijsen, Charles Dumas, and Volker Manuth (Leiden: Primavera Pers, 2012); “Rembrandt’s Portrait(s?) of Frederick Rihel,” National Gallery Technical Bulletin 31 (2010); and “Paper Trails: Drawing in the Work of Caspar Netscher, his Pupils and Followers,” in Collected Opinions: Essays on Netherlandish Art in Honour of Alfred Bader, edited by Volker Manuth and Axel Rüger (London: Holberton, 2004).

Holding a PhD from Columbia University, Wieseman has been the recipient of numerous awards including a Robert H. and Clarice Smith Fellowship from CASVA, a Theodore Rousseau Fellowship from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as a Fulbright Grant for Graduate Study Abroad.

Betsy Wieseman will be moving to Cleveland with her husband, Allen Wright.

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Press release from Dulwich (as noted by The Guardian, Scott will be the first woman to lead the Gallery). . .

Dulwich Picture Gallery has announced that Jennifer Scott has been appointed to the position of Sackler Director of Dulwich Picture Gallery, succeeding Ian A. C. Dejardin after his 12-year leadership. Scott will take up her new position in April 2017.

Professor Evelyn Welch MBE, Chair of Trustees at Dulwich, said: “I am delighted to be able to announce Jennifer’s appointment to this important role. Her passion for the Gallery is clear and her achievements at The Holburne Museum and at the Royal Collection are an excellent foundation for joining Dulwich. We look forward to welcoming her on board as we look towards the Gallery’s future ambitions.”

Scott is currently Director of The Holburne Museum, Bath, having joined in August 2014. During this time she has played a significant role in shaping the Museum’s centenary celebrations, with a series of critically acclaimed exhibitions in 2016. In addition, she led a successful £450,000 acquisition campaign with linked community engagement programme, and initiated conservation and research leading to major new attributions of the Museum’s Flemish paintings. Scott has also developed a number of national and international partnerships. Prior to joining The Holburne Museum, she was Curator of Paintings at Royal Collection Trust (2004–14).

Jennifer Scott said: “I am honoured to be appointed as Sackler Director of Dulwich Picture Gallery. Through its exceptional collection and pioneering programme, Dulwich has an enduring appeal grounded in its 200-year history. Ian Dejardin’s dynamic leadership has placed the Gallery in a strong position for the future. I look forward to working with Evelyn, the Board and the team to continue to develop the Gallery as the perfect place for people to experience the inspirational potential of art.”

2017 will welcome an exhibition line-up featuring Vanessa Bell, John Singer Sargent, and Tove Jansson. The year will also see the opening of the Gallery’s first pavilion building in June as well as a series of displays celebrating 200 years since the Gallery first opened its doors to the public. Jennifer Scott will be the Gallery’s fourth Director.

CV Highlights
• August 2014–present, Director, The Holburne Museum. Responsible for £1.4m budget, 21 staff (f/t), and 320 volunteers; led successful acquisition campaign for Sir Thomas Lawrence’s Arthur Atherley; recent discoveries of previously overlooked works by Brueghel the Younger and Teniers; achieved significant grants for outreach and community engagement work.
• Curator of Impressionism: Capturing Life (2016) and Bruegel: Defining a Dynasty (2017). Restructured staff, introduced a SMT at Deputy Director level, devised and implemented a 3-year forward plan, managed capital project of new car park / café terrace.
• January 2004–August 2014, Curator of Paintings at Royal Collection Trust. Responsible for curating exhibitions and displays and project management of loans to museums and galleries worldwide. Established academic authority on royal portraiture and British, Flemish, Spanish, and Dutch painting 1450–1900.
• Author of numerous publications including The Royal Portrait: Image and Impact (2010), Dutch Landscapes (2010), and Bruegel to Rubens: Masters of Flemish Painting (2007). Previously worked in the curatorial department of The National Gallery, London and National Museums Liverpool.
• 1998–2002, BA and MA, History of Art, The Courtauld Institute of Art. Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and Fellow Commoner of Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge.

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Yinka Shonibare MBE, Wind Sculpture VII (detail), 2016, steel armature with hand-painted fiberglass resin cast and gold leaf (Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, purchased with funds from Amelia Quist-Ogunlesi and Adebayo Ogunlesi and the Sakana Foundation, 2016-11-1).

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Press release (via Art Daily) from the National Museum of African Art:

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art announced the acquisition and permanent installation of sculpture Wind Sculpture VII by celebrated contemporary artist Yinka Shonibare MBE. Wind Sculpture VII made its Smithsonian debut Saturday, December 3; it has been installed in front of the National Museum of African Art.

A rendering of Shonibare’s sculpture as envisioned outside the National Museum of African Art (James Cohan Gallery).

Part of a series of seven individually designed sculptures, Wind Sculpture VII is the first artwork installed permanently in front of the museum. Constructed from fiberglass, this unique, gold-leaf version of Shonibare’s Wind Sculptures series evokes the sails of ships that have crossed the Atlantic and other oceans, connecting nations through the exchange of ideas, products, and people. In its form, it captures histories that can be inspiring or brutal but always complex. It suggests that the opening of the seas led not only to the slave trade and colonization but also to the dynamic contributions of Africans and African heritage worldwide. Using yellow, blue, rose, and gold, Shonibare celebrates the African men, women, and children who have shaped the United States, Great Britain, and other nations of today and for the future.

“The museum is proud to present this stunning and monumental public sculpture at the museum,” said Karen Milbourne, curator and project lead. “This work of art will transform the façade of our museum and pay tribute to the connections between Africa and America. The patterns emblazoned on this sculpture replicate so-called ‘African print cloth,’ which are in fact based on Indonesian batiks manufactured in the Netherlands and United Kingdom and then exported to West Africa where they have become synonymous with African identity. Shonibare draws on this entangled history to direct attention to the global connections that unite individuals and communities worldwide. Africa’s global connections and the vision of its artists are the focus of this national museum; this sculpture will inspire visitors and spark conversation.”

Facts about Wind Sculpture VII:
• The work weighs 899 pounds
• It took seven people one month to paint and gild the sculpture
• The structure is 20 feet tall and 10 feet, 6 inches wide
• Only about a 7-inch-diameter point of the sculpture touches the ground

Throughout the past decade, Shonibare has become well known for his exploration of colonialism and post-colonialism within the context of globalization. Working in painting, sculpture, photography, film, and performance, Shonibare’s work examines race, class, and the construction of cultural identity. Through sharp political commentary of the interrelationships between Africa and Europe’s economic and political histories and wry citations of Western art history and literature, Shonibare questions the validity of contemporary cultural and national identities.

Shonibare was born in the United Kingdom in 1962 and moved to Lagos, Nigeria, at the age of 3. He returned to London to receive his MFA from Goldsmiths College, a part of the ‘Young British Artists’ generation. He gained notoriety on the international stage via his commission for Okwui Enwezor’s Documenta 10 and was a Turner Prize nominee in 2004. In 2005 he was awarded the decoration of Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, a title that he officially added on his professional name. His works were featured in the 52nd Venice Biennale and a major mid-career survey toured 2008–09. In 2011, the artist’s sculpture Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle was selected for Trafalgar Square’s prestigious commission series. Shonibare’s works are included in many prestigious public collections spanning the globe. He currently lives and works in London’s East End.

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Press release (17 November 2016) from the National Gallery in London:

Louis Jean François Lagrenée, Maternal Affection, 1773, oil on copper, 43.5 × 34.5 cm (London: The National Gallery, gift from the estate of Brian Sewell, 2016).

“As a child, there was not a major museum or art gallery in London I didn’t know, and the National Gallery was my favourite.” –Brian Sewell, interview for The Daily Telegraph (June 2012)

The legendary Evening Standard art critic would often talk about the weekly visits he made to the National Gallery as a child imbuing him with his love of art; indeed, he once quipped, “I’m leaving my body to science, and if there’s anything left, they can burn it, mix the ashes with bird food and scatter them on the steps of the National Gallery” (Mail on Sunday, April 2014). Therefore, it is fitting that a much-loved work from his private art collection will go on display in the National Gallery, presented as a gift to the Gallery following his death in September 2015.

Maternal Affection is a small oil on copper work from 1773 by the French artist Louis-Jean-François Lagrenée. The subject cannot be precisely identified. It takes place in a loggia and shows a woman nursing a child, with another infant held towards her by one of her female companions. Another woman is placing (or removing) bedding in the form of a pillow in or from a wooden crib. In this picture of quiet contentment, Lagrenee has sought balance—balance in the colours of the costumes both of, and between, the individual figures and balance in composition. Maternal Affection is highly typical of the small-scale paintings that the artist made for private collectors.

There are currently eleven paintings by Lagrenée in Great Britain: seven at Stourhead (National Trust) and four at the Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle. Maternal Affection is, therefore, the only one by the artist on public display in a national collection. Eighteenth-century French paintings are sparsely represented in Trafalgar Square, and this generous gift helps to extend the National Gallery’s collection in this area. Maternal Affection also adds to our understanding of the reception of 17th-century Bolognese painting in 18th-century Europe: Lagrenée’s style was greatly influenced by his admiration of the great Bolognese painters of the previous century, in particular the work of Guido Reni.

Christopher Riopelle, National Gallery Curator of Post-1800 Paintings said: “The painting is a beautifully preserved oil on copper of exquisite refinement which allows the National Gallery for the first time to show the work of an artist who was hugely admired by the most discriminating connoisseurs and collectors of contemporary French art, both French and foreign, in the final decades of the 18th century.”

National Gallery Director, Dr Gabriele Finaldi said: “Brian Sewell had a profound love for the National Gallery as well as a connoisseur’s passion for lesser known masters; so it is especially pleasing that Lagrenée’s beautiful and refined Maternal Affection, which he owned, has come to the Gallery as a gift from his estate.”

Maternal Affection can now be seen in Room 33 of the National Gallery hanging alongside other French 18th-century paintings by artists such as Boucher, Vigée Le Brun, Boilly, Nattier, Detroy, and Vernet.

Press release (30 November 2016) from the Prado:

This morning, Miguel Zugaza informed the Permanent Committee of the Royal Board of Trustees of his decision to conclude his term next year as director of the Museo del Prado after fifteen years in the position. He also announced his intention to reassume the post of director of the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum on the retirement of its present director.

In a text addressed to Iñigo Méndez de Vigo, the Minister of Education, Culture and Sport, and to Unai Rementeria, Chairman of the Provincial Council of Bizkaia, Miguel Zugaza stated that he “considers the goals established during his term of office to have been fulfilled and expresses his thanks for all the support received.” The Museum’s Director for the past fifteen years considers that “the Museum is now embarking on a new and exciting phase with the focus on its bicentenary and on the completion of the Museo del Prado Campus with the addition of the Hall of Realms.” At the same time, he considers himself “extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to return to the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum (of which he was director between 1995 and 2001) and offer it all the experience he has acquired.”

The Minister of Education, Culture and Sport has personally thanked Miguel Zugaza for the services he has rendered the Museum over so many years and has asked him to continue to be involved in its bicentenary project through the Committee for the 2nd centenary of the Museo Nacional del Prado in 2019.

For his part and in the name of the Bilbao museum’s founding institutions (the City Council of Bilbao, the Provincial Government of Bizkaia and the Basque Government), the Chairman of the Provincial Council of Bizkaia and current president of the Bilbao museum’s Board of Trustees expressed his satisfaction at being able to count on Miguel Zugaza for leading the museum forward after the outstanding contribution made over the past years by Javier Viar Olloqui. Both institutions have agreed to stay in contact in order to facilitate the transition of directorship of the respective museums. With this aim in mind, the Minister will propose to the Prado’s Royal Board of Trustees the creation of a specific committee at the Museum. As established in its statutes, it will initiate the selection procedure prior to the proposal of a new appointment to the Council of Ministers. Mr Zugaza will remain in his position with all the powers authorised by it until a new director is appointed.

José Pedro Pérez-Llorca, president of the Museum’s Royal Board of Trustees, wished to emphasise that “the Museo del Prado will never be able to sufficiently express its thanks to Miguel Zugaza for his intelligence, wisdom and imagination and the authority with which he has led the Museum”, and that “the results of his efforts, namely the great success of the Prado, speak for themselves.”

Foster + Partners and Rubio Arquitectura, ‘Hidden Design’: Winning Proposal for the Restoration and Remodeling of the Salón de Reinos Museo del Prado, announced November 2016.

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Press release (24 November 2016) from the Prado:

Architects Norman Foster and Carlos Rubio have been announced as winners of the projects competition to remodel the Hall of Realms at the Museo del Prado. The Museum will exhibit the winning proposal along with those of the other seven teams of finalists from 1 December.

Iñígo Méndez de Vigo, Minister of Education, Culture and Sport, led the plenary meeting of the Royal Board of Trustees of the Museo del Prado in which the jury announced the winner of the international competition for the architectural restoration and museological remodelling of the Salón de Reinos [Hall of Realms] of the former Buen Retiro palace. The winning proposal is the one presented by the team of Foster + Partners LTD and Rubio Arquitectura SLP, as decided at the jury’s meeting on 22 November.

The winning proposal, entitled Hidden Design, makes maximum use of the building’s museological aspect and creates a large entrance atrium on the south façade, making this space semi-open and permeable to the exterior but sufficiently controlled for it to function to protect the original façade of the Hall of Realms, the windows and balconies of which will be reinstated. Emerging over the top of this façade will be a large exhibition space on the third floor, which is higher and wider than the present one, forming the roof of the atrium and a terrazza facing the Museum’s ‘campus’. The winning design fully responds to the spatial requirements specified by the Museum for this project, without the need to excavate new basement levels. It emphasises the historical spaces that form the core of the building, particularly the Hall of Realms. Similarly, it strengthens and consolidates the identity of the Museo del Prado campus, proposing a pedestrian section of the Retiro Park—Paseo del Prado axis along calle Felipe IV which will revitalise its connection with the city.

In its decision statement the jury singled out the principal merits of this project as the high quality of the architectural proposal, which respects and emphasises the pre-existing structure, adapting it to present-day requirements; the intelligent way in which this project meets museological requirements; the skilled integration of the building into its surroundings and into the overall context of the Museo del Prado campus; and the project’s efficient cost study.

The aim of the competition of which the winner has now been announced and which was originally published in the Boletín Oficial del Estado on 1 March 2016, was to select the architectural team to devise the project to restore and refit the Hall of Realms, part of the lost Buen Retiro palace and the former home of the Museo del Ejército [Army Museum]. This building was formerly passed to the Museo del Prado in October 2015.

The competition, entered by 47 teams of architects, has consisted of two parts. The first, open part ended in June with the selection of eight teams:
• CRUZ Y ORTIZ ARQUITECTOS, SLP
• NIETO SOBEJANO ARQUITECTOS, SLP
• UTE: B720 ARQUITECTURA, SL – DAVID CHIPPERFIELD ARCHITECTS
• OFFICE FOR METROPOLITAN ARCHITECTURE (OMA) STEDEBOUW BV
• UTE: SOUTO MOURA ARQUITECTOS, SA – JUAN MIGUEL HERNÁNDEZ LEÓN – CARLOS DE RIAÑO LOZANO
• UTE: FOSTER + PARTNERS LTD – RUBIO ARQUITECTURA SLP
• UTE: GARCES DE SETA BONET ARQUITECTES, SLP – PEDRO FEDUCHI CANOSA
• UTE: GLUCKMAN TANG ARCHITECTS LLP – ESTUDIO ÁLVAREZ SALA, SLP – ARQUITECTURA ENGUITA Y LASSO DE LA VEGA, SLP

These teams devised their proposals for the second phase, presenting them on 31 October. In its decision statement, jury singled out the quality of all the projects presented, which will be displayed in the Cloister of the Museum’s Jerónimos Building from 1 December. Preparation of the project will commence in 2017 and is expected to take about 16 months. Building work will begin in 2018.

UTE: Foster + Partners LTD – Rubio Arquitectura SLP

This is a temporary alliance of the architectural studios Foster + Partners and Rubio Arquitectura. Foster + Partners was founded in 1967 by Norman Foster (born Manchester, 1935). With its headquarters in London, it has offices in 14 cities around the world including Hong Kong, New York, São Paulo, Singapore, and Madrid. Among Foster + Partners’ most important projects for museums are those undertaken for the Carré d’Art (Nîmes, 1993), the Great Court and Sainsbury Galleries in the British Museum (London, 2000), the Robert and Alene Kogod Courtyard at the Smithsonian Institution (Washington, D.C., 2007), the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, 2010), the Lenbachhaus (Munich, 2013), and the Imperial War Museum (London, 2014). Among numerous awards and honours, Norman Foster received the Pritzker Prize in 1999, the Mies van der Rohe Award for Contemporary Architecture in 1990, and the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects in 1994. The Prince of Asturias Prize for the Arts in 2009 recognised his entire career as an architect.

Rubio Arquitectura was founded in 2014 by the architect Carlos Rubio Carvajal (born Barcelona, 1950) and has its headquarters in Madrid. The studio is currently working on various projects in Spain and abroad, including Russia and Saudi Arabia. Awards include the COAM Architecture Prize in 1989.

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