Timeless beauty of the Alhambra. Jean Laurent vs Fernando Manso
18/03/2015.
Exhibition. Museo Arqueológico Nacional, [MAD] Spain 17.03.2015 > 17.05.2015
metalocus, ALEX DURO
metalocus, ALEX DURO
The Museo Arqueológico Nacional gathers together a show of 57 photographs by Jean Laurent and Fernando Manso which makes a journey in parallel, but in different time, through the Alhambra in Granada. The exhibition, which opened recently, can be visited until the 17th of May.
Lindaraja fountain. 'Una visión inédita de la Alhambra por Jean Laurent y Fernando Manso'. Photograph © Fernando Manso. Courtesy of Museo Arqueológico Nacional.
Patio del Ciprés of the Sultana in the Generalife. 'Una visión inédita de la Alhambra por Jean Laurent y Fernando Manso'. Photograph © Fernando Manso. Courtesy of Museo Arqueológico Nacional.
The cypresses in the Lindajara courtyard. 'Una visión inédita de la Alhambra por Jean Laurent y Fernando Manso'. Photograph © Fernando Manso. Courtesy of Museo Arqueológico Nacional.
Bibarrambla Gate. 'Una visión inédita de la Alhambra por Jean Laurent y Fernando Manso'. Photograph © Fernando Manso. Courtesy of Museo Arqueológico Nacional.
Gardens from El Carmen in the Mezquita del Oratorio. 'Una visión inédita de la Alhambra por Jean Laurent y Fernando Manso'. Photograph © Fernando Manso. Courtesy of Museo Arqueológico Nacional.
Inner space of the bathroom in the Comares Palace. 'Una visión inédita de la Alhambra por Jean Laurent y Fernando Manso'. Photograph © Fernando Manso. Courtesy of Museo Arqueológico Nacional.
Cabinet in the upper floor of the Peinador de la Reina. 'Una visión inédita de la Alhambra por Jean Laurent y Fernando Manso'. Photograph © Fernando Manso. Courtesy of Museo Arqueológico Nacional.
Dolphins Fountain in the Adarves garden. 'Una visión inédita de la Alhambra por Jean Laurent y Fernando Manso'. Photograph © Fernando Manso. Courtesy of Museo Arqueológico Nacional. Click above to see larger image.
Between the fog. 'Una visión inédita de la Alhambra por Jean Laurent y Fernando Manso'. Photograph © Fernando Manso. Courtesy of Museo Arqueológico Nacional. Click above to see larger image.
Arcade in the Harán courtyard. 'Una visión inédita de la Alhambra por Jean Laurent y Fernando Manso'. Photograph © Fernando Manso. Courtesy of Museo Arqueológico Nacional. Click above to see larger image.
The light over the skylight in the Comares bathroom. 'Una visión inédita de la Alhambra por Jean Laurent y Fernando Manso'. Photograph © Fernando Manso. Courtesy of Museo Arqueológico Nacional.
The citadel. 'Una visión inédita de la Alhambra por Jean Laurent y Fernando Manso'. Photograph © Fernando Manso. Courtesy of Museo Arqueológico Nacional. Click above to see larger image.
Outside space of the left lateral gallery of the Arrayanes courtyard. 'Una visión inédita de la Alhambra por Jean Laurent y Fernando Manso'. Photograph © Jean Laurent. Courtesy of Museo Arqueológico Nacional. Click above to see larger image.
Inside view of the Sala de Embajadores. 'Una visión inédita de la Alhambra por Jean Laurent y Fernando Manso'. Photograph © Jean Laurent. Courtesy of Museo Arqueológico Nacional. Click above to see larger image.
The Lions Courtyard from the Sala de los Escudos. 'Una visión inédita de la Alhambra por Jean Laurent y Fernando Manso'. Photograph © Jean Laurent. Courtesy of Museo Arqueológico Nacional.
Right gallery of the Leones courtyard. 'Una visión inédita de la Alhambra por Jean Laurent y Fernando Manso'. Photograph © Jean Laurent. Courtesy of Museo Arqueológico Nacional.
Access to the Sala de Embajadores. 'Una visión inédita de la Alhambra por Jean Laurent y Fernando Manso'. Photograph © Jean Laurent. Courtesy of Museo Arqueológico Nacional.
Ceiling of the sala de los Abencerrajes. 'Una visión inédita de la Alhambra por Jean Laurent y Fernando Manso'. Photograph © Jean Laurent. Courtesy of Museo Arqueológico Nacional.
The Torre de los picos, view from an inner path. 'Una visión inédita de la Alhambra por Jean Laurent y Fernando Manso'. Photograph © Jean Laurent. Courtesy of Museo Arqueológico Nacional.
Left gallery of the Alberca courtyard. 'Una visión inédita de la Alhambra por Jean Laurent y Fernando Manso'. Photograph © Jean Laurent. Courtesy of Museo Arqueológico Nacional.
Machuca courtyard Gate. 'Una visión inédita de la Alhambra por Jean Laurent y Fernando Manso'. Photograph © Jean Laurent. Courtesy of Museo Arqueológico Nacional.
Bermejas towers seen from the adarves. 'Una visión inédita de la Alhambra por Jean Laurent y Fernando Manso'. Photograph © Jean Laurent. Courtesy of Museo Arqueológico Nacional. Click above to see larger image.
Capital of two columns in the Leones courtyard. 'Una visión inédita de la Alhambra por Jean Laurent y Fernando Manso'. Photograph © Jean Laurent. Courtesy of Museo Arqueológico Nacional.
Lions fountain and courtyard. 'Una visión inédita de la Alhambra por Jean Laurent y Fernando Manso'. Photograph © Jean Laurent. Courtesy of Museo Arqueológico Nacional. Click above to see larger image.
Jean Laurent (1816-1886) and Fernando Manso (Madrid 1961) are the photographers who have portrayed, under a intimate view with a camera, but with a difference of 150 years, the gardens, palaces and the surroundings of the Alhambra. The show gathers 57 photographs which pay tribute to the monumental beauty of the Alhambra and its natural surroundings, in order to praise it as a cultural and artistic icon in Spain.
The 22 small size works (20x35cm) by Jean Laurent, chosen among more than 400 images which compose the original catalogue, present a careful selection of photographs, which have been gathered in the same place where the spectator is transported to the period when the French photographer lived. The 35 large size works (200x150cm and 120x150cm) by Fernando Manso, are exhibited in a wider space, creating a tour of unpublished visions, different and new of the nowadays Alhambra.
About the photographers.-
Jean Laurent (Garchizy, Nevers, 1816 - Madrid, 1886) moved to Madrid in 1843 and became one of the more importants 19th century comertial photographers. He travelled around all Spain and Portugal taking photographs about the most popular matters of his time: masterpiece copies, photo essay about public works (industrial photography), panoramic views of cities, landscapes, monuments, art works, portraits of celebrities and popular people of the peninsula. For his journeys he used the railway and he has a small carriage or "laboratory-car", where he used to prepare and reveal his photographs. He was "Photographer of the Queen" during the time between the years 1861 and 1868.
Fernando Manso (Madrid, 1961) began in analogic photography while studying in US. He starts his professional career working in the professional department of photography of Canon España, and after that he worked on advertising photography, even being awarded for several works. Since 20 years he works on artistic photography, the work for which he has obtained important awards as the Premio Nacional de las Artes 2008, by the Real Academia de la Gastronomía. He always uses an analogical camera, his photographs show this personal image that the artist keeps in his head and give a poetic vision of everything. Manso is a respectful observer of reality and he also strengthens his own minimalistic truth, meticulous, romantic, but over all photographer of beauty.
