Art Madrid'25 – Lillian Bassman Pinceladas exhibitioon Loewe Foundation Madrid

The photographer Lillian Bassman revolutionized the world of fashion photography adding the sense and sensitivity of femininity in her images. Now, the Loewe Foundation honors this charismatic woman.
"My contribution has been photograph the world of women's fashion with the feelings of a woman seen through the eyes of another woman". Lillian Bassman, self-demanding, rigorous and wildly creative, had clear that her work should not go unnoticed and, with the same discipline that she was dedicated to painting and dance, she flipped on giving uniqueness and elegance to your pictures. 
 
The "Pinceladas" exhibition, shows for the first time in Spain the work of this American artist of Jewish origin that transformed fashion photography giving it shades of paint and developing treatments - long before the invention of Photoshop - to reveal not only an image, a moment or a style, but also feelings and sensations. "I was interested in creating a vision that went beyond what the camera saw," said Bassman... And it seems she made it.
Bassman lived a great time in the Art Department of Harper's Bazaar, from where she filled fashion magazines with the sophisticated females of the Happy 30's, after the Second World War. From that time, for example, you can see the legendary photograph "Across the Restaurant. Paris 1949". 
 
But the years passed and the happy world of fashion and advertising also changed. In the 70s, the photographer, disappointed by the direction its sector took and in which "there was no room for experimentation", made a radical turn in his career and destroyed many of his films. Luckily, his aides hid some of the material and, as a result, Lillian Bassman was rediscovered in the 90s, already turned 80. Bassman returned with renewed strength and experimented with acids, tissue paper, smoked lenses...
After a successful exhibition in New York in 1993, she received orders from major firms and trendy journals, and. in 2004, the work of Lillian Bassman was awarded with the Lucie Award for his unquestionable and unique contribution to fashion photography in the forties and fifties. 
 
A few months before his death, at ninety-four, Bassman was working on your pictures through the computer: "Here I am, it is not the lab but experimenting with the computer it's also fun."
 
Curated by Maria Millan, the exhibition is framed in PhotoEspaña 2014 program and you can enjoy it at Loewe Foundation (Serrano, 26 Madrid) until 31 August. Then, it will travel to the headquarters of the Foundation in Barcelona until 9 November.

 

From July 7 to 9, 2025, the Balsera Palace will host the First Course on Collecting and Contemporary Art, an intensive 15-hour program that will explore the complex and fundamental question of taste in contemporary art. Organized by the Nebrija Institute of Arts and Humanities at Nebrija University and the Avilés City Council, in collaboration with 9915 — Association of Private Collectors of Contemporary Art and the Institute of Contemporary Art, the course offers a unique opportunity for analysis and debate on the dynamics that shape aesthetic and symbolic value in today’s art scene.


First Course on Collecting and Contemporary Art. Avilés, Asturias


The notion of taste, intrinsically tied to aesthetic judgments and power relations, has played a decisive role in the historical prominence of artists and artworks. However, contemporary art—marked by its breaking of conventions, diversity of media and techniques, and critical stance toward traditional canons—raises fundamental questions about the continued relevance of this concept.

This course will explore how the decisions made by key players in the art system—institutions, private collections, galleries, curators, and artists—continually redefine a field of taste shaped by aesthetic, symbolic, cultural, social, and political logics.


"¿But does it exist, and what is the prevailing taste of our time—so seemingly confused, fragmented, indecipherable?" - Omar Calabrese, The Neo-Baroque Era.


The academic program, directed by José Luis Guijarro Alonso, Director of the Master’s in Art Market and Related Business Management at Nebrija University, and Pablo Álvarez de Toledo, Head of the Department of Arts at Nebrija University and the Nebrija Institute of Arts and Humanities, will bring together a distinguished group of national experts—including collectors, critics, curators, gallery owners, and artists—whose contributions will address key issues in shaping aesthetic, symbolic, and market value in today’s art world.


PROGRAM

MONDAY, JULY 7

9:30 AM Registration.

10:00 AM Course Opening Nebrija University Avilés City Council Presented by Rosario López Meras – President of the Association of Contemporary Art Collectors, 9915, and Adrián Piera – President of the ICA, Institute of Contemporary Art.

10:30 AM Course Presentation By José Luis Guijarro Alonso – Art Historian and Anthropologist, Researcher, and Director of the Master’s in Art Market and Related Business Management at Nebrija University.

11:00 AM Coffee Break.

11:30 AM Panel Discussion The Taste of Private Collecting as a Prelude to History. Speakers: Candela Álvarez Soldevilla – Entrepreneur and Collector; Javier Quilis – INELCOM Collection; José Miguel Vegas Valle – Collector. Moderator: Luis Feás – Critic and Curator.

1:00 PM Lunch Break.

3:30 PM Individual Lecture On Good Taste in Contemporary Art. Speaker: Marisol Salanova – Curator and Art Critic, Director of Arteinformado.

4:45 PM Panel Discussion The Influence of Galleries in Shaping Contemporary Taste. Speakers: Elba Benítez – Gallerist; Ricardo Pernas – Gallerist (Arniches 26); Aurora Vigil-Escalera – Gallerist. Moderator: Rafael Martín – Coleccion@casamer.

6:00 PM End of Day.

6:30 PM Activity and Cocktail Visit to the Exhibition Asturian Artists in the Pérez Simón Collection – Avilés.

TUESDAY, JULY 8

10:00 AM Individual Lecture Contemporary (Bad) Taste: Kitsch, Camp, and Tacky. Speaker: Julio Pérez Manzanares – Autonomous University of Madrid.

11:00 AM Coffee Break.

11:30 AM Panel Discussion Institutions and the Formation of Contemporary Taste. Speakers: Virginia López – Artist, Founder of PACA_Proyectos Artísticos Casa Antonino; Julieta de Haro – Artistic Director of CentroCentro; Carlos Urroz – Director of Institutional Relations, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. Moderator: Laura Gutiérrez – Director, School of Art of Oviedo.

1:00 PM Lunch Break.

3:30 PM Panel Discussion Beyond the Eye: The Taste for Ethical, Ecological, Social, or Political Concerns in Contemporary Art. Speakers: Semíramis González – Independent Curator; Eugenio Ampudia – Artist; Claudia Rodríguez-Ponga – Independent Curator. Moderator: Bárbara Mur Borrás – PhD in Fine Arts.

5:00 PM End of Day.

5:30 PM Activity Visit to the Studiolo Exhibition – Candela Álvarez Soldevilla Collection.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 9

9:30 AM Meeting with Asturian Artists Speakers: María Castellanos – Artist; Avelino Sala – Artist; Consuelo Vallina – Artist. Moderator: Pablo Álvarez de Toledo – Nebrija University.

11:00 AM Activity Visit to the Niemeyer Center – Avilés.

Course Closing Ceremony.





This course is designed for art professionals, collectors, researchers, and students seeking an in-depth analysis of the dynamics that shape taste and collecting practices in contemporary art. Adopting a critical and multidisciplinary perspective, it provides a unique opportunity to rigorously examine the aesthetic, symbolic, and structural factors that underpin the legitimization of contemporary art.