Johannesburg Art Gallery masterpieces move to Siena

From July 24, 2020 to January 10, 2021, masterpieces from the Johannesburg Art Gallery will arrive in Siena at the Complex of Santa Maria della Scala.

The Dream of Lady Florence Phillips - The Collection of the Johannesburg Art Gallery, this is the title of the exhibition curated by Simona Bartolena, will bring together about sixty works, including oils, watercolors and graphics, created in the period between the mid-nineteenth century and the second half of the twentieth century. Thus, masterpieces by Degas, Monet, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Matisse, Modigliani, Turner, Rodin, Moore, Lichtenstein, Derain, Pissarro, Corot, Sargent, Sisley, Bacon, Rossetti, Warhol, Signac, Picasso, and many others will be on display.

The real star of the exhibition, however, will be Lady Florence Phillips, the founder of the Johannesburg Art Gallery, the main art museum on the African continent that opened to the public in 1910.

Lady Phillips, born in 1863 in Cape Town, was the daughter of naturalist Albert Frederick Ortlepp, surveyor of the Colesberg Territories, and wife of Lionel Phillips, who came from a lower middle-class London merchant family and moved with him to Johannesburg. Lionel had been elected president of the Chamber of Mines in 1892, gaining power and pursuing political interests that would result in personal involvement in the “Jameson Raid,” the unsuccessful British attempt to subvert the South African government, then still in Boer hands. Turning himself over to the courts to ask for a pardon, Phillips was instead sentenced to death, but after six months of imprisonment he was freed and forced into exile in England. Lady Phillips, who had traveled extensively until then, returned on that occasion alongside her husband and followed him to London. It was during this period that she began to become interested in art, convinced that art could be useful and could become an instrument of social help, particularly for the neediest sections of the population. Returning to Johannesburg in 1906, she began to realize her dream of accomplishing something important for South Africa. Through her philanthropism, Lady Phillips envisioned an international public gallery, based in Johannesburg. In addition, by collecting African artifacts, she worked to popularize and protect native traditions. Lady Florence Phillips died in August 1940 and was portrayed in photographs and paintings: among them, the portrait created by Antonio Mancini, which begins the exhibition tour.

After an introduction to the figure of Lady Florence Phillips, the exhibition presents a section devoted to theEnglish 19th century, with works by Joseph Mallord William Turner, Pre-Raphaelites Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Everett Millais, and Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema.

This is followed by French works from the second half of the 19th century, including Gustave Courbet’s View of the Norman Cliffs of Étretat and paintings by François Millet and Henri-Joseph Harpignie. Also, Monet, Sisley, Degas, Guillaumin, Signac, Pissarro, Le Sidaner.

The transition to the twentieth century is given by the drawings of Rodin and Maillol; Derain’s rigor is counterpointed by Ossip Zadkine’s avant-garde approach and the elegance of Modigliani’s drawing and Matisse’s gaze. Picasso, on the other hand, is present with four graphics and a Harlequin’s Head.

The historical collection devoted to the second half of the twentieth century is evidenced by a male portrait by Francis Bacon, a charcoal by Henry Moore, and two masterpieces by Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol. The last section, devoted to African art, closes with three works by William Kentridge, the best-known representative of South African art in the contemporary world.

For information, presales and reservations call +39 0577 286300 or write to sienasms@operalaboratori.com

Image: Alfred Sisley, On the Riverbank at Veneux (1881) © Johannesburg Art Gallery

Johannesburg Art Gallery masterpieces move to Siena

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