I was excited to see recently that Ballet Nacional de Cuba was returning to Costa Rica. I loved the performance I saw in the spring of 2023 (Link blog May 5, 2023), so I immediately made plans to attend this time. Three artists in residence were going to be at my home at the time of the performance, so I quickly sent off emails to them to see if they wanted to attend. All three answered with an enthusiastic response, realizing what a treat it would be to see this outstanding company.
As we got close to the day, one of the residents asked if we could combine the performance trip with a visit to a museum in San Jose. The performance didn’t begin until 5 PM, so maybe we could visit an art museum first and then have very early dinner in the café attached to the theater. A few google searches, and we found that while some museums were closed on Sunday, Museo de Arte Costarricense (MAC) was open. I had been there before (Blog: March 23, 2024), but I didn’t mind going back, especially because I loved some of the sculpture in the garden and thought it would be fun to sketch.
Leaving the house at noon, we arrived at the museum in plenty of time. The exhibit that I had seen before, Valle Oscuro by Adrian Arguedas Ruano, was still the featured first-floor exhibit. I decided to go upstairs, as I had heard there was a uniquely decorated room. A sign outside the room provided information:
The Golden Room used to be La Sabana International Airport’s Diplomatic Lounge. Its walls are covered by a mural constructed from 1939 to 1940 by Louis Feron, a French Sculptor and goldsmith who lived in Costa Rica for more than 10 years.
This mural is made of stucco carved in bas relief and presents fragments of Costa Rican history from the pre-Columbian era to 1940 when the building was inaugurated.
The room was spectacular and made one wonder what international guests were entertained there. An informative guide asked me what country I was from, and when I said the United States, he immediately told me that among the guests was President John F. Kennedy. Kennedy visited Costa Rica in March of 1963 to attend a summit with the presidents of six countries.
There was also a new exhibit that I hadn’t seen before by Carlos Cruz-Diez, a Venezuelan artist (1923-2019). Wow… it reminded me a lot of Yaacov Agam’s art. Agam’s “12 Tribes of Israel” stain-glass windows are installed in the Petrie Synagogue, Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City. I am quite familiar with the windows, as the Petrie Synagogue (which according to a description on HUC-JIR’s website “expresses the institution’s commitment to enlightenment and modernity”) was the main New York City performing space for the Avodah Dance Ensemble, which I founded and directed for over 30 years. We also held workshops in this wonderfully flexible, light and airy room. The HUC-JIR website goes on to describe the
windows:
The metaphor of light finds its expression in Yaacov Agam’s kinetic “12 Tribes of Israel” stained glass windows, which are the first three-dimensional stained and leaded glass installations in the world. Vivid shapes of color define the diverse identities of each of the twelve sons of Joseph, who are united by a shared color palette and geometry in the four windows measuring between 26’ and 29’ in height. Agam’s images are in a “state of becoming” – they cannot be seen in their totality at any one time or from any one position. They can only be discerned, as a revelation, through the viewer’s physical movement through the space.
It was an inspiration to be able to regularly rehearse, teach and perform in this unique space at HUC-JIR. As I walked through the exhibition of Carlos Cruz-Diez’s work, I was fascinated with how, in a two-dimensional manner, he had created the sense of movement and color changes that I remembered from Agam’s work in the Petrie Synagogue as well as other work by Agam that I recently saw during my spring trip to Paris.
In doing research for this blog I googled Agam’s name with Carlos Cruz-Diez and found that actually Carlos Cruz-Diez began doing explorations in kinetic art prior to Agam. In 1955 they were both in a seminal show in Paris called “Le Mouvemente” along with several other artists.
I was curious why this artist’s work from a Paris show in 2014 was being shown in a museum that mainly focuses on Costa Rican artists. A statement by Esteban Calvo, director of the museum, answered me:
This exhibition is a very significant event for the Costa Rican scene that brings the population closer to the works of one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, as well as inspiring new generations to explore the infinite possibilities of color.
A description on the Cruz-Diez website described the uniqueness of it:
On the occasion centenary of the artist’s birth, the exhibition RGB: The Colors of the century started its worldwide tour, in partnership with the Centre Pompidou and the Musée national d’art moderne. In 2024, the tour continues.
This exhibition was conceived and curated by the artist in 2014 and consists of sixteen artworks and a computer program implemented on tactile supports. It has been conceived in such a way that it doesn’t require any physical transport of works, the data allowing the realization of these works being transmitted electronically.
Having some time before we needed to leave the museum, I headed toward a balcony with benches that overlook a garden with sculpture and had fun drawing.
I highly recommend this delightful museum, which has free parking and free admission although you need to sign in and show ID. It is open Tuesday to Sunday, 9 AM to 4 PM. Here’s a link to learn more.
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