What is a landscape? A wonderful tour of scenes in the Palais de Glace collection.

Appreciating the history of a subject like landscape , highly valued and autonomous, just like portraiture and still life, is the focus of this exhibition, which explores years of Argentine artists who have won awards at national exhibitions. The research on this collection is led by renowned theorist María José Herrera, along with the team from the Palais de Glace , an institution steeped in history but closed to the public for some time due to its ongoing renovation.

The title The Nature of Landscape sets up a kind of apparent contradiction , as the curatorial text poses when it asks: What is the nature of the landscape?, and suggests that an answer could be stated as "a certain vision of nature."

Paintings, sculptures, textiles, ceramics, drawings and videos that make up a selection of some 40 award-winning works from different editions of the National Salon of Visual Arts , over a period of 90 years, from 1932 to 2023. Organised into seven sections: The Spectacle of Nature , Hidden Landscapes , The Power of the Landscape , The Visual Fabric , The Constructive Tradition , The Project of a Landscape and Present and Future of the Landscape , "they invite visitors to discover how the landscape is not just an image of nature, but a cultural construction that reflects visions, emotions and ideas specific to each era".

A cast of artists ranging from certain influences of traveling painters to references to Mapuche myths , passing through abstraction or the construction of the landscape as a conceptual vision, the exhibition has a very important didactic function . In part because few people know that, in 1895, when the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes was founded, the same references such as Eduardo Schiaffino and Eduardo Sívori , among others, founded the National Commission of Fine Arts in 1897.

As a federal body, the commission established the National Salon in 1911, inviting all provinces to participate. Later, in 1932, the commission became the National Directorate and moved to the Palais de Glace, the same year the National Museum moved to Recoleta. Their collections of Argentine art are complementary, as the Acquisition Prize went to the MNBA (National Museum of Art), and the First Prize and other prizes went to the Palais de Glace. This exhibition follows the succession of exhibitions organized by these two organizations from 1897 to the present.

Onofrio Pacenza (1904-1971) with his Portuaria from 1960, awarded at the 49th National Salon of Plastic Arts, which maintains a surreal and mysterious tone, or the beautiful landscape of strangeness in El lago oculto . Ícaro , 1968 by Ideal Sánchez, awarded at the 58th National Salon, together with the metaphysical climate of Carlos Cañás (1928-2020) awarded in 1977 with Todo lo que pasa, pasa . Opus 3 , are three important references that have not been exhibited for a long time .

A work by Alejandro Puente (1933-2013) Cantún from 2001 with a marked influence of pre-Hispanic Andean textiles, awarded at the 90th National Salon of the same year, is associated with a work by Luis Wells (1939-2023) that divides the painting into two parts vertically to account for two combined scenes, together with a magnificent representation of the landscape without needing to be literal, achieved in the sculpture of the remembered Mariana Schapiro (1959-2006) where she combines the modulation of curves associated with gentle slopes with a natural trunk that rests in that docility, complementing each other.

The possibility of an abstract landscape appears in Sarah Grilo (BA 1917-Madrid 2007) with Painting from 1958, a work that was acquired by the National Directorate in 1959 from a large exhibition held in Mar del Plata entitled Modern Art Exhibition . Also in Hugo de Marziani (La Plata 1941) with the First Prize of the 68th National Salon of 1979 with his work Landscape from the same year. Another possible abstraction in Juan Carlos Lasser (1952-2007) with his work Autumnal Advance from 1962 of great movement and textured color.

From another perspective, Fermín Eguía (1942-2024) recreates a curious Naval Combat with his award-winning work in 2009, which reflects the same estrangement from the landscape as Fernando Maza (BA 1936-France 2017) where the horizon is too high to reveal curious inclusions such as a letter, period or number in an untitled work.

Of interest is the Grand Prize of Honor at the 9th National Salon of Textile Art received by Matilde Alganiz (Corrientes 1945), a work made of wicker, paper and jute threads and guinea straw that fragments the landscape of the Argentine coast in Y muy cerca, la humid espesura (Y muy cerca, la humid espesura) (And very close, the humid thicket) from 1992. With the complexity of a soft sculpture Stella Maris Canale (BA 1953) with Planta trama trampa miento (Plant weave trap) from 2007 made with sewn leather with bronze threads, is added to the power of the red granite carving by Juan Pablo Maturano (BA 1975) from the series Pliegues y plegarias (Plegues y plegarias ) from 2017. The stoneware and fired clay piece by Ricardo Oliva (Misiones 1957) Río interruptado (Interrupted River) , awarded in 2009, which incorporates elements of the landscape such as water, earth, air and fire from elements that simulate them by color or by the firing of the clay.

Among the most disruptive are Matías Ércole (BA 1987) from the 2016 series Te creo, te destruyo, a large-scale collage constructed from clippings of other drawings and wax and ink sgraffito, and a video piece filmed in Aluminé by Neuquén native Anahí Mariluan (1977) that recreates a Mapuche myth that pits two snakes against each other, where the deities are portrayed in a carnivalesque style with a nod to transvestism, Sin combate. Treng Treng Kay Kay, awarded on 8M 2023.

A wonderful tour that traverses eras, the creative will of witnesses to their surroundings, with names that haven't been seen for a long time, like the painter Juan Doffo , the destructive signs of Diana Dowek , or the dynamic drawing of Eduardo Stupía . It features a comprehensive tour by the same team from the Palais de Glace, with no prior registration required, making it a must-do this holiday season.

Participating artists: Matilde Algamiz, Juan Astica, Rodrigo Bonome, Miguel Burgoa Videla, Stella Maris Canale, Domingo Candia, Carlos Cañás, Hugo De Marziani, Juan Del Prete, Jorge Demirjian, Juan Doffo, Diana Dowek, Fermín Eguía, Matías Ercole, Germán Gárgano, Sarah Grilo, Juan Ibarra, Juan Carlos Lasser, César López Claro, Anahi Mariluan, Juan Pablo Marturano, Fernando Maza, Adolfo Nigro, Ricardo Oliva, Onofrio Pacenza, Santiago Poggio, Alejandro Puente, Ideal Sánchez, Mariana Schapiro, Paula Senderowicz, Armando Sica, Eduardo Stupía, Velma Toscano, Néstor Villar Errecart and Luis Wells.

The Nature of the Landscape , curated by María José Herrera, is on view until August 3 at the Borges Cultural Center. Viamonte 525, 2nd floor, Bon Marché Room. Wednesday to Sunday, 2:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., free admission.