Helga de Alvear’s Essential Role

The works created by artists on paper usually capture the first idea of the story they have decided to tell. They are the seed of what later become great pieces. That was Picasso’s way with his preparatory drawings or way before, Leonardo da Vinci. Actually, there are few artists that skip that step before creating an artwork. That’s why the works on paper are artists’ most intimate and close creation, and that’s the reason why such a singular collector as Helga de Alvear prefers this format within the humongous contemporary art collection she treasures. The preservation fragility of paper requires this material to be usually kept away from the light and temperature variations. It’s more fragile that paintings or sculptures. Therefore, it’s very difficult to contemplate the selection (285 artworks created by 121 artists) that is being showcased by the collector and gallery owner at Helga de Alvear Foundation’s Visual Arts Center in Caceres through early January 2014. The works carpet the entire history of contemporary art from the 20th century to date. Spread all over the building’s three stories, the paper tells the recent history of contemporary art with the first avant-gardes as starting point: Calder, Oscar Dominguez, Marcel Duchamp, Julio Gonzalez, Max Ernst, Joan Miro, Pablo Picasso. They are followed by important Spanish artists from the Spanish post-war period: Tàpies, Saura, Millares, Palazuelo, Chillida, El Equipo 57. The rationalists and conceptualists are located in a hall, along with works of Nacho Criado, Esther Ferrer or Elena Asins. Helga de Alvear was the first one to bet on the last one. “The prizes and interest in her work came later. But I was interested since the very moment when I saw what she was doing.” The pop or new figuration of Gordillo, Alcolea, Albacete or Barcelo make way to small spaces dedicated to acclaimed international names. Dubuffet, Appel, Francis Bacon, Louis Bourgeois, Christo, Lichitenstein, Long, Matta-Clark, Nolam, Nam June Paik, Lygia Pape or Robert Smithson, among many other. The most contemporary artists coexist in a space that combines national and international creators: Ignasi Aballi, Marlene Dumas, Jorge Galindo, Dora Garcia, Mark Lombardi, Paul McCarthy or Haegue Yang. Estrella de Diego, curator of the show, says that each paper, only 30% of the total collection is shown, have a personal relationship with the collector. She has looked for some of them and has unexpectedly found others. That’s what happened with two Kandinski drawings. “We were in Juana’s old office and one of the drawers contained two papers wrapped up in silk, forgotten then since the beginning of the gallery”. She sold one and the other is one of the most valued treasures of her collection. Alvear, described as one of the most powerful gallery owners of Europe, affirms that the collection will keep on growing since she can’t stop buying everything she likes, even when she doesn’t get more than a 20% discount.