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Federico García Lorca – Canción Novísima de los Gatos

To celebrate the unofficial World Cats’ Day here is Cancion Novisima de los Gatos by Federico Garcia Lorca, with a recital in Spanish.

The unofficial World Cats’ Day is celebrated on August 8th, so I’m sharing the original Spanish text of a poem by Federico García Lorca, Canción novísima de los gatos. I couldn’t find an English translation, so I’ll make a point of searching a library for it. The illustration is a portrait of Lorca’s friend of youth, Salvador Dali, with his pet ocelot. Read more about relationships between artists and their cats.

cancion novisima de los gatos
Salvador Dali and his pet ocelot

Canción novísima de los gatos

Mefistófeles casero
está tumbado al sol.
Es un gato elegante con gesto de león,
bien educado y bueno,
si bien algo burlón.
Es muy músico; entiende
a Debussy, más no
le gusta Beethoven.
Mi gato paseó
de noche en el teclado,
¡Oh, que satisfacción
de su alma! Debussy
fue un gato filarmónico en su vida anterior.
Este genial francés comprendió la belleza
del acorde gatuno sobre el teclado. Son
acordes modernos de agua turbia de sombra
(yo gato lo entiendo).
Irritan al burgués: ¡Admirable misión!
Francia admira a los gatos. Verlaine fue casi un gato
feo y semicatólico, huraño y juguetón,
que mayaba celeste a una luna invisible,
lamido (?) por las moscas y quemado de alcohol.
Francia quiere a los gatos como España al torero.
Como Rusia a la noche, como China al dragón.
El gato es inquietante, no es de este mundo. Tiene
el enorme prestigio de haber sido ya Dios.
¿Habéis notado cuando nos mira soñoliento?
Parece que nos dice: la vida es sucesión
de ritmos sexuales. Sexo tiene la luz,
sexo tiene la estrella, sexo tiene la flor.
Y mira derramando su alma verde en la sombra.
Nosotros vemos todos detrás al gran cabrón.
Su espíritu es andrógino de sexos ya marchitos,
languidez femenina y vibrar de varón,
un espíritu raro de inocencia y lujuria,
vejez y juventud casadas con amor.
Son Felipes segundos dogmáticos y altivos,
odian por fiel al perro, por servil al ratón,
admiten las caricias con gesto distinguido
y nos miran con aire sereno y superior.
Me parecen maestros de alta melancolía,
podrían curar tristezas de civilización.
La energía moderna, el tanque y el biplano
avivan en las almas el antiguo dolor.
La vida a cada paso refina las tristezas,
las almas cristalizan y la verdad voló,
un grano de amargura se entierra y da su espiga.
Saben esto los gatos mas bien que el sembrador.
Tienen algo de búhos y de toscas serpientes,
debieron tener alas cuando su creación.
Y hablaran de seguro con aquellos engendros
satánicos que Antonio desde su cueva vio.
Un gato enfurecido es casi Schopenhauer.
Cascarrabias horrible con cara de bribón,
pero siempre los gatos están bien educados
y se dedican graves a tumbarse en el sol.
El hombre es despreciable (dicen ellos), la muerte
llega tarde o temprano ¡Gocemos del calor!

Este gran gato mío arzobispal y bello
se duerme con la nana sepulcral del reloj.
¡Que le importan los senos (?) del negro Eclesiastés,
ni los sabios consejos del viejo Salomon?
Duerme tu, gato mío, como un dios perezoso,
mientras que yo suspiro por algo que voló.
El bello Pecopian (?) se sonríe en mi espejo,
de calavera tiene su sonrisa expresión.

Duerme tu santamente mientras toco el piano.
este monstruo con dientes de nieve y de carbón.

Y tú gato de rico, cumbre de la pereza,
entérate de que hay gatos vagabundos que son
mártires de los niños que a pedradas los matan
y mueren como Sócrates
dándoles su perdón.

¡Oh gatos estupendos, sed guasones y raros, y tumbaos panza arriba bañándoos en el sol!

Federico García Lorca (1898-1936)

More posts in Poetry.

Dali-Picasso Exhibition in Moscow (An Overview)

I’ve got a special skill: I’m excellent at visiting exhibitions on their last day. 26th of September was the last day of an exhibition I’ve longed to visit since 2020. In the top photo you see my selfie between Moliere and Honore de Balzac – by Pablo Picasso and below there are several pieces from Salvador Dali’s halls. And whereas Picasso is represented at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow, Dali’s artwork is mostly in private collections, to my knowledge, at least. To say I was thrilled to visit the exhibition of artwork of two of my favourite painters is clearly an understatement.

The Persistence of Pancakes: Artemy Lebedev Studio Revisits Salvador Dali’s Painting

A renowned Russian design studio run by Artemy Lebedev revisited the famous 1931 painting by Salvador Dali, The Persistence of Memory.

Salvador Dali, The Persistence of Memory (1931)

Dali’s work was painted during his Freudian phase, but also allegedly contained reference to Albert Einstein’s relativity theory. Even if the second argument was not quite true, the Time is clearly seen in this work as a moving substance, something not solid, and therefore, relative.

Artemy Lebedev design studio revisited the image in the context of the Pancake Week craze. So we see pancakes instead of pocket watches. Since a pancake’s substance is soft by nature, Dali’s idea becomes inverted and follows a different track, not from exactness to relativity, but from movement to immobility. Here pancakes represent a fixture that, despite its unenduring state, persists in time and in mind.

I am not sure what name the Russian designers gave to their work (the inscription on the image merely says “Happy Pancake Week”), so I thought that the paraphrase of Dali’s original image was rather fit.

Artemy Lebedev Studio’s image

 

Exhibitions Expected At the State Hermitage Museum In 2013

Perhaps there is no better way to eventually visit a city than to start learning about upcoming events. So, in a hope to finally visit St. Petersburg I’d like to post here provisional list of exhibitions I found interesting that are currently listed on the State Hermitage Museum’s website. As the museum authorities note, the titles and dates of the exhibitions may change, but we shall hope my choice will remain more or less the same.

Paul Cezanne, Card Players. From the Courtauld Institute collection, as part of the series “Masterpieces of world museums at the Hermitage
When: Feb 27 – May 26, 2013.

The Legacy of German Expressionism. From the George Economou collection
When: May 13, 2013 – Jan 20, 2014.

The Corporate Unity. The Dutch group portrait of the Golden Age from the collection of the Museum of History of Amsterdam
When: June 8 – Sept 1, 2013.

The White City. The Bauhaus architecture in Tel-Aviv
When: June 12 – Sept 15, 2013.

El Lisitsky and Ilya Kabakov
When: July 17 – Sept 15, 2013.

Wilhelm II and Anna Pavlovna. The royal luxury of the Dutch court
When: Sept 25, 2013 – Jan 12, 2014.

Fluxus. Jurgis Maciunas. Russia Atlases
When: Oct 5 – Nov 3, 2013.

Britannia silver from Queen Victoria’s time
Oct 23, 2013 – Jan 19, 2014.

Contemporary Japanese Art
Nov 9, 2013 – Feb 9, 2014

Salvador Dali and his Spanish contemporaries
Nov 23, 2013 – Feb 16, 2014

More events.

And if you are based in Australia or plan to travel there before May 2013, bear in mind that you can visit a unique exhibition of ancient artifacts from the Hermitage collection that date back to the time of Alexander the Great. “Alexander the Great: 2000 Years of Treasures” is exhibited at the Museum of Australia in Sydney until May 10, 2013. The exhibition is sponsored by The Daily Telegraph, JCDecaux, Etihad Airways, and National Geographic Channel among others.

Alexander the Great’s exhibition displays (courtesy of The Hermitage)

An Interview With the Secretary of Salvador Dali, Enrique Sabater

Until May 10, 2012 an exhibition of rarely seen artwork of Salvador Dali was exhibited in Paris. All objects on display belonged to one-time secretary of the great artist, Enrique Sabater. The video from PressTVGlobalNews is a fair introduction to the kind of artwork that went on display. And below is my translation (from French) of an interview with Mr Sabater, conducted by Nathalie d’Allincourt for L’Objet d’Art edition (April 2012).

 

In the privacy of Salvador Dali 

Nathalie d’Allincourt

A personal secterary to Salvador Dali, the Catalan Enrique Sabater lived for over ten years next to the master and his muse, Gala. After the Musee de Cadaques l’Espace Dali exhibited an anthology of 120 works that the master had given him and often dedicated: drawings, watercolours, photographs, objects…

The photos that underpin the exhibition were made throughout the years passed close to Dali. Were they intended to be art or merely a matter-of-fact? 
I adore photography that I have practised since childhood. Near Mr Dali there was no restriction, I could photograph at any moment. In 2004 I presented the scores of my photographs at the exhibition in Barcelona marking Dali’s centenary. Almost always these photos show the artist in an intimate atmosphere.

People are aware of the theatrical aspect of Dali’s personality. Was he really different in private life? 
He had two personas. When we were all three together with Gala (we had a breakfast together every morning), it was one person, absolutely normal. He was very intelligent, passionate about science and had many scientists as his friends. But when he appeared in public, he acted in a very theatrical manner, to the point of changing his voice.

How did you live all those years next to Dali? 
Every year we spent summer in Catalonia, at the house of Portlligat. Mr Dali worked in the morning and in the afternoon, after a short siesta. After 6pm he often received visits from young artists who came to show him their work. After that there were 15 days in Paris, at the hotel Meurice, then in New York where we stayed for 4 or 5 months at the hotel Saint Regis. In New York every Sunday Andy Warhol came to have a dinner with three of us. We always stayed at the same hotels, in the same rooms. Twice a year we spent a few years at the Ritz in Barcelona for familial reasons. Likewise, we visited Madrid and stayed at the Palace Hotel, to see the Prince Juan Carlos, the future king.

Did Dali visit other museums or artists of his generation? 
The master knew all the museums and collections, but he did not feel the necessity to put himself vis-a-vis the work of other artists. The only museum that we did visit was the Centre Pompidou because we collaborated with them a lot. Since our stays in Paris were short, we particularly loved visiting certain streets, like Rue Jacob. Throughout his life Dali upheld the connection with Picasso. It is often considered that the two had been enemies for political reasons: Picasso was a Communist, of course, but Dali was not at all a Fascist! They maintained the distance without ever breaking the connection: the word was sent by trumpet. Each one in their own way was acutely aware of what they had to say to another, and so they did. In April 1973 Dali was immediately informed about Picasso’s death, and we left for Mougins. Picasso treasured his trumpets, which his son Claude inherited from him.

You hold the academic sword of Dali in your possession…
Yes, he gave it to me the next day after receiving it, and this is the first time I am showing it to the public. On the sword a polished space was prepared for a gravure, a dedication created by Dali for the paper letters of Gala. The object was not leave Paris without being engraved! I am also showing a preparatory drawing.

You met Dali in 1968 during an interview and you never left until 1981. What was it that made you leave him? 
In 1972, Dali and Gala charged me with commecialisation of the master’s work. But in 1981 Gala went mad. Dali, ennerved, could no longer make enough to satisfy the enormous want of money this woman had had. Behind my back Gala began to deal with real gangsters, and the market got flooded with forged lihographs. I ended up infoming the Spanish government. A New-Yorkean solicitor of Dali came to try and explain to Gala that she needed to stop. I left, despite the master’s insisting on me staying.

Are you going to write the memoirs of this exciting time?
They have already been written, it only remains to publish them…

Translated from French by Julia Shuvalova

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