Case 4
- The Spoils of Travel – Guide Books
José Gudiol, The arts of Spain. London: Thames and Hudson, 1964. SPRH 709.46 GUD
Travellers inevitably collect keepsakes of their travels. Hotere was no exception. He collected guide-books, brochures on tourist hot-spots, and posters and booklets on museums and galleries visited. In 1978, he secured a Queen Elizabeth Arts Council grant that enabled him to travel to Europe. He returned to Catholic Spain, having visited there in the 1960s.
Antonio J. Oneiva, A new complete guide to the Prado Gallery. Madrid: Editorial Mayfe. S.A., 1976. SPRH 708.641 ONI
While back in Madrid, some work in the Prado prompted a biblical scrawl on the half-title of the guide, translated into English as ‘You are a brilliant form before the sons of man’ (Psalm 44.3). Barcelona offered Gaudi’s unfinished cathedral La Sagrada Familia, and the work – much admired by Hotere – of Antoni Tàpies (1923-2012), who was famous for his X-shaped crosses (see Case 5).
Antonio J. Oneiva, A new complete guide to the Prado Gallery. Madrid: Editorial Mayfe. S.A., 1976. SPRH 708.641 ONI
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![Guide to the Vatican. A visit to the Vatican Museums and Library. [Rome]: Monumenti, Musei e Gallerie Pontificie, 1973. SPRH 914.5634 GUI](https://www.reedgallery.co.nz/__data/assets/image/0006/1082778/4c.webp)
Guide to the Vatican. A visit to the Vatican Museums and Library. [Rome]: Monumenti, Musei e Gallerie Pontificie, 1973. SPRH 914.5634 GUI
In August 1962, Hotere was staying in a motor camp in Alassio, Northern Italy, just north of Monaco. From there he headed to Rome, where he visited St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City. He was so struck by Michelangelo’s Madonna della Pietà (created 1498-99), a marble sculpture depicting Christ on the lap of his mother Mary after Crucifixion, that he made a sketch of it. Other drawings were completed, some making up his ‘Woman’ series. In 1978, he returned to Rome and revisited the Basilica, this time picking up a guide-book to the Vatican. On display is the same La Pietà that captured his attention 16 years before.
Guide to the Vatican. A visit to the Vatican Museums and Library. [Rome]: Monumenti, Musei e Gallerie Pontificie, 1973. SPRH 914.5634 GUI
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The Hermitage. A stroll around the halls and galleries. St Petersburg: P-2 Art Publishers, 1999. SPRH 709.47 HER
In early January 1999 Hotere was in Saint Petersburg, formerly Leningrad and Petrograd. One place he visited was the Hermitage Museum, founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great. The holdings of this institution include prehistoric art, Egyptian and classical antiquities, Renaissance art (Titian, da Vinci, Raphael), Dutch, Flemish, English, and Russian works, neo-classical, Impressionist, and modern 19th and 20th century art (Picasso, Kandinsky, Rockwell Kent). Perhaps overawed by the numerous riches, he must have forgotten that the city’s name of St. Petersburg was restored in 1991. His note in the newly published guide reads: ‘Hotere Leningrad 22/1/99’.
The Hermitage. A stroll around the halls and galleries. St Petersburg: P-2 Art Publishers, 1999. SPRH 709.47 HER
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Seeing the Getty Center. A souvenir book. Los Angeles, California: J. Paul Getty Trust, 1997. SPRH 708.147949 SEE
In 1998 Hotere and Mary McFarlane, his future wife, visited the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. He was on a visual mission: to see Vincent van Gogh’s Irises and work out the scale of the flowers and their relationship to the viewer as observed. After only a few minutes, he said: ‘Right, we can go home’. He was tempted with other works, but he had done what he had wanted to do. Mission complete. The guide-book contains numerous images of the Getty Museum building. Largely architectural, there are very few art pieces depicted within. The note on the title-page reads: ‘R&M there 1998’.
Seeing the Getty Center. A souvenir book. Los Angeles, California: J. Paul Getty Trust, 1997. SPRH 708.147949 SEE
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