Chambord is a 500-year-old castle in the Loire Valley, South of Paris. Magic operates when a contemporary artist is permitted to use its historic walls and grandiose park for his artworks!  This spring and throughout the summer, the castle is opened for visitors to come and enjoy its premises with a touch of grace: that of the French/Argentinian artist, Pablo Reinoso, with his exhibition ’Overflow’.  

The cultural life has suffered during these years of pandemic. However, it has also permitted artists to work on projects without outer disturbances. The Loire Valley is one of France’s most frequented tourist attractions, thanks to the several well-preserved castles and its closeness to the capital.  Most castles were emptied of their furniture and artworks during the French Revolution. Maybe that’s why they’re well suited for contemporary exhibitions like this one? 

Pablo Reinoso has been keen on using the existing structures and rooms. He’s an ecologically concerned artist who works with woods – recuperated or available in abundance – and steal. For the over fifty pieces shown at Chambord, he’s used chestnut trees that grow in the vicinity and fallen mulberry branches. There are also huge charcoal paintings that ornate some of the castle’s walls and even parts of its façade where repairs are being conducted, using scaffolding. 

The castle’s masterpiece is an inner circular, intricate, double staircase, inspired by Leonard da Vinci. Without obscuring its beauty, Pablo invested it by hanging inside it, black canvas ’breathing’ cushions. Ventilating devices are placed in the cushions, making them move up and down. Similar cushions have been used in some of the castle’s smaller side rooms. The artists told us to enter the space in silence and to ’listen to the breathing’. This black cushion sculpture had something spooky over it though. His coal installation inside this dark room didn’t lift the mood either. It suggested the end of an area and the manner in which we have polluted the environment. 

There was light in the tunnel in this seeming hopelessness with his humorous wood benches that stretched out like spaghetti and his likewise perched chairs. Pablo has invested what he could in this otherwise barren castle: on the walls, the floors, and in the large fireplaces, in which he had placed wooden sculptures, resembling flames. 

’Articulations’ – sculptures made as bodily articulations and hung up or placed on the floor – made me think of Leonardo da Vinci’s fascination for the human body. They might have different meanings, such as the ingenuity of our own bodies, with all their intricate functions, that we don’t even pay attention to unless of course something gets broken and our fragility. Pablo’s works reflect the human senses: be it breathing, hearing, touching, seeing (in the dark room), moving… It may also be a reminder of our eventual decaying. ’We come from dust and to dust we shall return”.

It was nice to step out of the chilly castle and into the warm spring day in the park. Pablo’s idea seems to be that his outdoor sculptures may also be useful. Children were climbing in them and two of them are like enormous rocking chairs, quite comfortable at that. However, the one I preferred was a monumental tree in steal. Peaking inside it, I discovered a perfectly adjusted spiral, apparently also inspired by Leonardo da Vinci. 

The park is lovely to stroll around in. There’s a restaurant in the vicinity and a shop selling the castle’s own wine among others. Not far away is another castle, Cheverny, with the Swedish sculptor, Gudmar Olovson’s beautiful ’Love garden’ that is also worth the detour. The Loire Valley has much to offer and is at its best when, as in this case, it mixes history with art.

Anne Edelstam

Pablo Reinoso

Débordements

Château de Chambord

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ART HISTORY. The Luxembourg museum, close to the artists quarters of Saint Germain, in Paris, is situated in a lush park. Its opening exhibition shows women painters, a rarity in those days.

It was a big day, this 31 May 1783, when the prestigious Royal Academy of Painters welcomed a new member: the talented Adélaïde Labille-Gaillard. Soon afterwards, another woman, close to the royal family, Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun, also insisted on becoming a member. Her magnificent portrait of Marie-Antoinette, her protégée, is displayed in this intimate exhibition. 

A quota to accept only four women had been established long ago among an abundance of men. However, a few years later, this one-hundred-year-old Academy was transformed into an Institute, and women painters were accepted in greater numbers. They excelled in the art of portraits. Women could not paint nudes because, at the time, the models were exclusively males…

The relative democratization between the genders opened up doors to otherwise closed ateliers for these women painters. They were thus accepted as pupils for male teachers. It further led to free of charges, highly classified, drawing classes for the impoverished ’demoiselles’ who possessed an artistic talent. 

This short epoch was called la parenthèse enchantée – or the ’enchanted parentheses’. During this period, the art world experienced a women painters’ boom. During the 1783 painting exhibition, a commentator wrote that: ’women have truly become rivals of their male counterparts, and these shall have to deal with some real competition!’

I was surprised at the dexterity and vigour in those paintings, mostly depicting other women. Many of which were auto-portraits, often sitting painting, with their brushes and easel at hand or holding a child. They favoured intimate, domestic scenes sometimes with fun touches, like the woman who’s attaching her shoelaces. They also showed great dexterity in the ’sentimental genre’ that enhanced feelings by painting music being played for example.

However, apart from the two above-cited women painters, most of the others have been ’buried’ and forgotten in the collective memory… This exquisite, rather small, exhibition finally gives them justice.   

Anne Edelstam

Peintre Femmes, 1780 – 1830

Musée du Luxemburg, Paris 

19 May to 4 July 2021

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ART. This is a somewhat equivocal title for this spring’s exhibition of the painter Anders Zorn (1860 – 1920), showing at our National Museum in Stockholm. It’s true that he was well-known, but for some, he’s outdated. I tried to find out what such a traditional painter can offer a contemporary viewer.  

Stockholm National Museum has finally opened its doors after several months of lockdown. It wasn’t long ago that the museum closed its doors for five years of restoration. The reopening finally took place a couple of years ago, and then the museum had to close again due to the pandemic. The museum’s permanent collections are still closed, but the museum was allowed to open this exhibition under strict Corona-restrictions. 

I guess that the museum director hopes to draw many visitors to view one of Sweden’s most renowned artists. Will the public follow? Well, that remains to be seen. I was myself a bit reluctant to go and see yet another exhibition of this for a sure skilful artist but rather conservative in his way of painting.

The exhibition is huge and covers his long life exhaustively as an artist. He developed early on in his career exceptional techniques for his water-colours, oils, etchings and sculptures. Works are shown from the National museum’s own collections that I had seen before and some from the Zorn Museum in Dalecarlia. Interestingly enough, there are also paintings from private owners that have never been shown before. 

The scenery is not exceptional – rather conventional – and less interesting than the one at Petit Palais, in Paris a few years ago. However, the sober decoration at the National Museum enhances the artworks. 

The familiarity of his paintings permitted me to study his precise brush strokes; lighting inspired by Rembrandt; special body colourings and settings, as well as his exceptional rendering of water. Somebody asked me if it was photographs or paintings when I posted some exhibition pictures on the Internet. No wonder that he gained such an international renommé during his lifetime!  

The exhibition is in chronological order: starting with his watercolours. It wasn’t until 1987 that he began painting in oil as well. There are works from his many trips abroad: from Constantinople to Alhambra, St Ives, Paris, London and several portraits that he did during his no less than seven trips to the USA. 

However, it was Dalecarlia (Dalarna), his home turf, that was closest to his heart. Zorn’s paintings from everyday life there, having dressed up his muses in their traditional clothes, give us a glimpse of the lives they lived. It’s as much a delight for the eye as it gives us a very vivid historical insight into a way of living that has long passed. Hard labour, no running water, women and children washing in the lakes or basins, brewing beer or baking bread, as well as traditional dances and drunken men. I felt as if I was partaking in their daily lives. 

Stories are being told through his paintings, just as one would read in a good book. The entirety of his works makes the person behind it interesting, like a memoir in colour. The elegant portraits also tell us something about that time’s fashion, the fabrics used, the way of portraying oneself and viewing others, whether men or women.

Anders Zorn had an eye for details that indicates a man of great sensitivity. He must have been a romantic as well. His most favoured muse was his wife, Emma, that he painted in intimate and delicate scenes. They had no children, but his love for children can be sensed by his careful and tender depictions of them in several paintings – often together with their mother. The nudes are those of a sensual man’s. 

This traditional artist, who never bent for the tendencies of the moment, but continued throughout his life to paint in his own style, is still valid in our epoch. Zorn will never become boring or out-of-date, thanks to his exceptional skills and to his sensual and deep-looking eye for details. I came out of the exhibition elevated by the beauty that my eyes had been washed with during the two hours I spent with this world-renowned painter!

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ART. Museums are currently closed in Paris because of the pandemic but, since a few years, certain department stores have exhibited artists. Le Bon Marché – one of the more elegant ones – situated in the centre of Paris, has exhibited world-famous artists, such as Ai Weiwei and Joana Vasconcelos, among others.

This year, the French sculptor, Prune Nourry, has made a gigantic installation best viewed from one of Andrée Putman’s elegant escalators. This nomadic artist, since 2011 based mostly in the USA, has come back to her home country to create this sculpture, specifically for the Bon Marché.

The artist was inspired by the mythological figures of the warrior amazons who supposedly cut off one of their breasts in order to be able to use the archer better. Nourry plays with the archer’s symbols and composes an installation with a target, in the form of a breast; an arc and arrows.

However, the symbols are double as they also represent breast (the target) cancer and the struggles (arrows) women undergo to fight it. In 2016, Prune was diagnosed with breast cancer that she’d bravely overcame. This exhibition is a homage to all women, and all benefits will go to cancer research. Her many engaged works, especially to forward women causes, has had her concentrating on female bodies.

Next to the store’s exit doors, a documentary film about her work can be viewed as well. In the film, we see how Prune Nourry collaborates with artisans and constantly tries out different materials to explore new techniques. She uses science to transform it into art. The notion of equilibrium is at the centre of her preoccupation, whether biological, ethical, ecological or the body, in correlation with the disease. It’s an introspective reflection.

A gigantic arc in wood has been placed at the centre of the store next to another scene with 888 arrows pointed towards what looks like an enormous breast. From death to life, as the arrows can also be understood as a battalion of spermatozoids on their way to an ovule and life creation. That reminded me of one of Woody Allens hilarious movies when he played a spermatozoid.

So there are many ways to view this fabulous work of art. The arrows and the book ”Aux Amazones” are for sale in favor of helping women with breast cancer. If anyone is interested, you can find out more about it here.

I do think that many of us have come to realize the importance of not only of science and research but also of art, during this on-going pandemic. Engaged artists can do so much to raise peoples consciousnesses. Let us hope that this difficult experience we’re all having will eventually lead to a more empathetic and united world.

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DEMOCRACY. The book The Tribalization of Europe. A Defense of Our Liberal Values by Marlene Wind is a welcomed contribution to discussions about Europe’s future. Wind’s message is that historical lessons are important to act against opportunism and populism. 

In autumn 2018, I was riding a Uber-cab in Barcelona during my summer school participation for basic income supporters across Europe. When the driver and I rode near a demonstration asked him what was going on. The driver answered that members from “Catalan and Castellano communities” were in conflict with each other about Catalonia’s future status. 

The term “community” and the driver’s English on Urdu dialect reminded me of when I was living in India and reading about riots in Bangalore. My university colleague told me that it was about a conflict between members of  Kannada and Tamil communities. How could something like that happen in a country with enormous cultural pluralism, I was thinking at the time? Until I realised that similar things happen in Europe, including my own experience from Bosnia, when people are using or better said misusing their collective identifications. 

Terms as nation, tribe and identity politics have dominated political debates in the USA and Europe for the last five years. They especially concern phenomenas as “Brexit and Trump”. A book analysing such developments is Tribalization of Europe. A Defense of Our Liberal Values, written by political scientist Marlene Wind working at the University of Copenhagen. Her book is focusing on the Brexit process, separatism in Catalonia and the anti-democratic development in Hungary.  

Wind argues that the European Union was created as a universalist project. Partly by thoughts to unite people over national borders in Europe and partly to promote a democratic and free world. Several parts of her book remind of what among others historian Yuval Noah Harari has written that the EU is the largest multicultural experiment based on universal values.

According to Wind, nationalists and populists in Europe act against ideas as liberal-democracy by their ambitions to conduct identity control. Wind describes tribalism or tribe mentality as an organised way of proclaiming “the true” ethnic, cultural or nation-based belonging at the same time as wanting to exclude “the others” from a community. For example, in Sweden, the nationalist and radical-right Sweden Democrats’ agenda is to politically decide who and who is not a Swede. 

Another important aspect in Wind’s book is the defence of democratic constitutionalism, as the individual freedoms and rights. Wind argues that Europe’s history during the interwar period 1919-1939 shows how horrible things can get when anti-democratic, totalitarian and authoritarian actors and systems take over. According to Wind sooner or later, different decampments from constitutional democracy as the attack on the rule of law and independent judiciary lead to dictatorship and crimes against humanity. 

There are some parts of the book I wish that Wind could have explained more. For example, there is a whole chapter about how liberals have been too passive in the debate regarding populism but almost without any concrete proposals what liberals should really do.  I also wish that Wind could include some more famous references to Jürgen Habermas’s constitutional patriotism and ideas around European citizenship. 

In general, the book is an important contribution to understand better why nationalist, populist and tribalist only can damage Europe development. A Europe that can still inspire the rest of the world that supranational democracy can work. 

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ART. There’s an interesting exhibition about Sámi contemporary art in Stockholm this winter. It’s entitled Behind the corner, the wind’s yoik. We discover what that means at Sven-Harry’s art museum. By Anne Edelstam.

Luckily a few private museums have been kept open for us art-loving people this otherwise mostly locked down, gloomy winter season. Sven-Harry’s, situated in a park in central Stockholm, provides us with an unusual and utterly interesting peek into Sami culture and art world. 

Their geographical area is called Sápmi and includes Northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia. These indigenous peoples have been discredited for centuries but are finally being recognised and accepted. However, it’s rare to see their contemporary art displayed like this, representing 15 artists.    

The title of the exhibition, Behind the corner, a wind’s yoik, is a poem of Inghilda Tapio. It’s a fitting title, indeed it’s like a wind, a wind blowing in all directions, impossible to seize and difficult to describe. Like the wind, it has to be lived, to be felt. However, I will try to give you a few glimpses of my impression of this complex, beautiful and harsh reality, as it is exposed in these artworks.  

There are intimidating installations, paintings, ceramics and humoristic embroideries and photographs. It’s impossible to give them all the credit that they need. I will site a few, however: such as a colourful installation, representing Sámi women standing together in their traditional robes. It is contrasted with black fringes hung next to it, representing crows that are part of their mythology and belief in animism. 

Equally stunning is the reindeer necklace or crown, fittingly called Keep hitting our jaws, hung up on a string from the ceiling. Máret Ánne Sara is both a journalist and an artist. She denounces, with this piece, the problems encountered by the reindeer keepers, such as climate change and forced slaughter of their herds. Sámi shamanism includes a belief that spirits inhabit animals, plants and rocks, each one playing a certain role in society. Thus when the animals or nature is attacked, it’s also an assault on their religion.  

In a more humoristic tone are Britta Marakatt-Labba’s embroidered pieces. They resemble funny drawings or comic strips. She’s one of the better-known artists, and I’ve seen her works in other museums. There are also sculptures, representing fishing, woodcutting and enormous empty landscapes. On the darker side, are for example the ceramics on the upper floor, representing the times when skulls were measured to assess the “intelligence” or rather lack thereof of the indigenous peoples in Scandinavia. Finally, there is a film in the basement worth viewing and a flag-sculpture on the rooftop that won’t let you indifferent.

The exhibition is certainly interesting and unusual. However as often is the case with contemporary art, it’s definitely worth to view it with a guided tour and possibly to read a bit beforehand of Sápmi and Sami culture in general, to grasp the works fully. 

I did miss some yoik, though. It would have been nice to hear it in the background at least. There are several very good contemporary Sámi musicians that could have added a musical touch to the exhibition that is sometimes quite destabilising, as it rightly should be. 

Truth is seldom like a fairy-tale, and the truth of how we have treated the indigenous peoples of the North is definitely not a rosy one! It needs to be exposed and rectified. It’s only then that justice and righteousness can be attained. This is a stepping stone in the right direction. I’m looking forward to more of its kind in the future.

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OPENNESS. In his recent book Open – The Story of Human Progress, liberal intellectual Johan Norberg writes about the importance of openness concerning our behaviours and institutions. One of the books main messages is that through history, the most successful civilisations and polities have been based on willingness to cooperate, tolerate and include more individuals and ideas. The following review takes a more in-depth focus on books content about globalisation. 

Open- The Story of Human Progress

Johan Norberg

Atlantic Books

Globalisation is often defined in economic terms, such as free and higher levels of economic and technological flows. At the same time, globalisation is not only about the economy since the term globalisation is including political, ecological and cultural aspects as well. When reading the history of globalisation, one can often read about the Roman Empire or about trade between Europe, Asia and Africa during the 19th century as examples of “early globalisation”. 

Johan Norberg’s latest book Open- The Story of Human Progress comprehends the parallels and similarities between modern global development and older historical periods such as antiquity. Norberg’s main point is that during our human history, different civilisations, empires, and polities have collapsed as a result of closeness, protectionism, political and religious dogma. The author emphasises on reflections and knowledge by learning from earlier mistakes and to understand modern globalisation through facts and research. 

Firstly, Norberg argues that humans are traders by nature. Historically, such as during “hunters and gathers” periods, humans have been engaged in trade and exchange of goods, services, skills, experiences and ideas. Such behaviours have made Homo Sapiens successful comparing to other animals and similar creatures such as Neandertals. Today, millions of humans can do things that used to be reserved for smaller groups of people and wealthier individuals as when it comes to travelling, usage of Internet and consumption of former luxuries goods. 

The importance of globalisation in Norberg’s writing is also touching the current problem with the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite the political rhetoric and popular demands for border closures, self-sufficiency and protectionism, Norberg argues that globalisation, technology and open research are among the key reasons why the current pandemic is handled faster than any other before. For example, the medical company Pfizer that declined US-government subsidies has already made an efficient vaccine in cooperation with a German-based company called BioNTech, founded by a Turkish immigrant, that is going to be produced in China. 

When it comes to “backlash against globalisation” via processes as “Brexit and Trump” Norberg argues that there is a paradox today where nationalists are inspiring each other and even cooperating on a global scale, including money from Vladimir Putin’s regime in Russia. This backlash has been based on several transnational and global developments such as the financial crisis 2008-09 and refugee crisis during 2015-16. However, Norberg’s message is that humanity cannot live and flourish without openness as via trade and common institutions and that nationalist politics will instead result in more conflicts, poverty and other problems. 

As a reader one can find several examples of what could be described as a criticism of state-centric and isolationist thinking. For instance, trade “imbalances” and economic inequality exist within countries, regions and cities while protectionist rhetoric about tariffs, imports and standards is applied concerning national levels. Another example is the role of big cities as New York, Berlin and Tokyo, which are seen among the driving forces of global interactions and flow. For such reasons, Norberg also advocates global free movement for people as a way to integrate the global economy. 

Last but not least, as mentioned earlier Norberg’s book is based on historical reflections and examples from our past. An example of how humans do create not only progress but also create destruction are presented in writings about Ming dynasty in China famous for turning its back on innovation, trade and tolerance. As Norbergs argues, destruction of societies and resistance to openness is often based on authoritarian behaviours and politics of fear that influence on humans as during periods of crisis, uncertainty and pessimist storytelling. 

Despite all negative communication about globalisation during the latest years, Norberg’s writings offer new hopes and ideas about our future. Including the importance of learning from history and understanding our global civilisation. The book finishes with strong messaging such as that we are not living in a world of the zero-sum game but in a world of the plus-sum game where opneess is our strength if we wish to see a more peaceful, sustainable and wealthier world. 

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CULTURE. Luxes, this winter’s exhibition at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, in Paris, isn’t only about travels though. It explores perceptions of luxury throughout the ages and from all corners of the world.

During this pandemic, it felt like a great luxury to be able to visit such a fabulous exhibition. For a short while, I dreamed of far-away ages and places, of palaces and festivities, of dazzling dresses and Louis Vuitton cases. I forgot all about facemasks, restrictions and diseases.  

The exhibition is organised in chronological order, showing some 100 objects. It starts with ancient objects from Egypt, Iran and Greece; the oldest piece being a zoomorphic hedgehog vase from approximately 3500 – 3100 BC. These artefacts illustrate the archaeological perspective of luxury and show that man has always been more than a mere “assembly of atoms”. 

The Romans inserted the concept of otium, leisure, in the form of articles, such as a beautiful deck of cards, a backgammon board and decorated manuscripts that are displayed. The 16th and 17th centuries are represented with mainly French court objects in silver and gold. However, from the same era, I preferred the Japanese art of kintsugi, broken ceramics repaired with gold leaf, and the Chinese pagoda barometer-thermometer. 

A great novelty in this magnificent museum is the opening up of a room that’s been closed to the visitors: the Art Nouveau wooden-panelled Salon 1900, designed for the 1900 Universal Exhibition. In its footsteps followed fashion houses, with dresses and jewellery from Dior, Chanel, Hermès and Louis Vuitton, just to mention a few. 

The exhibition finishes with contemporary luxury items, clothes and designed furniture. That luxury is seemingly determined by a logo or a brand name in our modern world is obvious when one remembers the queues of tourists outside some of Paris most fashionable houses. 

Luxes offers an ancient as well as contemporary context to understand what makes luxury one of the most singular and symbolic features of civilizations. Paradoxically it also fits these strange times we live in now when mass-tourism is but a memory and travel has once again become a luxury only the very few can afford. 

Time will tell if there will be a permanent shift of perspective that some long for or if this period will come and go and things will return to what they were before Corona. However, the human taste for beauty and luxury will surely prevail throughout the ages. It seems to have been engraved in our genes, as is pointed out in this fabulous exhibition.

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From Kino-e-no-komatsu Collection, 1826. Translation of the inscription by: James Heaton and Toyoshima Mizuho. Published in the Kyoto Journal, No. 18, 1992

STORY. Japan closed its borders to the world for 250 years, between 1603 and 1853. No one, foreign or Japanese, could enter or leave Japan under pain of death. All European foreigners were expelled from Japan.

Autarchy, or the discreet charm of autonomy, generated unity and interior stability and a time of everlasting splendour. They learned, like the anchorites or hermits, from their inner life. I have heard it said that the long confinement and the isolated life turned the Japanese into a kind of extraterrestrials.

Agriculture, technology and communications improved. A diverse and original urban culture flourished and contributed to a new artistic pluralism. The relationship between painting, poetry and calligraphy was characteristic of artistic expression in Japan. The development of polychrome woodblock prints produced cheaply and in large quantities made possible the production and consumption of art on a scale previously unknown in Japan.

One of the best-known artists of the time is the teacher Katsushika Hokusai (1760 -1849). He was born in Edo (present Tokyo). One of his most recognised woodblock prints is the explicitly erotic woodcut known as ‘The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife’ (in Japanese ‘Tako to ama’, ‘The Octopus and the Girl Diver’ ).

The image has mistakenly been interpreted as representing a rape with a diabolical or terrifying meaning according to a folk tradition of monsters, in a country that feeds on fish and shellfish. They have not read the text included in the work.

The original Japanese text arranged by Hokusai in the space around the three interlocking bodies says something eloquently different and more blissful. The creator’s intentions had creative bases. The work is parodic and imaginative, like all great works are, almost like an erotic comic.

What is it?

It is an octopus performing cunnilingus on a beautiful woman while another sea creature kisses her while introducing its beak into her mouth and caressing her nipple. The play is a frenzy of imagination and eroticism between a woman and her slimy lovers as they talk joyously.

What do they say?

Listen to the lust:

OCTOPUS MAXIMUS: My wish comes true at last, this day of days; finally I have you in my grasp! Your ‘bobo’ is ripe and full, how wonderful! Superior to all others! To suck and suck and suck some more. After we do it masterfully, I’ll guide you to the Dragon Palace of the Sea God and envelope you. “Zuu sufu sufu chyu chyu chyu tsu zuu fufufuuu…”

MAIDEN: You hateful octopus! Your sucking at the mouth of my womb makes me gasp for breath! Aah! yes… it’s… there!!! With the sucker, the
sucker!! Inside, squiggle, squiggle, oooh! Oooh, good, oooh good! There,
there! Theeeeere! Goood! Whew! Aah! Good, good, aaaaaaaaaah! Not yet! Until now, it was I that men called an octopus! An octopus! Ooh! Whew! How are you able…!? Ooh! ‘yoyoyooh, saa… hicha hicha gucha gucha, yuchyuu chyu guzu guzu suu suuu….’

OCTOPUS MAXIMUS: All eight limbs to intertwine with!! How do you like it this way? Ah, look! The inside has swollen, moistened by the warm waters of lust. “Nura nura doku doku doku…”

MAIDEN: Yes, it tingles now; soon, there will be no sensation at all left in my hips. Ooooooh! Boundaries and borders gone! I ‘ve vanished….!!!!!!

OCTOPUS MINIMUM: After daddy finishes, I too want to rub and rub my suckers at the ridge of your furry place until you disappear. Then I’ll suck some more, “chyu chyu…”

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LIFE. The legend says that Gregorio Fuentes is the alter ego of the old Santiago, from the novel “The Old Man and The Sea”, that he has delivered version-myths: once they were navigating through Pinar del Río and they saw an old boat with an elder and a boy.

The elder was fighting with a swordfish bigger than his boat. They approached to help him. As they approached, the old man started yelling: “American, son of a bitch, get out here”. Hemingway told him:” don’t mind him”. When they were away, he said: “I am going to write a book about this story”.

Everything could be doubted. But, what we cannot doubt in is that there in Cojimar, between fishers, was spawned “The Old Man and The Sea”. We must also believe in the legend, that he wrote it, as usual, standing up and in his portable Royal typewriter.

The last time Gregorio saw Hemingway in 1960, he told him: “take care of Pilar as you have been doing.” Then he came back to his country and the next year he committed suicide. That it was a case of suicide, for respect to the dead, we cannot doubt. Neither I hesitate to believe that the writer left the yacht El Pilar to Gregorio in his will. I think it was an act of brotherhood.

Gregorio Fuentes has said too that he named the novel. Hemingway would have asked him: “What title should I give it, Gregorio?” And he answered: “haven’t we met an elder? And wasn’t he in the middle of the sea? So, there you have the name”.

Everything could be doubted, but I don’t have any doubt that the old Gregorio knew Hemingway better than his 4 wives. In the 1950s,  Hemingway was a star. But his works were suffering the sourness of the critic. His editor returned him some manuscript because it was not publishable. But he liked the story about an old Cuban man and his dramatic story, 84 days in the sea obsessed with catching a swordfish.

In 1952 in Life magazine, The Old Man and The Sea was published. It was a success. Critics were talking about a classic then. The Old Man and The Sea won Pulitzer Prize. In 1954, Hemingway won Nobel Prize. That distinction was dedicated to the fishers, and he deposited the medal before the Virgin of Charity of The Copper, Catholic Patron of Cuba.

The last time Gregorio saw Hemingway in 1960, he told him: “take care of Pilar as you have been doing.” Then he came back to his country and the next year he committed suicide. That it was a case of suicide, for respect to the dead, we cannot doubt. Neither I hesitate to believe that the writer left the yacht El Pilar to Gregorio in his will. I think it was an act of brotherhood.

But Gregorio could not guarantee the yacht security. He says that he talked to Fidel Castro when he went to visit it. The truth is that shortly the Comandante sent a crane and a van, took it away. The ship where he caught needlefish and “hunted” German submarines along with Gregorio Fuentes sits now at the Vigia Ranch, in its yard, between ferns, mango trees, and the sons of his cats.

That is the truth.

(Translated by: Fernanda Manzano and Claudia Pérez)

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LIFE. “Like hundreds of visitors, I look out over the mighty ruin city of Machu Picchu in Peru. Below is the winding river Urubamba or Willcamayu, which in Quechua means “the sun’s river”. I sigh with amazement, as do hundreds of hundreds of tourists every day, at the sight of these high mountains and the most famous creation of Inca culture.

Although it is not so easy to get here, the number of tourists increases every year. In an hour and a half, a bus takes us early in the morning from Cusco to Ollantaytambo, where a train awaits to take us to Aguas Calientes, a tourist town among green mountains. From there, a bus takes us along a winding mountain road 700 meters up to the Machu Pichu entrance.”

In October 1943, poet Pablo Neruda was said to have visited Machu Picchu. According to him, the visit came to be a magical revelation that transformed him as a human and as a poet. In 1945, he published one of his best-known poems, Alturas de Macchu Picchu (“Machu Picchu’s Heights”).

How could Pablo Neruda get to the city of Machu Picchu, is a question that is asked spontaneously? Luis Nieto Degregori, one of the more critical writers in Cusco, has researched the story Pablo Neruda’s visit to Machu Picchu. His father, Luis Nieto Miranda, met Neruda in Cusco in 1943.

In a 2004 chronicle entitled “Neruda in Machu Picchu,” Luis Nieto Degregori claims that Neruda arrived in Cusco by train on the afternoon of October 26. With him was his wife Delia del Carril, the Peruvian writer Esteban Pavletich, as well as Uriel Garcia, writer and senator for Cusco.

Cusco, situated at 3,500 meters above sea level, was not the tourist Mecca of today. The city had only about 45,000 inhabitants, most of whom spoke Quechua that came to the Plaza de Armas chewing on coca leaves with their hats, colourful ponchos and llamas to sell agricultural products and handicrafts.

Cusco’s mayor appointed Neruda, the guest of honour in the city. During the visit, Neruda was hailed during a ceremony in Cusco’s theatre in the presence of representatives of cultural organisations, artists and workers from the area. Luis Nieto Miranda provided the welcome speech.

The Inca trail was an access road. Everyone who has passed it certifies that it is one of the most challenging paths on earth. The four-mile trail runs along steep mountain paths. The precolonial trail with high stone steps is maintained today by the guides. There are several archaeological centres and tunnels in the mountain. It takes four days and three nights to arrive, and you pass an altitude of 4,200 meters above sea level in cold air.

Neruda reads some of the poems. On All Saints’ Day, November 1, Neruda and his wife boarded the train to continue their journey to Chile. At the station, delegations from cultural organisations and trade unions dismissed them. Nieto Digregori claims that the local press did not inform about the poet’s visit to Machu Picchu. That trip must have taken place between Wednesday, October 27 and Saturday, October 30, 1943.

“On inaccessible paths and on ridge ridges, we came up to the lost city: Machu Picchu.” (Neruda, Condé Sur Iton, January 1972). “We got there on horseback. At that time, there was no road. From above, I could see the old stone buildings, surrounded by the high, green mountains of the Andes ”(Neruda, I confess I lived: memories, 1975).
Esteban Pavletich (1906-1981), a Peruvian writer, organised Neruda’s trip to Machu Picchu. Pavletich was 37 years old at this time and had the experience of climbing mountains after joining César Sandinos and Farabundo Martí’s guerrillas in Nicaragua in the late 1920s.

The mystery remains. How did Pablo Neruda come up to Machu Picchu? One way to get to Machu Picchu was via Aguas Calientes, where the train has been going since 1934. From there, the trip went up on foot or on horseback. That was probably the road Neruda took. But it was not until 1948 that the winding road from Aguas Calientes was opened up to Machu Picchu, the so-called Hiram Bingham’s road. And it was not until 1950 that Machu Picchu was opened to tourists.

The Inca trail was an access road. Everyone who has passed it certifies that it is one of the most challenging paths on earth. The four-mile trail runs along steep mountain paths. The precolonial trail with high stone steps is maintained today by the guides. There are several archaeological centres and tunnels in the mountain. It takes four days and three nights to arrive, and you pass an altitude of 4,200 meters above sea level in cold air.

This is heaven. Altitude sickness can cause headaches, dizziness, lack of appetite and difficulty sleeping and can have complicated consequences. You have to prepare physically, and it is important to drink a lot of tea of coca leaves. It is an adventurous route. The day we visited Machu Picchu it started to rain.

We took the bus down to Aguas Calientes, and before we drank a Pisco Sour, it started raining with lightning and thunderous thunder. From the terrace of the restaurant, we saw how American, German, Italian, French and Spanish tourists continued to pour into Machu Picchu. No one goes astray anymore; everyone is well informed with the help of map and GPS in their iPhones. All are equipped with rain cover, hat and boots.

The journey to Macchu Picchu is still an unpredictable adventure to this day, also for well-trained tourists who travel a safer route than the Inca Trail. Pablo Neruda was not an Indiana Jones. Neruda was an urban bohemian dandy. He wasn´t a rock climber.
Could Neruda really have made it to Machu Picchu during a four-day ride? I haven’t been able to confirm that.

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LIFE. On Sunday, 25 April 1965, Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges, a 66-year-old, got off a plane at Lima’s international airport. He was accompanied by his student, the educated, young and beautiful María Esther Vázquez, 27. They stayed at Hotel Bolivar, Plaza San Martín, in the historic centre of Lima.

On Monday Borges gave a press conference. He admitted that he knew little about Peruvian literature. In the traditional Café de Los Huérfanos, which still exists and where the speciality is sweet anise bread, Borges had a coffee with numerous writers. Then he visited the ‘Gold of Peru’ exhibition at the Museum of Art on the Paseo Colón.

The following morning Borges spoke at the National University about ‘The Metaphor’, one of his favourite subjects.  On Wednesday, 28 April, Borges and María Esther Vásquez travelled by plane to Cusco. In Cusco, he was taken to see the Stone of the Twelve Angles on Calle Hatunrumiyoq. The stone is a cultural heritage of Peru – the base previously held the palace of Inca Roca and now supports the Archbishop’s Palace.

From Cusco, they travelled on the small train to Aguas Calientes and then by bus to the terraces of Machu Picchu. Borges, erect, almost blind but active, swaying like a wild boar and leaning on his bamboo stick, approached the terraces as María Esther was telling him what she saw. They took the classic photo with the citadel behind them.

Jorge Luis Borges was dressed in a khaki suit. María Kodama wore a two-piece suit. At the airport, he was received by a group of students as if he were a Beatle. They settled in Cesar’s hotel in Miraflores. Borges gave numerous interviews at honorary dinners with writers and finally at critical academic events, such as the reception of the Honoris Causa Doctorate from the rector of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, José Tola Pasquel.

Maybe at that moment, Borges understood that Machu Picchu had nothing to do with him. Alternatively, perhaps he imagined it as a maze of stones, a large circular space where a lion and his hunter were hopelessly dead. María Esther Vásquez explained later:

‘Borges could be moved by the sound of a verse or the poetic cadence of a phrase, but the feeling of the terraces of the pre-Columbian past, so close to the sky, did not stir his aesthetic passion. I never saw him more politely bored.’

The ruins of Machu Picchu did not dazzle him. On Friday, 30 April 1965, Borges left Peru. He would not remember those five days, but he went back. On 21 November 1978, the Argentine writer landed in Lima again. By now he was 79 years old and accompanied by his friend and personal assistant, María Kodama. She was 41 years old but had the face of a teenager.

Jorge Luis Borges was dressed in a khaki suit. María Kodama wore a two-piece suit. At the airport, he was received by a group of students as if he were a Beatle. They settled in Cesar’s hotel in Miraflores. Borges gave numerous interviews at honorary dinners with writers and finally at critical academic events, such as the reception of the Honoris Causa Doctorate from the rector of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, José Tola Pasquel.

On Friday, 24 November, they flew to Cusco. If Borges did not like Machu Picchu, why would he return? Well, he liked paradoxes. In Lima, Peruvian writer and journalist Alfredo Barnechea asked Borges a precise question:

‘Why do you go to Machu Picchu?’

Borges responded politely:

‘There are two reasons. First, I want to see Cusco again, I know how much it impressed me, and I know that now, although I cannot see it, I will believe to see it. And then I want María Kodama to see Machu Picchu.’

Borges arrived in the town of Aguas Calientes affected by altitude sickness, which is not unusual for a 79-year-old man. The lack of air affected him. He got on the bus that climbed the hill to the sanctuary. The entrance to the ruins was full of tourists waiting for their turn to enter Machu Picchu.

In 1946 the first hotel was created there. In the hotel lobby, the pale Borges sat silently and motionless in an armchair, drinking coca tea under the supervision of María Kodama. Borges was not impressed. Back in Cusco, he got excited about the history of an old house, a relic. He visited Casa Cabrera, a pre-Columbian art museum, near the Plaza de Armas. Borges mentioned that Cabrera was one of his ancestors. The Spanish conqueror Jerónimo de Cabrera (1528-1574) had lived in Cusco, and his house is a museum today. Cabrera left Cusco and founded the city of Córdoba in Argentina.

Borges’s genius was a little petulant. In Cusco, Borges’s rancid soul appeared as a ghost, to vindicate supposed old kinships with Jerónimo de Cabrera. This is what Borges said:

‘Jerónimo de Cabrera was one of the thousands of my ancestors. The Peruvians took me to their house in Cusco. It was strange for me to think that from that house, Jerome had left Cusco, never to return.’

On the morning of Sunday, 26 November, he flew to Buenos Aires. In 1986 Borges married María Kodama in Geneva and died two months later.

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