The first half of 2011 agenda will close with a photo exhibition by Martin Parr which is brought to Albania in cooperation with the British Council in Tirana
Tirana Times
TIRANA, Feb. 3 – After the successful display of the 17th edition of the Onufri visual arts competition, the National Gallery of Arts in Tirana has announced it will stage five new exhibitions during the next five months. The first exhibition, scheduled for February 8 to 27, will bring on display works by Kosovo artist Gjelosh Gjoka which will be followed by a solo exhibition by Gazmend Leka, the winner of the “I am Art-ist” Onufri 2010.
Next April will bring another special exhibition, featuring artworks of late ethnic Albanian artists from Macedonia Adem Kastrati. The series of Albanian painters will close in May 2011 with a solo exhibition by modern painter Ali Oseku.
The first half of 2011 agenda will close with a photo exhibition by Martin Parr which is brought to Albania in cooperation with the British Council in Tirana.
2010 was a busy year for the National Arts Gallery in Tirana which also brought to Tirana international artists such as Russian-Albanian Valeri Dyrzi Tarasov, the Netherlans’ Jan Dibbets and Spain’s Antoni Clave
The culmination of the last year’s events was an exhibition featuring some of the world’s greatest visual art works for more than one month until the end of May 2010. The exhibition brought to Tirana by Italian collector Francesco Martani included works by Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Francesco Clemente, Basquiat, Chagall, Sironi etc and was displayed in the frame of the “Albania, Italy, Two Peoples, One Sea, One friendship” season of cultural events that are being held in Albania.
Apart from temporary exhibitions, the National Arts Gallery boasts a rich permanent collection.
In seven halls, the gallery displays the history of Albanian painting, dating from the end of the 19th century, a period which marks the beginning of secular painting in Albania. The earliest painting author of the National Gallery is Kol Idromeno, whose work ‘Sister Tone’ dates back to 1883.
The second hall features Realist painting and the drawing school (1930 – 1950) with well known artists such as Sadik Kaceli, Abdurrahim Buza and Gani Strazimiri.
Academic painting with historical motifs, socialist realism with its model of shaping a new human being and formalist paintings of this period are also given considerable space in the gallery premises.
Albania’s modern painting and sculpture tradition resumed in 1989 just before the collapse of the 45-year communist regime which had banned all contemporary western influences.
In 2009, and 2010, the National Gallery of Arts underwent important renovation works through a series of considerable private and public investments, which consist in a qualitative reconstruction of interior spaces to bring them closer to the original architectural project. Part of the major reconstruction of the National Gallery is also the showing of the permanent collection through a new visualizing concept aiming to a better dissemination, education and information on cultural matters for an ever increasing Albanian and foreign public.
