WORLD’S MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY ART MASTERS It is startling to begin the year 2015 with an international show of such repute with big names in the art world practice such like Picasso, Delacroix, Manet, Matisse, Pollock, Warhol and many more. For the first time, a collection of modern and contemporary prints or graphical works being showcased in a large scale to the Malaysian public. Our efforts in strengthening relationship and networking with international collaborators have become fruitful. MAESTROS was worked on with the purpose not to just expose the Malaysian public to the works of international art masters but also to educate on the relevancy of print artworks in the world's history of art narrative. We have discovered that the knowledge and awareness on print artworks to be regarded at par with paintings and sculptures or other plastic art are still low in Malaysia. It is also an opportunity for the public to learn on the processes as well as technique that go behind print making and realize that it involves a painstaking skill to which it is honored as one of the finest forms of art. Art awareness, appreciation and development of fine art in Malaysia are the key objectives of PETRONAS art involvement as good corporate citizens. Ultimately, PETRONAS hopes to contribute towards a contemporary and inclusive society. Since our inception in 1992, Galeri PETRONAS has worked in partnership with countries like China, Brunei, Italy, France, Finland, Indonesia, India, Germany, Japan, Australia, Beirut plus Pakistan and it is exciting to open our doors for the first time to our Spanish counterpart. Our gratitude to Mr. Fernando Diez, the Director of Arte 10 Collection for the enthusiasm and faith in touring the MAESTROS exhibition to Galeri PETRONAS and Malaysia. Last but not least, Galeri PETRONAS is dedicated to work on future collaborations with other art institutions or collectors from various other countries in sharing many other international arts and culture artifacts. As one of the forerunning and dynamic corporate galleries in Malaysia, we are a proponent and committed to impart knowledge in the arts with the intention to enrich and elevate the public to become a well-informed and cultured global society. We believe that “Art is an effort to create, beside the real world, a more humane world- Andre Maurois (French author; 1885 -1967)”. Finally, we hoped this exhibition become a communication catalyst to further bridge the commonalities amidst the diversity among not just art aficionados but the Malaysian public collectively. Rosli Abdul Rahim Director Galeri PETRONAS Galeri PETRONAS and Arte 10 Collection. MAESTROS or masters in World's Modern and Contemporary Art is brought to Malaysian spectators by Galeri PETRONAS and Arte 10 collection as an effort to foster cultural exchange, art appreciation and intercultural relationship in celebrating modern and contemporary arts and culture. This exhibition offers a visual arts feast for the general public while being open to curators, collectors and patrons alike. In addition to that, it is supported by a number of educational public and special programs. Galeri PETRONAS has hosted 40 international exhibitions in the centre of Kuala Lumpur and is pleased to showcase the collection by Arte 10, which consists of renowned art masters. It is also an opportunity to further discover the thrilling compendium of knowledge in the repertoire of original graphical works gathered by Arte 10 Collection. Arte 10 collection is an endeavor gathered by Dr. Fernando Diez, an aesthetic physician in Madrid as well as an art collector. Arte 10 collection operates a gallery near the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía and is within the vicinity of the library and other Spanish modern and contemporary art's liveliness. The gallery also hosts exhibitions, protect, document and produce literatures for more than 2,500 acquired works. The collection of Arte 10 has travelled to Sejong Art Centre and Daegu GyeongBuk Design Centre in South Korea, León, Madrid as well as Russia. It will in the future tour Iran, Turkmenistan and Samara. 7 World's Modern and Contemporary Art Masters. This exhibition showcases a collection of key graphical works, which puts together trends of modern and contemporary art within the international art landscape. There are 225 works by 76 masters, which have been selected from the Arte 10 collection. This group of masters has been selected not only for their contribution as graphical artists but also for their widespread perspective as painters or sculptors. The exhibition features a selected group of artists from the 19th century, such as Eugene Delacroix, Edouard Manet, Odilon Redon, Camille Pissarro, Maurice Utrillo, Edouard Vuillard, and Henri Fatin-Latour. Modern artists in the exhibition include Henri Matisse, Leonard Foujita, Sonia Delaunay, Marie Laurencin, Henry Moore, Guillaume Cornelis van Beverloo Corneille, Serge Poliakoff, Piere Soulages, Bram Van Velde, and Zao Wou Ki. The American post-war artists in the repertoire are Jackson Pollock, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, Robert Indiana and Sol Lewitt, while the Latin-American Artists include Roberto Matta, Wifredo Lam, Rufino Tamayo and Julio Le Parc. The key Spanish artists who represent Spanish modern and contemporary art history include Pablo Picasso, Jose Gutierrez Solana, Francisco Iturrino, Antoni Clave, Joan Miro, Antoni Tapies, Eduardo Chillida, Salvador Victoria, Eduardo Arroyo and Jaume Plensa. The 203 prints include etchings, aquatints, dry tops, xylographs, lithographs, offsets and lito offsets, silk-screen printings, mixed techniques, water-colors, installation and painting as well as 22 artists' books. If not all encompassing, this exhibition exposes a glimpse of the art world from the period of symbolism and impressionism until the modern day. All artworks are signed and numbered by the respective artists. Nevertheless, it exclude the artworks prior to 1900, in which the practice of signing was not yet well established. All of the artworks extracted from the collection of Arte 10, which consists of 2,500 titles of graphic works by 250 artists were accumulated for over the last 25 years. A good number of the artworks have been sealed by the erudite and respected dealer as well as graphical French editor; Henri M. Petiet (1894 – 1980). The end of the 18th century. At the end of the 18th century, an amount of chalcography prints were bequeathed and became a discipline in the academia. The subject matter took centre stage at most art schools where the composition of the works were studied. With the further usage of light in printing production, the romantic artists were still focused on a few fixed values and pre-established canons as foundations of their art. Although this notion marked the 18th century prints, gradually it paved the way for modern prints. The modern prints were realized to have aesthetic purposes with very different characteristics. The progress of science, industrialism and capitalism set aside the romantic ideals and instead reanimated the social function of art. The art became a reflection of the society, which modified towards modernity and towards a different way of life. The changed society is represented in the artworks and it concentrated directly at the artists. Through this manner, the romantic ideals lose its importance. The works depict metaphysical values that remained relegated in favor of a new form of realism. The costumbrist thematic manner loses meaning before a new society who claimed other values and other more immediate and diffusive mediums such as the magazine and feuilleton. This new setting changed the vision of printing scene and gave rise to a 8 new form of expression. The print evolved as a document and source of information, leaving behind the amiability of the portraits of the 18th century. Realism developed through the cartoon and became a form of social protests. The immediacy and stability qualities found in the expression of graphical art offered a novelty in which other skills could not. If we look into the realism and remonstration in the works by Delacroix or Fantin-Latour, one can observe that notions of classicism from the 18th century still persist in the composition and subject matter. This is comparable to the realism in the works of Chahine, in which he took personages to become his subjects. Artistically, the end of 18th century manifests the impressionism style. Edouard Manet, whom is considered as the “First Modern” and the last classic painter embraced the printmaking techniques and produced a number of prints. Others like Pissarro who was influenced by the lithographer Georges William Thornley, Degas, Theo Van Gogh and others were proponents who contributed to the end of drawing the definite line. The taste of outdoor compositions and the effects of light are now obtained by lithography and etchings that demonstrate clearly the contrast of brightness and darkness. The influence of the Japanese print, which became known in the west during this epoch, had a high level of influence on the impressionists. The graphical works of the impressionists were not very well known by the public due to the enormous popularity of their paintings. Nonetheless its importance is key in the development of poster art, especially in postimpressionism and the avant-garde. During this time, the freedom of expression by the artists and the emphasis on the abstract concept of art were born. The change of the century witnessed a shift of the cultural centre to Paris, and the artists, who were mainly French or European, agglutinated to the French capital, as they were conscious of this important shift. Maximilien Luce, Utrillo, Vuillard, Legrand, Matisse and Picasso were a few of them. The remnants of the impressionistic period allowed great artistic masters to evolve and the period further extended and resulted to move in parallel with other new movements.