“I always considered my style as ethnic. In Belgium, in one of my first exhibitions, the owner of the gallery told me after a week that surrounded by my paintings she felt a positive energy emanating from my paintings. In continuous company with my works, she felt better, so I was convinced that my works were shamanic,” the artist confessed. Cristina Funes-Noppen.
In it Vitriol Space Art in Expansion of Marco Antonio Arslanianstarting this week, the exhibition that brings together the works of the artist was presented Maria Noppen de Matteishis daughter Cristina Funes-Noppen and the paintings created together. An unprecedented meeting in the country, in which the two creators, mother and daughter, connect with their paintings face to face, even sharing the authorial fusion in some pieces exhibited in the same room. The inauguration included words from the national deputy Fernando Iglesias, who visited the museum dedicated to Maria Noppen de Matteis in Italy and had the privilege of meeting her, along with the Belgian ambassador HE Karl Dhaene.
“The bond with my mother was very close, of complicity and complementarity. As a child, when my mother went to stage sets on television from time to time, I accompanied her. The same for her exhibitions and I also saw her paint,” Funes-Noppen recalled and added: “The decision to complete her unfinished works was never discussed with my mother. She passed away in 2013 and it was only 3 years ago that I thought it would have been a shame to leave all these works unfinished. Of course my style and my techniques are very different but I think my mother would have liked to know that I finished them, I also see it as a tribute to her memory.”
Maria Noppen de Matteis (1921-2013) was a prominent artist born in Tiggiano, Italy. After her marriage to Herman Noppen, she obtained Belgian nationality. He studied scenography at the prestigious Brera Academyworked in Il Piccolo Teatro di Milano and later in Cinecitta. During the 1950s, she made history by becoming the first set decorator for Flemish Belgian television. His pictorial works respond to the pure Belgian tradition of surrealism and symbolism, inaugurated by creators such as Khnopff, Dormont, Magritte and Delvaux.
Many of his works are part of private collections and internationally renowned museums. In recognition of his legacy, a museum in southern Italy is dedicated exclusively to his art, and as of this year (2024), a square in his hometown of Tiggiano bears his name. “His paintings are painted with the tempera technique. Egg paintings that Giotto had popularized some centuries ago. It is a very difficult technique. Rare are the artists who use it. No errors can be corrected unlike other oil and acrylic painting techniques. This made all his thoughts, his emotions, under control, absorbed in his work. His subconscious was expressed in his works, there are wounds in almost all of his drawings and paintings,” explained his daughter.
Your daughter, Cristina Funes-Noppenhas followed a brilliant career as a writer, painter and diplomat. In the artistic field, his style is characterized by a strong ethnic and shamanic influence. This year, he has held exhibitions in Italy and Belgium. “Last year I had an exhibition in Paris and the lama Matthieu Ricard, very close to the dalai lama and a man of very deep spirituality, inaugurated my exhibition. He also told me that my paintings emanate positive waves and that they are shamanic. So now I believe it. I hope it is like that. Defining my style:ethnic-shamanic”, highlighted the painter who was influenced by the culture of the Bambaras.
Shamanism is an ancient practice that is based on the belief that invisible spirits and forces dominate the visible world and affect the lives of humans. The so-called “shamans” are people who are considered endowed with supernatural powers and who act as intermediaries between the spiritual world and the real world. Although many converted to Islam, most Bambara maintained their traditional religion based on ancestor worship. They worship Ngala (sometimes called Bemba) a creator god and several minor gods related to air, fire, water and earth
“As the daughter of a diplomat, and a diplomat myself, I have lived in several countries with very different cultures. Clearly, these influenced my art as well, particularly the Bambaras and the Dogon of Mali They have inspired my work. Not only I was sensitive to the artistic expression of these two ethnic groups. Picasso and Giacometti, the sculptor, was inspired by the Bambaras. The national museum of Bamako “It exhibits sculptures that look like two drops of water to Giacometti’s sculptures,” explained the former Special Commissioner for Development in Europe and former ambassador to various countries, including Argentina.
Curiously, the illustrious painter Paolo de Matteis of the 17th century, one of the favorite artists of the House of Habsburg and whose works are found in the Prado Museum in Madrid, he is the maternal ancestor of the family. Probably, genetics and inheritance in the world of painting were transferred from a very young age. About this, Funes Noppen recalled: “When I was 4 and a half years old in Italy at my grandparents’ house, everyone took a nap, but I didn’t. I took all my brushes and tubes of paint and with great enthusiasm I decorated the walls of my grandparents’ living room.”
“The exhibition by María Noppen de Matteis and Cristina Funes-Noppen is wonderful. The exhibition at Vitriol brings together works by María Noppen de Matteis, a pioneer of Belgian surrealism, and her daughter Cristina Funes Noppen, in a unique fusion of two generations. Iconic works , artistic collaboration and tribute to an incomparable legacy. Bravo!” he congratulated Amalia Amoedogranddaughter of Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat, prominent patron and collector.
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