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| Louise Bourgeois, CROUCHING SPIDER, 2003 |
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| Ai Weiwei installation at Chateau La Coste |
Set 16 km north of Aix-en-Provence amid olive groves and
vineyards, Château La Coste boasts an impressive list of architectural
structures designed by Pritzker Prize-winners such as Jean Nouvel (the winery),
Tadao Ando (an art center), and Frank Gehry (music pavilion), along with works
from the who’s who of contemporary art (Tracey Emin, Richard Serra, Sean
Scully, to name a few).
The project is the brainchild of Irish businessman Paddy
McKillen purchased the estate in 2002 and set to transform it as a 250ha
organic winery that would also be an art destination in its own right.
This art and architecture experience has been open to the
public since 2011. “Some people come to taste wine and discover art, others
come to visit the art and discover wine. Many visit the domain simply because
they have heard it is a beautiful destination with a variety of activities.
However, one thing is for certain, there is a certain magic about the natural
environment here that feeds into the wine,” notes Daniel Kennedy, the manager
of the Art and Architecture project at Château La Coste.
Kennedy says about 95% of the projects are made in response
to a specific site, but adds “even those placed after the death of an artist
are very carefully considered. For the Alexander Calder, Mr. McKillen consulted
the artist’s grandson, Sandy Rowler, and the architect Tadao Ando about the
placement. For the Jean Prouvé houses, the late architect’s grandson, Nicolas
Prouvé collaborated on their restoration and placement.”
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| Alexandre Calder, SMALL CRINKLY , 1976 |
Most of the artists spend a long time choosing a location on
the property. Andy Goldsworthy spent a month there making ephemeral works
before he decided on his permanent Oak Room project: a net-like chamber dug
into the earth and lined with woven oak branches, while Lee Ufan spent hours
walking in the woods before deciding on a location for his House of Air – “the
proximity to the vines, the view of the Alps, and the tranquility of the site
seemed to especially appeal to him,” says Kennedy.
“It always feels more special when an artist responds to the
environment rather than placing an acquisition. The other aspect is that
permanent, in-situ works are here forever. They would be impossible to
displace, physically or conceptually,” Kennedy adds.
David Elswood, International Director of Wine at Christie’s,
says art and wine are often found together, sometimes on a very dramatic scale
and other times in more subtle and low key ways. He notes “the cultural
sensitivities needed for the full appreciation of both art and wine clearly
have many connections relating to tradition and history alongside the more
obvious sensory areas and the two passions complement each other so well."
The relationship between the two has been long established.
Back in the 1970s, Robert Mondavi and his wife, Margrit Biever, were already
placing sculptures by Beniamino Bufano through their Napa Valley winery at a
time when there were few visitors to the wine region. And while it started
modestly with Sunday art shows under the arches, the Robert Mondavi Winery has
developed a full Wine, Food & the Arts calendar that includes a popular
summer music festival, which has featured artists like Ella Fitzgerald and Tony
Bennett, a festival of winter classical concerts, and a series of rotating art
exhibits in the Vineyard Room has featured Richard Diebenkorn, Wayne Thiebaud,
and Nathan Oliveira as well as the work of less well known artists.
A tour of Napa Valley today offers an opportunity to see
some very significant artworks. Just 4.2 miles away from the Mondavi estate,
Hall St. Helena (and its nearby sister) Hall Rutherford offer the opportunity
to view works by internationally acclaimed artists such as François-Xavier
Lalanne, Jaume Plensa, Jim Campbell and Nick Cave, while 19 miles in the
opposite direction, visitors can see the Hess Art Collection, an impressive
collection acquired over five decades by Swiss businessman Donald Hess, who
focused on a limited number of artists with whom he had a personal
relationship, including Anselm Kiefer, Andy Goldsworthy, and Francis Bacon.
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| The Hess Art Museum in Napa, California, houses the Hess Art Collection, which features work by Anselm Kiefer, Gerhard Richter, and Francis Bacon. Photograph: Olaf Nagel |
Another of Hess’ vineyards, this time in Argentina, is
dedicated to the work of James Turrell, the celebrated American light artist.
At 7,218 feet above sea level, the Bodega Colomé vine are some of the highest
in the world, affording visitors breathtaking views of the Andean highlands.
Myrtha Steiner, curator of the Hess Art Collection, says
Colomé is the perfect place for this museum as “there is no light pollution
which could disturb the appearance of the light-installations. It makes the
visit a unique experience, a ‘pure’ experience, if I may say so.”
Opened in 2009, the 18,084 square-foot museum is based on a
plan created by Turrell himself and features nine of his light installations
that represent five decades of his practice. It includes Spread (2003), a
4,000-square-foot walk-in environment of blue light, as well as Unseen Blue
(2002), the world’s largest Skyspace which surrounds an interior courtyard and
reaches its greatest intensity at sunrise and sunset.
Steiner says the artist carefully “choreographed” how
visitors would walk through the various colors of his work: “For Turrell, it is
crucial that you start with green, followed by purple, that you first see the
glaring light of Stufe (1967), before you enter the darkest piece Slant Range
(1989).”
Presenting artworks in a vineyard offers lesser-known
artists a different route to the traditional galleries to reach new collectors.
For Australian sculptor Ben Carroll, who participated in the Sculpture Prize
awarded each year by the Montalto Vineyard in Victoria, Australia, he found it
carries a lot of prestige for sculptors: “Once I was aware of how much
sculpture collectors focus on that annual collection of 25 to 28 works, I
wanted to be part of it.”
Having enter the competition 5 times, the artist finally won
the top price this year for his work The Bush of Ghosts especially created for
the Montalto vineyard. “Having spent a lot of time installing and de-installing
my works there I have spoken to hundreds of people who have come to the
vineyard purely because of the sculpture collection,” he notes.
First launched in 2003, the prize provides an opportunity
for the Williams family, owners of the vineyard, to present an annual
exhibition to draw visitors, while also adding to its permanent collection that
now includes 25 sculptors. “We wanted to encourage visitors to explore the property
and we felt that sculpture would interact with the beauty of the setting.
Certainly the beauty of the vine is a gorgeous backdrop to sculpture. We do get
some people who come for the art experience who may not have otherwise visited,
but for many it is the complete experience,” says Heidi Williams.
Another vineyard which has been adding to its art collection
every year is Château Smith Haut Lafitte, one of the oldest wine properties in
Bordeaux. Owner Florence Cathiard and her husband Daniel acquired their first
piece, a large bronze by Barry Flanagan in 1995 to celebrate their first great
vintage.
Since then the couple has acquired 23 artworks, one for each
harvest, including works by Cesar, Wang Du, Jim Dine and Ernesto Neto that are
now spread around the chateau’s ground and vineyard, but Cathiard says
Flanagan’s bronze remains one of the couple’s favorites.
Watching over the old vines in front of the chateau, the
giant leaping hare is an indirect tribute to Bacchus, the Roman God of
winemaking. “We loved Barry Flanagan's hares are humanoids, as well as a
research on the equilibrium. The hare is also the animal of Dionysus and
Bacchus, they are often represented with a (grape) cluster in the mouth. Hares
are very important for winemakers: they protect the vineyard from rabbits,
which are the scourge of a vineyard!,” she says.
AS WRITTEN FOR Christie's International Real Estate magazine (June - August 2017 edition)