The University of Valencia has opened at the Botanical Garden the exhibition ‘Horts de tarongers. Visions cultural de un paisatge’. Curated by Adrià Besó, this exhibition aims to show how different artistic expressions have captured the landscape of the orange tree, through numerous photographs from public and private collections and audiovisual material.
According to Besó, professor of the University of Valencia, “is not an exhibition about oranges or about the orange tree, but on the views of the orange tree landscape by the different forms of artistic expression. A new landscape based on the valencian cultural tradition of the orchard-garden, which transformed dry lands next to the littoral into veritable gardens. This is an illustrative testimony of that needed transformation of landscapes when economical cycles finished has not always mean its destruction or urbanization, if not that it can give amazing results and of a great aesthetic quality, as occurred one hundred years ago with the orchards of orange trees.
This exhibition, which can be visited until 19 March at the Botanical Garden of the University of Valencia, invites to reflect on landscape, our landscape, the orange tree. And that also is affected by the economic crisis and which transformed and changed it, with the impact that this fact has and will have with the world view and perception of Valencian culture, even taking into account that the image of orange orchards and oranges as a source of wealth and prosperity has been considered one of the Valencia signs of identity since its beginnings. This exhibition has been planned to facilitate its travelling around different towns of Valencia.
The exhibition brings to the public the view of the orange orchards and the citrus landscape through images created by, photography, literature and cinema between 1880 and 1930, the golden age for the growth of this landscape and it is divided in five parts. As can be seen in this exhibition, at the end of the XVIII century began in the enlightened circles the first experiences of cultivation of orange trees for commercial purpose, which generated considerable economic benefits. At first the orange orchards remain located in the zones of La Ribera and La Plana de Castelló where it developed slowly, until the mid-nineteenth century when the conditions for exporting to European countries were favourable. But from 1880 the cultivation of orange tree spread widely throughout the coastal between La Plana de Castelló and La Safor until the thirties.
Since its origins this landscape receive an aesthetic valuation in the stories of authors, who for different reasons tried to approached it, as Cavanilles, Madoz, Lassala, la Comptessa de Gasparín, and so on. Initially this perception emerged only in certain people belonging to scientific fields and in foreign visitors. But will be in this golden age, between 1880 and 1930, overall in the transition from the XIX to XX, when the bourgeoisie assumed the leadership of the expanding valencian agriculture of the cultivation of oranges that will receive a special attention from writers, painters, photographers and filmmakers, whose works raised the orange orchards to the status of landscape and transmitted values learnt by the different strata of society.
This exhibition brings to the public the view of the orange orchards and the citrus landscape through images created by photography, literature and cinema between 1880 and 1930. The content is divided into the following areas:
0.Audiovisual: Horts de tarongers. La formació del verger valencià
This section explains the transition from valencian orchard garden to the orange orchard that occurs in parallel with the adoption of orange tree as commercial cultivation, and also explains the concept of the canonical bourgeois orchard and the grounds of its aesthetic valuation.
1.L’Hort de Tarongers
The canonical bourgeois garden is formed by an orthogonal surface planted with orange trees and circled by a fence, which is structured by two axes with the shape of a cross. At the centre stands the house, which is next to the pond and the irrigation engine, where it is an ornamental garden. The different inner paths are transformed into nice walks decorated with trees, palms and other plants. This area analyzes the different elements which form the canonical bourgeois orchard; the orange tree, palms, cypresses, the hall, the house, water and gardens.
2.Visions panoràmiques
This section offers panoramic images of a landscape characterized by monoculture. It shows forests of orange trees where it can be seen the houses of the orchards, palms, trees, gardens and chimneys. As is a landscape full of trees and closed fields, to have good views is necessary to climb to the balcony of the houses or to natural elevations. For writers the best place where to watch this landscape was the Muntanyeta del Salvador d’Alzira.
3.El paisatge viscut
It shows the relationship between people and landscape, people who thanks to their dedication and work made this possible and sustainable. We talk about gentleman that had orchards as a sign of social prestige, where they spent the summer vacation with their families and friends, and about gardeners who work and take care of the orchards, and women who take care of the house and work at the orange warehouses. The exceptional circumstances of the Civil War caused that in 1937 the government of the Republic created in some orchards school camps where the children evacuated from Madrid bombings could live an idyllic experience in the LLevant felic, far from the horrors of war.
4.La realitat actual
These landscapes that during the first decades of the XX century were a source of inspiration for poets and writers, were painted and caught the attention of photographers and filmmakers , have survived without any substantial changes until a decade ago, when started a slow decline that has no show its effects until recent years. The comparison of these current images with the ones shown throughout the exhibition leaves a graphic testimony of the survivals, which from now are threatened it.
5.Mirant cap al futur
The intensive monoculture of orange has come to an end in those regions where it first appeared. This raises a scenario of landscape transformations in the short term, from which we already find signs of different extent. Right now we are in a time of change, where the success of some of the alternatives will mark the new image of the landscape for a next cycle. This section shows current images of the different alternatives; building land conversion, conversion with new types of culture as the avocado, custard apple and persimmon, the trees to obtain timber, recreation and rural tourism.
Last update: 13 de december de 2012 09:29.
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