Quim Vila explains that since Vila Viniteca began to illustrate their annual catalogs with a painting or a work of art, 33 years ago, this is the first in which the piece has not been created expressly for the cover, and the first in which its artist is dead. He says it with some melancholy, because who wouldn't have liked to talk to Joan Miró and let the Catalan genius personally come up with a design, but with the pride of being able to pay tribute to him with one of his drawings on the 40th anniversary of his death, December 25, 1983.
Femme, a drawing by Miró with wax and pencil dated 1977, is the work that is reproduced on this year's cover and that Vila has purchased from the painter's family to add to a collection that he keeps as one of his most precious treasures. . Not only because of the countless artistic value of these pieces created exclusively by renowned artists, but because they are also a journey through the history of his wine store in Barcelona's Ribera neighborhood.
Miró joins a list of creators including the painter Perico Pastor and the artist Juliet Pomés, the first to illustrate its covers. Then others like Javier Mariscal, Francesc Artigau, Guinovart, Frederic Amat, Juan Genovés, Jaume Plensa or Miquel Barceló would arrive last year. A pairing between art and wine that has already become a tradition.
Review each of the paintings that have been reproduced on the cover of the Vila Viniteca catalogs and remember some anecdotes experienced with its artists. He confesses that Santi Moix made them suffer a little: "We went to his studio in the Chinatown neighborhood of New York and he made us choose between three works that he had painted. It was impossible to choose." The piece by Xano Armenter, which was published in the 1995 catalogue, says that they received it physically two years later. And in 2015, "Antonio López painted us a fantastic still life and with him we even chose the frame in which we would place the oil painting."
But one of the most special memories was lived with Francisco Ibáñez, who died this year, who starred on the 2017 cover with an illustration of the store on Calle dels Agullers in which several characters from his universe appear: Mortadelo, Filemón, Rompetechos, Otilio... "He entered the store, took a look and picked up a wine catalogue, opened it and began to make a sketch on its pages."
"We are not disruptors," Vila maintains modestly. He says that long before he commissioned the first painting for the 1993 catalogue, Bordeaux Mouton Rothschild had been combining art and oenology for years, with great designs displayed on the labels of its wines. Although Vila Viniteca's relationship with art was developed some time ago. In the past, his father would distribute a Christmas card to clients that included a design and in which they communicated their rates and offers. "We have always believed in communicating, and we have always liked to do so by linking art with wine," he reveals.
He confesses that winegrowers have three facets: an artisan, another businesswoman and, finally, an artistic one. He is also, perhaps, the closest thing to an art dealer, but one who stores in bottles. "Just as we have great chefs or winemakers, there are very talented artists, and we must take advantage of the opportunity to bring these worlds together so that they grow together," he concludes. 33 works, 33 artists and 33 catalogs to which, predictably, others will be added over the years.
