Monday morning, there was a happy atmosphere in the Museum. The press had been overwhelmingly positive to the exhibition project; we had been featured on all the major Spanish TV channels, CNN, and the BBC world
While we were watching clips, and going over newspapers, the secretary comes over to me, "I have Francisco Lopez on the line, he wants to talk to you" Everyone looked at me like Jesus just entered in the room.
"Francisco Lopez wants to talk with Alma?" Juan, the communications officer, said in disbelief. "Yes, I met him at the reception, and he knew my Spanish grandfather and wanted to make a portrait interview with me." I am well aware that Juan had no clue about my middle name.
"Your grandfather must have been some hotshot, I have tried to get Lopez to make a special portrait interview with Carlos for ages," Juan looked a bit taken aback. Just then, Carlos entered the room and said, "her grandfather was Antonio Bech; he even has a street named after him in Barcelona."
"Yeah, I guess a street name would do the trick," Juan looked seriously pissed off.
I went over to the phone and arranged to meet Francisco Lopez for lunch at 1:00 pm.
"So miss American hotshot - did Francisco Lopez call to withdraw his invitation?" Juan sent me a cruel smile.
"No, I'm meeting him at 1:00 pm" I stared straight into his eyes. "And Carlos," I continued, "Can you spare half an hour? There are things I want to go over with you before the interview." Juan looked like he was about to burst, "so the American hotshot needs help to find the right answers, normally I'm the one to brief people about the press, and decides who fronts what issues."
Carlos broke in "Juan I was there when he asked to interview her on Friday. This interview is about her being the granddaughter of one of the most famous opposition leaders during the Franco regime, and now being the curator from the Mets side in this project – so let it go."
Carlos lead me out of the room. "What the hell was that? I mean, you should get that interview instead of me Carlos, I don't think I can contribute a whole lot except for exhibition details and planning."
We were safe inside Carlos's office, and the door was closed. Carlos put his arms tightly around me; "Mi Alma, don't even think of it. His story is good – The daughter of one of our biggest heroes in the 60-ies and 70-ies is bringing Spanish art to the Met. This is a story, besides Francisco Lopez did make a portrait interview with me when I got the job here, so don't worry. Juan is just pissed because he was not on the ball".
"Seriously Carlos, I don't get it. I don't usually talk with the press, except when they interview me about minor exhibitions I'm in charge of. Then, it's usually just one column, basically rewriting the press statement the Museum sent out".
"To many people here in Spain, you are the granddaughter of a hero – a man who dared to print stories opposing Franco, featuring you is good news for more than half of this country."
Carlos kissed me lightly, and we sat down to work over some details for the interview.
At precisely 1:00 pm, I entered the restaurant where Francisco Lopez wanted to meet me. It as one of those old fashioned restaurants with white starched tablecloths and a quartet in the corner playing light classical music. One of those places where time had stood still for at least 50 years. The restaurant was packed with business lunch guests. Francisco Lopez waved at me from a table in the back of the room by a window overlooking a busy street.
"Alma, I'm so happy you agreed to this" he got up and kissed both of my cheeks."My plan for this interview is that we talk through lunch, then at 2 pm the photographer will come, and we will take some pictures – I was thinking a few portrait pictures from here, and then we go back to the Prado and take some photos of the things you are working on. I already talked with Carlos Alvarez about taking pictures inside the collections.
Wait a minute – no one ever reminded me that pictures were included -which of course, I should have thought of it myself. Luckily, I had dressed in a nice blush silk shirt today, so I guess I would be okay for pictures – this was not modeling but a serious interview about my work – who cares what I looked like anyhow?
The food arrived, and Francisco Lopez started asking me questions, easy ones to loosen up my nerves – and yes, my nerves were in a bundle in the middle of my stomach. He went on about my Spanish soul. I told him frankly that these two weeks in Spain had brought me closer to my family history than my previous 28 years in New York had. The photographer came, took some portraits in the restaurant, and we headed off to El Prado for some action pictures.
Francisco Lopez gave me a big envelope when we sat in the car. "I want you to go through these documents tonight, and we can talk about it tomorrow. Some of this will be hard for you to digest, so I didn't want to ruin your beautiful face for the pictures. I would advise you to ask Carlos Alvarez or if you have another person of knowledge that you trust, to go through them together with you.
"Can I meet you for coffee at the café across from El Prado at ten tomorrow – and we can talk more about what happened in Spain?" He asked. I just nodded.
أنت تقرأ
My Soul - Mi Alma (Ongoing)
العاطفيةWhen Alma, a museum curator at the Met in New York, is assigned an exhibition in partnership with the Prado museum in Madrid Spain she must work closely with the associated director, Carlos Alvarez. This won't be the first collaboration she's had w...
