When I was in Granada recently I visited the Centro José Guerrero, home to an important collection of paintings by the granadino abstract expressionist artist. I first came across Jose Guerrero’s art in Madrid and I saw some of his paintings in the Banco de España when I was working there as an English teacher.
José Guerrero was born in Granada in 1914 and went to the Escuela de Artes y Oficios in Granada and later after the Civil War to the Escuela Superior Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid. In 1945 he went to Paris, having received a fellowship from the French government to study at the École des Beaux Arts, and a couple of years later studied unofficially at the Academia de España in Rome. During this period he was greatly influenced by artists such as Picasso, Miró, Matisse and Gris. In 1949 he married the North American Roxane Whittier Pollock who he’d met in Rome. After a brief stay in London to learn English, the couple moved to the US in 1949. It was in New York that José Guerrero truly developed his own abstract style, although influenced by the so-called New York School – artists such as Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline, Mark Rothko and Robert Motherwell – and the then prevalent action painting.
In 1954 José Guerrero had his first individual exhibition in the Betty Parsons Gallery in New York, having already shared an exhibition in the Art Club of Chicago with Joan Miró. His work was becoming internationally recognised in the art world and in 1958 he was given a grant together with other painters, architects and philosophers, such as Wilfredo Lam, Eduardo Chillida and Mies van der Rohe, to see how the city of Chicago could be remodelled. During the following three decades, he divided his time between the US and different parts of Spain.
José Guerrero’s abstract art developed through a number of stages but was always characterised by his intense and large scale use of vibrant colour, planes and lines. He also used everyday objects, for example matches, as the inspiration for his art. Guerrero himself described the structure of his paintings as being based on "vertical thrusts or horizontal tensions and diagonal criss-crossings."
Arguably Guerrero’s best know painting is La brecha de Viznar (1966), which he painted as an elegy to the death of his friend and fellow granadino Federico García Lorca. Other paintings, which draw on his Granada roots, are Albaicín (1962), Generalife (1963) and Sacromonte (1963-64).
Although José Guerrero received many awards during his life (he died in Barcelona in 1991), for example the French government’s Knight of the Arts, and received wide acclaim in the international art world, it could be argued that his work is not as widely recognised and known as it should be. For example, even though he spent much of his life in the US, there is no Wikipedia entry about him in English, and even the Spanish entry is a short paragraph. A quick search on Google comes up with very little in English about his life and work.
Having recently seen José Guerrero’s large scale paintings in Granada, I can testify to the power and intense emotion that they generate. He’s an artist whose work is well worth exploring.
“Cuando pinto me siento como un combatiente de la resistencia buscando libertad para liberar mis intuiciones y emociones sencillamente y con pleno control. Las pinturas abren ventanas y puertas que conducen a un camino en la distancia donde hay luz y aire y agua sin limite y sin fin” (José Guerrero).
“When I paint I feel like a resistance fighter looking for freedom to liberate my intuitions and emotions simply and with complete control. The paintings open windows and doors that lead to a path in the distance where there’s limitless and endless light, air and water” (José Guerrero - my translation).
I’ve posted a few examples of his work above. At the excellent website of the Centro José Guerrero (in English and Spanish) you can find more examples of his art and a wealth of information.
http://www.centroguerrero.org/
Unfortunately, at the time of writing it seems as if the Centre will close soon and all of Guerrero’s work will be moved to Madrid. It’s not yet clear where or if this important collection will be exhibited publicly.
José Guerrero was born in Granada in 1914 and went to the Escuela de Artes y Oficios in Granada and later after the Civil War to the Escuela Superior Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid. In 1945 he went to Paris, having received a fellowship from the French government to study at the École des Beaux Arts, and a couple of years later studied unofficially at the Academia de España in Rome. During this period he was greatly influenced by artists such as Picasso, Miró, Matisse and Gris. In 1949 he married the North American Roxane Whittier Pollock who he’d met in Rome. After a brief stay in London to learn English, the couple moved to the US in 1949. It was in New York that José Guerrero truly developed his own abstract style, although influenced by the so-called New York School – artists such as Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline, Mark Rothko and Robert Motherwell – and the then prevalent action painting.
In 1954 José Guerrero had his first individual exhibition in the Betty Parsons Gallery in New York, having already shared an exhibition in the Art Club of Chicago with Joan Miró. His work was becoming internationally recognised in the art world and in 1958 he was given a grant together with other painters, architects and philosophers, such as Wilfredo Lam, Eduardo Chillida and Mies van der Rohe, to see how the city of Chicago could be remodelled. During the following three decades, he divided his time between the US and different parts of Spain.
José Guerrero’s abstract art developed through a number of stages but was always characterised by his intense and large scale use of vibrant colour, planes and lines. He also used everyday objects, for example matches, as the inspiration for his art. Guerrero himself described the structure of his paintings as being based on "vertical thrusts or horizontal tensions and diagonal criss-crossings."
Arguably Guerrero’s best know painting is La brecha de Viznar (1966), which he painted as an elegy to the death of his friend and fellow granadino Federico García Lorca. Other paintings, which draw on his Granada roots, are Albaicín (1962), Generalife (1963) and Sacromonte (1963-64).
Although José Guerrero received many awards during his life (he died in Barcelona in 1991), for example the French government’s Knight of the Arts, and received wide acclaim in the international art world, it could be argued that his work is not as widely recognised and known as it should be. For example, even though he spent much of his life in the US, there is no Wikipedia entry about him in English, and even the Spanish entry is a short paragraph. A quick search on Google comes up with very little in English about his life and work.
Having recently seen José Guerrero’s large scale paintings in Granada, I can testify to the power and intense emotion that they generate. He’s an artist whose work is well worth exploring.
“Cuando pinto me siento como un combatiente de la resistencia buscando libertad para liberar mis intuiciones y emociones sencillamente y con pleno control. Las pinturas abren ventanas y puertas que conducen a un camino en la distancia donde hay luz y aire y agua sin limite y sin fin” (José Guerrero).
“When I paint I feel like a resistance fighter looking for freedom to liberate my intuitions and emotions simply and with complete control. The paintings open windows and doors that lead to a path in the distance where there’s limitless and endless light, air and water” (José Guerrero - my translation).
I’ve posted a few examples of his work above. At the excellent website of the Centro José Guerrero (in English and Spanish) you can find more examples of his art and a wealth of information.
http://www.centroguerrero.org/
Unfortunately, at the time of writing it seems as if the Centre will close soon and all of Guerrero’s work will be moved to Madrid. It’s not yet clear where or if this important collection will be exhibited publicly.
1 comments:
Hello
I previously sent you a comment that I had two paintings which may be by Guerrero. You asked me to send you photos but I do not have an email address to send them to you. I wonder if you could email me at gwenmwood@talktalk.net so that I can respond? Perhaps you could also provide me with details of a Spanish art gallery who could provide me with further information.
Thank you.
Gwen Wood
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