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BBVA Collection Spain
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https://www.coleccionbbva.com/es/autor/guerrero-jose/
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autor
14436
José Guerrero
(Granada, 1914 – Barcelona, 1991)
Author's artworks
20th Century Spanish
After completing his training at the San Fernando School of Fine Arts in Madrid, he travelled to Paris in 1942 thanks to a scholarship from the French Government to further his studies at the École des Beaux-Arts. There he discovered the European avant-garde movements of the time, and became friends with Pablo Ruiz Picasso (1881-1973), Joan Miró (1893-1983) and Juan Gris (1887-1927), among other artists.
In the late 1940s he and his wife Roxane Pollack moved to New York, where he entered into contact with the pioneers of
Abstract Expressionism
This contemporary painting movement emerged within the field of abstraction in the 1940s in the United States, from where it spread worldwide. Rooted in similar premises and postulates as Surrealism, the Abstract Expressionist artists regarded the act of painting as a spontaneous and unconscious activity, a dynamic bodily action divested of any kind of prior planning. The works belonging to this movement are defined by the use of pure, vibrant primary colours that convey a profound sense of freedom. The movement’s main pioneers were, among others, Arshile Gorky (1904-1948) and Hans Hoffman (1880-1966). Leading Spanish exponents of the movement are Esteban Vicente (1903-2001) and José Guerrero (1914-1991), who lived for some time in New York City, where they were in first-hand contact with the many artistic innovations taking place there around that time.
, a style he soon embraced as his aesthetic creed, and in which he instilled a particularly lively palette combined with his signature simple yet visually attractive compositions.
Guerrero was in continuous contact with the art scene in Spain, and indeed eventually returned to his home country in 1965, acting as a bridge with American painting and exerting a considerable influence on some young artists.
In his American period, the process of execution is visible in his free-flowing and quick brushwork, acknowledging the influence of Franz Kline (
1910-1962
), Mark Rothko (1903-1970), Clyfford Still (1904-1980) and Barnett Newman (
1905-1970
), all members of the School of New York.
Throughout his long-lasting career he earned many distinctions, being appointed Chevalier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France in 1959 and winning a Gold Medal in Visual Arts in 1984.