MANOLO VÃLDES (Valencia, 1942).
"Profile of a lady".
Engraving and collage on paper. Copy 12/55.
Signed and justified in pencil.
Size: 120 x 82 cm; 137 x 98 cm (frame).
Inspired by Renaissance portraits, Valdés made a series of profiles of ladies, reinterpreting them through his synthetic and colourist aesthetics, as for example his works "Beatrice", which are profiles similar to the present work, where the turban shows mythical works from the history of art. However, in this piece the turban is ornamented with orange fish, a common feature of the artist's iconography.
Manolo Valdés introduced in Spain a form of artistic expression that combines political and social commitment with humour and irony. He began his training in 1957, when he entered the San Carlos School of Fine Arts in Valencia. However, two years later he abandoned his studies to devote himself fully to painting. In 1964 he founded the artistic group Equipo Crónica, together with Juan Antonio Toledo and Rafael Solbes, in which he remained until the latter's death in 1981, despite the fact that Toledo had left the group two years after its foundation. Since then he has settled in New York, where he currently lives and where he has continued to experiment with new forms of expression, including sculpture. Among the numerous awards Manolo Valdés has won are the Lissone and Biella awards in Milan, the silver medal at the 2nd International Biennial of Engravings in Tokyo, the Bridgestone Art Museum prize in Lisbon, the National Prize for Plastic Arts, the medal of the International Festival of Fine Arts, and the medal of the International Festival of Fine Arts in Paris, among others, the medal of the International Festival of Plastic Artists of Baghdad, the Decoration of the Order of Andrés Bello in Venezuela, the prize of the National Council of Monaco, the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts, the Prize of the Spanish Association of Art Critics and the Prize for the Best Print Artist, among others. Formally, Valdés produces a large-format work in which the lights and colours express tactile values, due to the treatment given to the materials. His work forces the viewer to delve into memory and search for significant images from the history of art. He is represented in some of the world's leading museums, such as the Reina Sofía in Madrid, the Metropolitan, the MoMA and the Guggenheim in New York, the Centre Georges Pompidou and the Fons National d'Arts Plastiques in Paris, the Kusnthalle in Hamburg, the Kunstmuseum in Berlin and the Museo de Bellas Artes in Bilbao, among many others.