Álvaro Alcalá Galiano

ÁLVARO ALCALÁ GALIANO Y VIDÓSOLA (Bilbao, 1873- Paracuellos de Jarama, 1936).
"Lady in the countryside", 1895.
Mixed media and gouache on paper.
Signed and dated in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 42 x 24 cm; 60 x 43 cm (frame).

Álvaro Alcalá Galiano was an artistic painter and decorator from an aristocratic family, thanks to which he held several titles during his lifetime (Count of the Royal Appreciation, Steward of Alfonso XIII's Week, etc.), who began his artistic training with Antonio Lecuona and Adolfo Guiard. He then moved to Madrid, where he studied first with Jiménez Aranda and then in the workshop of Joaquín Sorolla, where he excelled. In 1902 he extended his training with a trip to Brittany, Holland and Germany. He obtained several recognitions in some National Exhibitions of Fine Arts of Spain (First Medal in 1902, Second Medal in 1901 and Third Medal in the editions of 1897 and 1899), a Third Medal in the Paris Salon of 1910, a Second in the Universal of Buenos Aires of Argentina in 1910 and a Great Prize of Honor in the International Exhibition of Panama that was celebrated in the year 1916. He worked, above all, the theme of genre or genre scenes, and is considered one of the main representatives of landscape and mural painting of the first half of the twentieth century. He was also President of the Association of Spanish Painters and Sculptors and organized several exhibitions in Bilbao and San Sebastian, and his paintings are currently kept in several private collections, as well as in some institutions such as the Prado Museum in Madrid, the Fine Arts Museum of Bilbao, etc.