Manuel Prego

MANUEL PREGO DE OLIVER (Orense, 1915-1986).
"Girl".
Charcoal on paper.
Signed in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 60 x 33,5 cm; 83 x 63,5 cm (frame).

Manuel Prego de Oliver was a Galician painter (considered one of the main exponents of the Galician panorama of the 50's and 60's) of a style close to Expressionism who was forced to leave one of his vocations (teaching) for the other (painting), combining his "works for pleasure" with commissions for economic needs in order to advance in his training, until he triumphed in Madrid in an exhibition in 1941, followed by others (Paris, Barcelona, Galicia, Salamanca...). In addition to being a painter, he is recognized as an important illustrator (he worked for ABC, Blanco y Negro, books, etc.). Stylistically, he started from a first stage of research, coinciding with the end of the Civil War; later, his palette tended towards monochromatism and a notorious granulation in the textures, of great strength; since the 1980s his style would vary again, refining towards a greater harmonic fineness. His work is preserved in numerous private collections (mainly Spanish) and in important institutions (Municipal Museum of Orense, etc.).