Manuel Pesqueira

MANUEL PESQUEIRA (Paredela, May 1911–1988).
“Card Players.”
Red chalk and charcoal on paper.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 40 x 30 cm; 57 x 48 cm (frame).

Galician painter. While studying to become a teacher in Pontevedra, he came into contact with Castelao and began to take part in Galicia’s cultural and political scene through his involvement with the newspaper *A Nosa Terra*, where he became the author of many of the published articles. It was in 1933 that he held his first exhibition, titled *Human Landscapes of the O Salnés Countryside*. Years later, in 1950, after the Civil War, he exhibited in Vigo, Santiago de Compostela, and Pontevedra, and in 1951 at the Centro Galego in Buenos Aires. In 1960, he participated in the First Anthological Exhibition of Galician Painting, held at the Círculo de las Artes in Lugo. This exhibition featured the leading figures in Galician art, such as Sotomayor, Castelao, Juan Luis, Llorens, Seoane, Souto, and others. It was the group exhibition at the Sala Quixote in Madrid in 1967 that led Madrid critics to call him the “most authentically Galician painter.” His widespread national recognition drew the attention of international art centers to his work; for this reason, in 1984 he exhibited in Paris at the Centre International d’Art Contemporain, where he first participated in a group show and later held a solo exhibition.