Juan Antonio Morales

JUAN ANTONIO MORALES (Valladolid, 1909 — Madrid, 1984).
“The Portrait.”
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 46 x 61 cm; 63 x 77.5 cm (frame).

Juan Antonio Morales began studying medicine in Cuba but eventually abandoned medicine to devote himself to the visual arts. In 1931, he held his first exhibition at the Círculo Mercantil in Valladolid. To begin his artistic training, he moved to the Spanish capital, where he met José Caballero and Daniel Vázquez Díaz, his teacher at the San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts. During his time in the capital, the Civil War broke out; during this period, the artist contributed to magazines such as *Mono Azul*, illustrated books for soldiers—including a special edition of García Lorca’s *Romancero gitano*—and painted propaganda posters. After the war ended—during which he was imprisoned—he was appointed a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando (1974) and director of the Spanish Academy in Rome (1974). Although he worked as a set and costume designer in film and theater, his specialty was portraiture, though he also painted landscapes and still lifes. Today, his works are on display in contemporary art museums in Madrid, Buenos Aires, Havana, Alexandria, and Cairo, among others. He has exhibited his portraits in the world’s most important galleries, primarily in the United States, where he lived for some time.