José López Guntin

JOSÉ LÓPEZ GUNTIN (Villalba, Lugo, 1929–Lugo, 1996).
“Motherhood.”
Oil on cardboard.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 55 x 46 cm; 76 x 57 cm (frame).

Guntín’s style is characterized by its strong personality and great expressiveness, with works defined by the use of a bold color palette.

Despite his family’s opposition, he decided to devote himself to painting; in 1946, he received a scholarship from the Provincial Council of Lugo to enroll in the San Fernando School of Fine Arts in Madrid, where he eventually earned his degree. Upon his return to Galicia in the early 1960s, he founded the group “Seis Urogallos” with Jesús Blas Lourés, Manuel Cancio Varela, Tino Prados López, Antonio Estrada, and Luis Gómez Pacios, most of whom were alumni of the San Fernando School of Fine Arts. Their intention was to bring art to the people by exhibiting their works at the centrally located “Ferreirós” restaurant. The Provincial Museum of Lugo held an exhibition in 2008 in tribute to this group. José López Guntín began his career in realism through portraits and figurative compositions, leaning toward Neo-Impressionism. Later, his work seemed to move toward New Figuration, which geometrizes elements and the human figure. He held his first exhibition in Madrid at the Ferreres Gallery, followed by others in nearly every Galician city, as well as in León, Barcelona, Valencia, and many others, concluding in 1992 at the Laxeiro Gallery in Vigo. A drawing teacher at various schools in the capital, he taught at the Instituto Masculino de Lugo from 1968 to 1971. Two of his oil paintings on school-related themes are preserved at this school.