José Guerrero

JOSÉ GUERRERO (Granada, 1914 - Barcelona, 1991).
Untitled, 1982.
Gouache on paper.
Work reproduced in the Catalogue Raisonné of the artist (Ref. 1407).
It presents inscription in the inferior zone: "For my dear friend Hardie ST. Martin, as a souvenir of his translation into English of my works. A big hug. José Guerrero. New York 26-4-82".
Signed, dated and located in New York.
Measurements: 40 x 60 cm; 87 x 107 cm (marked).
In this work, José Guerrero deploys with full maturity one of the most personal and recognizable languages of the Spanish abstraction of the 20th century. The composition is articulated from large chromatic fields of vibrant reds and magentas, crossed by an oblique axis in light tones that introduces tension and rhythm in the pictorial plane. The brushstroke is broad and presents transparencies that allow the different layers of work to be appreciated, reinforcing the sensation of depth and spatial density.
This work is an example of how Guerrero conceived painting as both a physical and emotional space. His long stay in New York since 1950 and his direct contact with American abstract expressionism, especially with artists such as Rothko or Motherwell, were decisive in the configuration of a deeply lyrical work, where the gesture, contained but intense, is articulated in compositional structures that do not renounce the evocation of interior landscapes and Mediterranean memories. In this sense, his progressive return to Spain at the end of the seventies, in the context of the democratic transition, meant a re-reading of his work from his cultural sphere of origin, without this implying the abandonment of his international projection and recognition.
Jose Guerreo trained in Granada and Madrid, at the San Fernando School of Fine Arts, where he was a student of Daniel Vázquez Díaz. With a scholarship from the Casa de Velázquez and later from the French government, he moved to Paris in 1945, where he came into contact with the European avant-garde and the Spanish artists of the School of Paris.
In 1950 he settled in New York, a decisive city for his artistic evolution, where he progressively abandoned figuration and developed an abstract language marked by the influence of Rothko, Kline, Still and Newman. His international projection was consolidated in 1954 with his exhibition with Joan Miró at the Art Club of Chicago, being represented by the influential gallery owner Betty Parsons.
Although he returned temporarily to Spain in 1965 and participated in the creation of the Museo de Arte Abstracto de Cuenca, he maintained his activity mainly between New York and Spain. Today he is recognized as one of the most prominent Spanish figures of the New York School, with work present in major international museums such as the Guggenheim, MoMA or the Reina Sofia, and with numerous institutional awards throughout his career.