Manuel Hernández Mompó

MANUEL HERNÁNDEZ MOMPÓ (Valencia, 1927 - Madrid, 1992).
"Allegory", c. 1948.
Watercolor and ink on paper.
It has slight flaws in the frame.
Signed in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 21 x 16 cm; 33 x 34 cm (frame).
Made around 1948, this Allegory is situated in an early stage of Manuel Hernández Mompó's career, prior to his full identification with the lyrical abstraction that would characterize his later work. In this watercolor and ink on paper a figurative language is still evident, although it is already subject to a process of synthesis and formal dissolution. The figures, barely sketched by means of loose strokes and dynamic lines, seem to emerge and vanish in an indefinite space, constructed from chromatic glazes and gestural rhythms. The allegorical theme, more suggested than described, refers to a symbolic and poetic dimension. The aqueous technique reinforces this atmosphere of instability and transit, while the drawing, expressive and spontaneous, anticipates the artist's interest in the freedom of gesture and the primacy of sensation over literal representation. The work is thus inscribed in the context of the Spanish post-war period, a time of search and plastic renewal in which Mompó began to explore personal paths away from academicism, opening the way to a painting of inner resonances and lyrical vocation.
Hernández Mompó trained in Valencia, Granada, Paris and Rome, and in 1954 he was awarded the Italian Navigation Prize at the Viareggio International Exhibition. In 1957 he returned to Spain, and the following year he obtained a scholarship from the Juan March Foundation in Madrid, as well as the Gran Premio Nacional de Pintura and a first medal at the Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes. Among his most outstanding awards are the Unesco Prize received at the XXXIV Venice Biennial in 1968, and the National Prize for Fine Arts from the Ministry of Culture in 1984. He is represented at the IVAM in Valencia, the Museo Nacional Reina Sofía, the Museo de Arte Abstracto in Cuenca, the British Museum in London, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, the Chase Manhattan Bank Collection in New York and the Winterthur Museum in Switzerland, among many others.