Felipe Criado

FELIPE CRIADO MARTÍN (Gijón, Asturias, 1928–A Coruña, 2013).
“On the Terrace,” 1984.
Ink on paper.
Signed and dated in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 35 × 25 cm; 48 × 36 cm (frame).

This work brings together two essential aspects of Felipe Criado’s artistic language: his extraordinary mastery of drawing and the recurring presence of the female nude. Criado organizes the composition using a continuous, precise, and remarkably fluid line, capable of defining anatomies, furniture, animals, and landscape without resorting to color or tonal shading. The overlapping of bodies and the pronounced foreshortening create a dynamic structure, while the disparity in scales and the unusual coexistence of human figures and animals shift the everyday scene into the realm of fantasy.

Felipe Criado studied at the San Fernando School of Fine Arts in Madrid from 1954 to 1959. A painter, draftsman, professor, and art critic, he spent most of his career in Galicia and was a member of the Royal Galician Academy of Fine Arts since 1996. Drawing, far from serving as a secondary practice, takes on full autonomy and embodies the narrative and symbolic power of his work. His work is held, among other institutions, at the Museum of Fine Arts in A Coruña, the Museo do Pobo Galego, and the ABANCA collection.