Juan Genovés

JUAN GENOVÉS (Valencia, 1930–Madrid, 2020).
Untitled, 2011.
Ink on paper, created on the first page of the book *Juan Genovés*. Published by Marlborough.
Accompanied by the book *Juan Genovés*, published by Marlborough, p. 207.
The page altered by the artist has been preserved and framed as a separate piece.
Signed and dated at the bottom.
Measurements: 24 x 29 cm; 43 x 48 cm (frame).
The work features, in the center, a hand-drawn circle containing small, scattered schematic figures—a recurring motif in Genovés’s work linked to his interest in the masses, the individual, and collective movement. The piece is particularly significant for translating into an intimate and experimental format some of the artistic devices that defined Genovés’s visual language: the bird’s-eye view, fragmentation, the anonymity of the figures, and the tension between the individual, the collective, and urban space.
He trained at the San Carlos School of Fine Arts in Valencia. In 1949, he founded Los Siete and later became a member of Parpalló and Hondo, groups that played a decisive role in the renewal of postwar Spanish painting. His career gained international recognition beginning in the 1960s. In 1966, he received an Honorable Mention at the Venice Biennale, and in 1967, the Gold Medal at the San Marino International Biennale. In 1968, he was awarded the Marzotto Internazionale Prize. He was later honored with the National Prize for the Visual Arts (1984), the Valencian Regional Government’s Prize for the Visual Arts (2002), and the Gold Medal for Merit in the Fine Arts (2005), among other awards. His work is included in prominent national and international public collections, including the Reina Sofía Museum and the IVAM, as well as in institutions such as MoMA in New York, the Guggenheim in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, and museums in Berlin, Rotterdam, and Rome, thereby solidifying his international recognition and reputation.