José Luis Sánchez

JOSÉ LUIS SÁNCHEZ FERNÁNDEZ, (Almansa, Albacete, 1926-2018).
"Bull".
Bronze.
Presents seal on the base.
Measurements: 18.5 x 24 x 13 cm.
Made in bronze, the piece presents a bull reduced to its fundamental lines: the curved back, the insinuated head and the barely suggested extremities, creating a dynamic and contained figure at the same time.
Narratively, the work conveys strength and nobility without resorting to descriptive realism, evoking more the archetypal idea of the bull than its literal representation. This approach connects with the aesthetics of Spanish sculpture in the second half of the 20th century.
A fundamental exponent of contemporary Spanish sculpture, José Luis Sánchez was one of the forerunners of abstraction in our country, and contributed to introducing the European avant-garde into the Spanish art scene. A member of the San Fernando Academy, he has won awards such as the medal at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts in 1954, the First Prize at the First Industrial Design Competition in Madrid in the same year, the gold medal at the Manchegan Exhibition of Plastic Arts in Valdepeñas in 1960, the gold medal at the Third Biennial of Sacred Art in Salzburg in 1962, the First Prize Tomás Francisco Prieto of the National Mint in 1968, and the First Prize at the International Exhibition of Small Sculpture in Budapest in 1981. Currently, his work can be found in the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, the Vatican Museum (Modern Art Collection) and the Fundación Juan March. He also has numerous public works in different Spanish cities.