Eusebio Sempere

EUSEBIO SEMPERE (Onil, Alicante, 1923 - 1985).
Untitled.
Stainless steel with stand.
Limited edition. Exemplary 34/100.
Signed and numbered on the base plate.
It has slight rust marks due to the passage of time.
Measurements: 36 x 22 cm.

Sculptor, painter and graphic artist, Sempere is the most representative painter of kinetic art in Spain. He began his studies at the School of Arts and Crafts of Valencia, and in 1941 he entered the School of Fine Arts of San Carlos, in the same city. In 1948 he obtained a scholarship from the SEU that allowed him to travel to Paris, and the following year he settled in the French capital, at the College of Spain in the Cité Universitaire. That same year, 1949, he organizes the First Exhibition of Abstract Art in Valencia, in the Mateu Gallery. In 1953 he makes his first gouaches on paper, and in 1955 he writes the "Manifesto de la Luz" and undertakes his first Relieves Luminosos. At this time he began to learn a serigraphic technique unknown in Spain, and made serigraphs for Vasarely, Mortensen and Bloc, among others. In 1960 he returns to Spain and settles in Madrid, showing his Relieves Luminosos at the Venice Biennale that same year. Also in 1960 he makes the definitive international leap, exhibiting his work at the Berta Schaefer Gallery in New York. In 1961 he held his first solo exhibition at the Ateneo de Madrid, and in 1962 he began the creation of the Rejas, two-piece iron mobiles. The following year he obtains the Ford scholarship to travel to the United States, where he moves in 1964. That same year he exhibits again at the Berta Schaefer Gallery, together with J. M. Subirachs. In the following years he produced his first portfolio of silkscreen prints, a musical mobile sculpture project for IBM and a project for the Parque de Esculturas de La Castellana, in Madrid. In 1969 he participates in the seminar of Analysis and Automatic Generation of Plastic Forms at the Calculus Center of the University of Madrid. Ten years later his hanging sculpture "Helicoidal" is offered as a gift to the Congress of Europe by President Adolfo Suárez, and in 1980 the first anthological exhibition dedicated to his work is held. That same year he received the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts. In the early eighties his health began to suffer seriously, although he continued to work. In 1983 he was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize for Fine Arts, and was named favorite son of the province by the Provincial Council of Alicante.