Eduardo Arroyo

EDUARDO ARROYO (Madrid, 1937-2018).
"Don Juan Tenorio" engraving and book, 1998.
-Etching by Eduardo Arroyo with resins and washes in six colors on Arches paper. Copy 267/300.
-Book Don Juan Tenorio by José Zorrila with 21 full page color illustrations by Eduardo Arroyo.
Signed and justified.
Measurements: 24 x 15 cm (engraving); 24,5 x 17 x 2 cm (book).
Painter, sculptor and engraver, Arroyo stands out as an important figure within the neo-figurativist movement. A key figure in the new Spanish figuration, Arroyo came to prominence on the national art circuit belatedly, in the eighties, after a two-decade-long period of estrangement forced by the Franco regime. Currently, his works hang in the most reputable Spanish museums and his creativity extends to theatrical scenographies and illustrated editions. Arroyo began his career in journalism, finishing his studies in 1957. He then left for Paris, fleeing the asphyxiating Spanish political climate of the time. Although his first vocation was as a writer, a task he continues to this day, by 1960 he was already making a living as a painter. That year, he participated for the first time in the Salón de Pintura Joven in Paris. His critical attitude towards dictatorships, both political and artistic, pushed him to controversial initiatives. He opted for figurative painting during the years of the overwhelming dominance of abstract painting in Paris, and his first themes were reminiscent of "black Spain" (effigies of Philip II, bullfighters, dancers), worked in a caustic and unromantic key. At the beginning of the sixties his plastic vocabulary moved under the North American influence of pop art, and in 1964 his break with informal art became definitive. His first public impact came in 1963, when he presented a series of effigies of dictators at the Third Paris Biennial, which provoked protests from the Spanish government. That same year, Arroyo prepared an exhibition at the Biosca Gallery in Madrid, which was inaugurated without his presence since he had to flee to France, pursued by the police; the exhibition was censored and closed a few days later. However, Arroyo's figurative option took a long time to be accepted in Paris. The painter rejected the unconditional devotion to certain avant-gardists, such as Duchamp or Miró, which he considered imposed by fashions. Actually, his interest is to demystify the great masters and defend the role of the market as protector and thermometer of art, as opposed to the network of museums and influences paid for with public money. In 1974, Arroyo was expelled from Spain by the regime, and would not recover his passport until Franco's death.