Menchu Gal

MENCHU GAL (Irún, Guipúzcoa, 1919 – San Sebastián, 2008).
"Lakeside Landscape," from the "Etchings of the North" series.
Etching and aquatint on paper. Print no. 64/150.
Signed, inscribed in pencil.
Measurements: 36 x 47 cm; 46 x 56.5 cm (paper).
"Lakeside Landscape," part of the iconic "Aguafuertes del Norte" series, is a work that reflects with particular sensitivity Menchu Gal’s deep connection to the landscape, a central theme throughout her artistic career. Through this print, the artist translates into the language of printmaking the free and emotional interpretation of nature that made her painting one of the most personal contributions to 20th-century Spanish landscape art.
Menchu Gal was a leading figure in the renewal of postwar Spanish landscape painting and was associated with the so-called Madrid School. Initially trained by Gaspar Montes Iturrioz, she furthered her studies in Paris with Amédée Ozenfant and at the San Fernando School of Fine Arts. In 1959, she became the first woman to win the National Painting Prize. Her work is part of the collections of the Reina Sofía National Art Museum and the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum.