Manolo Millares

MANOLO MILLARES (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 1926 – Madrid, 1972).
Untitled, 1970.
Engraving on Arches paper, print no. 51/100.
Numbered in pencil. Unsigned.
Published by Editorial Gustavo Gili, S.A., Barcelona.
Measurements: 44 x 25 cm (print); 63 x 45 cm (paper); 91 x 72 cm (frame).

In contrast to the material density of his burlap works, in his graphic art the artist focuses his artistic language on a nervous, fragmentary drawing, with anthropomorphic forms suspended over the vast emptiness of the paper. The economy of means reinforces the gestural and expressive character characteristic of his artistic universe.

Manolo Millares was one of the key figures of Spanish Informalism and the artistic renewal of the second half of the 20th century. He was one of the founders of El Paso, alongside Antonio Saura, Rafael Canogar, Luis Feito, and Manuel Rivera. His participation in the 29th Venice Biennale in 1958 played a decisive role in his international recognition. His work was featured early on at MoMA in New York, in exhibitions such as *Recent Acquisitions: Painting and Sculpture* (1959) and *The Art of Assemblage* (1961). The Reina Sofía Museum, which dedicated an extensive retrospective to him in 1992, currently holds a significant body of his work, with twenty-six pieces in its collection.