Jorge Vidal Ponce

JORGE VIDAL PONCE (Valparaíso, Chile, 1943 - Valladolid, 2006).
"Landscape".1981.
Oil on canvas.
Signed and dated in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 148 x 115 cm; 150 x 117 cm (frame).
Born in Chile, he soon moved to Europe to begin his studies in Geneva. His first outstanding exhibitions were in the city of Valladolid, in the 1960s, where he took up permanent residence in 1975 after considering himself exiled after the coup d'état against Salvador Allende in 1973. Jorge Vidal was fully linked to Castilla y León, where he developed his entire professional career. An abstract painter, he was one of the leading members of the group initially called Jacobo (after Fernando Santiago) de Simancas and known as Grupo Simancas. Vidal is considered one of the renovators of abstraction in Castile. The Simancas Group, so known because of the location in this town of the workshops of some of the members of the artistic group, exhibition halls and regular meeting place for artists of the time. It was made up of Fernando Santiago ("Jacobo") (1932-2017), Jorge Vidal (1943-2006), Domingo Criado (1935-2007), Gabino Gaona (1933-2007) Francisco Sabadell (1922-1971), Félix Cuadrado Lomas (1930-) and Pablo Prieto. Other painters, sculptors, ceramists and writers were also in the group's orbit. Awards: II Biennial of Contemporary Painting of Barcelona, National Painting Prize of Valladolid, VI Biennial of Painting "City of Zamora".