Gaspar Montes Iturrioz

GASPAR MONTES ITURRIOZ (Irún, Guipúzcoa, 1901-1998).
"Landscape of the Bidasoa in Fuenterrabía".
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower right corner. Signed and titled on the back.
Measurements: 46 x 57 cm; 56 x 67 cm (frame).
Montes Iturrioz began his studies in Irun with the sculptor Julio Echeandía and the painter José Salis Camino, moving later to Madrid to continue studying with the professors Mr. José María López Mezquita and Mr. Fernando Álvarez de Sotomayor. The painter José Salis Camino, together with Nemesio Camio, gave him a pension so that he could go to Madrid to further his studies. In 1924 he moved to Paris with the amount of the prize obtained in the Exhibition of New Artists, studying in the Free Academies of the capital of the French Republic. He took part in the National Exhibitions of Fine Arts in 1927 and 1930 and held collective and individual exhibitions in Madrid, San Sebastian, Pau, Bayonne, etc. In 1938 he began to have a good number of disciples that forced him to dedicate himself with intensity to the pictorial teaching. The painter and writer Mauricio Flores Kaperotxipi wrote that Montes Iturrioz has been called the Franciscan painter, because of the sweetness he communicates to his landscapes. He has obtained several First Prizes in the Contest of New Artists of Guipuzcoa from 1919, First Prize in the Christmas Contest of San Sebastian in 1951 and First Prize Darío de Regoyos in the Christmas Contest of 1956. He also won the Second Prize of the San Sebastian City Council in 1952, consisting of five thousand pesetas. In 1964 and 1967 he exhibited in San Sebastian, and in 1970 he exhibited with Arteta, Casas, etc., in the exhibition "Seven Spanish Masters of Drawing". He painted murals in churches in Guipúzcoa, Valencia and Asturias. He also painted decorative motifs in the airfield of Valladolid and in hotels in Navarre and Aragon, as well as stained glass windows. His painting "Snow in Irun" is owned by the Museum of San Telmo in San Sebastian, where part of his works are, as well as in Bilbao and the Mar de la Plata (Argentina).