José Aguiar

JOSÉ AGUIAR (Vueltas de Santa Clara, Cuba, 1898 - Madrid, 1976).
"View of Betanzos", 1955.
Oil on canvas.
Signed, dated and located in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 105 x 160 cm; 120 x 173,5 cm (frame).

In this panoramic view of Betanzos (La Coruña), José Aguiar works with a free, light, nervous, impastoed brushstroke, which adds material values to the work. The vibrant and contrasting color stands out, as well as the sensation of life and movement, of agitation, that runs through the whole scene.

The son of immigrants from the Canary Islands, Aguiar was born in Cuba but soon moved to Spain, beginning his artistic training at the Escuela de Bellas Artes de Fernando in Madrid. Thanks to a scholarship granted by the Cabildo Insular de La Gomera, after his first exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in Madrid (1935), he traveled to Italy, where he was influenced by the painting of the Trecento, especially that of Masaccio, as well as Pompeian painting, the echoes of which have remained in his work ever since. With a grant from the Juan March Foundation, he produced his best known work, "Los ángeles y los monstruos", where he moved away from his usual religious and regionalist themes, to begin what would be his mature stage, marked by expressionist traits. Most of his work is collected in his house-museum in Agulo, La Gomera, although it is also present in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts in Valencia, the University of Salamanca and the National Museum of Modern Art in Madrid, among others.