Fermín Aguayo

FERMÍN AGUAYO (Sotillo de la Ribera, Burgos, 1926 - Paris, 1977)
"La boucherie", 1961.
Oil on canvas.
Signed and dated in the upper left corner.
Stamp of the Jeanne Bucher Gallery, Paris, on the stretcher frame.
Provenance:-Gallery Jeanne Bucher, Paris.-Private collection, Claude Bernard, Paris.
Measurements: 100 x 100 cm; 102 x 102 cm (frame).

In "La boucherie", Aguayo starts from a recognizable motif -the interior or window of a butcher's shop- to transform it into a composition of strong plastic charge, in which the figuration is reduced to spots, planes and chromatic rhythms. The suspended vertical forms and volumes in the foreground suggest hanging pieces and counters, but the main interest lies in the pictorial organization of space and in the tension between matter, color and structure.

A work created during his Parisian period -a key moment in the evolution of his pictorial language- Aguayo employs a broad, free and material brushstroke, which blurs the contours and brings the work closer to a sensibility close to lyrical abstraction, without completely abandoning the figurative reference. This ambiguity between image and pure painting is characteristic of his mature production, marked by a search for essentiality and by the progressive purification of the motif.

The provenance of the Jeanne Bucher Gallery, one of the fundamental Parisian galleries for the diffusion of modern art, and the fact that it belongs to the Claude Bernard collection reinforce the historical interest of the work within the artist's international career.

Fermín Aguayo was a pioneering figure of Spanish abstraction as a member of the Grupo Pórtico de Zaragoza, together with Santiago Lagunas and Eloy Giménez Laguardia. His work started from post-cubism and evolved towards abstraction, before drifting, after his departure to Paris in 1952, towards a refined and essential figuration.

In 1947 he participated in the exhibition "Portico presenta nueve pintores" at the Centro Mercantil de Zaragoza, the starting point of the group, active until 1952. That same year he moved to France, where he developed the most international part of his career. In 1968 he was part of "The Traitres", organized by Denys Sutton at the Leicester Gallery in London. In 2005 the Reina Sofia Museum dedicated its first major anthological exhibition to him, in collaboration with the Sástago Palace in Zaragoza. His works are kept in institutions such as the Reina Sofia Museum and in Aragonese public collections, including those linked to his murals for the bar La Parrilla.