Pedro Flores Garcia

PEDRO FLORES GARCÍA (Murcia, 1897 - Paris, 1967).
Untitled.
Oil on tablex.
Signed in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 20,5 x 13 cm.
Considered today as one of the great painters of the School of Paris, Pedro Flores began his training as an apprentice in a decorative painting workshop, participating in the decoration of the Teatro Circo Villar and the cafes Moderno and El Sol. In 1908 he began to attend classes at the Academy of Fine Arts of the Real Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País, and some time later he continued his studies at the Círculo de Bellas Artes. After finishing his studies, Flores began his professional activity working with José Garay in a lithographic workshop. During these years he also learned photographic techniques and worked retouching photographs. In 1927 he achieves an important recognition from the critics in the exhibition he holds together with Gaya and Garay in the Dalmau Gallery in Barcelona. He also held individual exhibitions. In 1928 he obtains a grant from the Diputación to travel to Paris, where he settles until 1933. There he exhibits, again with Garay and Gaya, in the famous Galerie des Quatre Chemins. During these years he participated, with the Society of Iberian Artists, in their exhibitions in Copenhagen, Berlin and Paris. He also participated, in 1937, in the International Exhibition of Paris. When he returned from France, his work was exhibited in the Hall of Honor of the Salon d'Automne in the capital, along with renowned artists such as Picasso and Solana. Later he moves to Barcelona, and exhibits again in the Dalmau Galleries, this time individually. In Barcelona he also worked as a drawing teacher at the Balmes Institute until 1939. At the end of the Civil War he returned to France and joined the so-called Spanish School of Paris, which also included Picasso, Ginés Parra, Francisco Bores and Antoni Clavé, among others. Flores set up his studio in Montparnasse, and at this time he began his period of maturity, marked by an incessant creation of works of great variety: illustrations that appeared in various publications, tapestry cartoons for the Gobelins factory and for the London firm Ascher, scenographies for the National Theater of the Park in Brussels and for the Paris Opera... and also numerous oil paintings, a technique he never abandoned. In 1962 he returned temporarily to his native Murcia to decorate the dome of the Fuensanta Sanctuary. Pedro Flores is currently represented at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid, the Museo Nacional de Prague, the Museo Nacional de Arte de Cataluña, the Museo de Arte Moderno de Céret and many others.