Genaro Lahuerta

GENARO LAHUERTA, (Valencia, 1905 - 1985).
"Characters", 1953.
Charcoal on paper. With sketches on the back.
Signed and titled in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 65 x 49 cm; 72 x 57 cm (frame).
He began his studies at the School of Arts and Crafts of Valencia and in 1919 he enrolled at the School of Fine Arts of San Carlos, where he met Pedro de Valencia and with whom he became a great friend. His beginnings at the academy led him to learn about the avant-garde movements that, at the time, were already in operation in the rest of Europe, seeking to break with "sorollismo". In 1928 he participated in the First Valencian Manifestation of Young Art, and a year later, he presented his work at the Sala Parés in Barcelona. He thus became the pioneer of the pictorial renovation of Valencia during the 1920s, reaching its peak in the following decade, when the "Valencian artistic avant-garde of the 1930s" took shape. He began his career with figures reminiscent of the German avant-garde and Italian painting of the "quatrocento", interested in the human figure. However, his language would change thanks to the trips he made to Italy, France, Belgium and Holland, returning with a colorist tendency typical of the "Fauves". This tendency was joined by the colors apprehended in the Sahara, with violet and yellow tones. He was a great discoverer of nature, capturing for the first time a new Valencian landscape.