Antonio Peyró

ANTONIO PEYRÓ (Castellón 1881-1954).
Untitled.
Polychrome plaster and ceramic.
Measurements: 20 x 9 cm; 15 x 8 cm; 15 x 14 x 11 cm.
Antonio Peyró Mezquita was a painter, sculptor, ceramist and goldsmith. He was born in Onda (Castellón) in 1881. He began working in his father's forge when he was just a child, it was his first approach to the fire of the forge. After his time in the forge, he entered as an apprentice in the workshop of the master Viciano, coinciding with the sculptor Francisco Paredes. At the age of fourteen Peyró received a scholarship to study at the Academy of Fine Arts of San Carlos (Valencia). In 1926 he went to Madrid to continue his studies at the Academia de San Fernando, where he met professors such as Emilio Sala and Muñoz Degrain. He became interested in painting, ceramics, design, sculpture and goldsmithing; thanks to his diversity of themes, his dynamism and fantasy placed him among the most important painters of his generation from Castellón. His most outstanding works include his series of large group paintings, such as: "Valencians on horseback on a gala day". Thanks to Peyró's artistic works, he ended up discovering the typical ceramics of Castellón. Among his production the ceramic figurines stand out, especially those dedicated to reflect the Valencian female figure, such as: "Valencianas", "Juegos Florales" (Floral Games) and "Danza Valenciana" (Valencian Dance). The figures were finished to perfection, the forms were solid and simplified. Peyró's works had great acceptance in his time, such was the success that he opened two houses of sale of the figures in Valencia and Madrid. He was a professor at the School of Ceramics in Madrid, the city where he lived most of his life. He died in Valencia in 1954.