Francisco Borés

FRANCISCO BORÉS LÓPEZ (Madrid, 1898 - Paris, 1972).
"Female nude", 1944.
Oil on canvas.
Signed and dated in the lower right area.
Measurements: 27 x 35 cm; 49 x 57 cm (frame).

With great versatility, Francisco Borés moved freely through expressionism and cubism. We are here before the representation of a feminine body resolved with an impetuous pulse, of thick stroke, with primitivist and Picasso's echoes and that, at the same time, establishes winks with the German Die Brücke movement. The color tile, along with a contrasting range of orange and sienna tones, dominate the palette. Borés also dialogues with a whole genealogy of odalisques, from Goya to Manet.

Francisco Borés trained at Cecilio Pla's painting academy, where he met Pancho Cossío, Manuel Ángeles Ortiz and Joaquín Peinado, among others. He also frequented the literary gatherings in Madrid related to ultraism. During this period he made engravings for a large number of magazines, such as "Horizonte" or "Revista de Occidente", and attended the Academia Libre de Julio Moisés, where he coincided with Dalí and Benjamín Palencia. In 1922 he participates for the first time in the National Exhibition of Fine Arts, and three years later he will show his work in the first Exhibition of the Society of Iberian Artists, but the lack of interest of the Madrid public for young art drives him to go to Paris. In the French capital he came into contact with Picasso and Juan Gris, and made his individual debut in 1927. The following year he had his first solo exhibition in the United States, and in 1930 he exhibited again, this time as part of a group exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. During the following years he continued to hold solo exhibitions in prominent galleries in Paris and London, among them Georges Petit and Zwemmer. After the Second World War he resumes his exhibition activity, and in 1947 the French State acquires, for the first time, a work by Borés. In 1949 the Museum of Modern Art in New York bought his paintings. In 1969 he exhibited at the Theo Gallery in Madrid, which meant his approach to the Spanish public, which was practically unaware of his work except in professional circles where, on the other hand, it was highly appreciated. In 1971 he exhibited again at the same Theo Gallery, and died in Paris in 1972. The critic Joaquín de la Puente points out several stages in Borés' production: renewed classicism (1923-25), neo cubism (1925-29), fruit-painting (1929-33), interior scenes (1934-1949) and white style (1949-69). Francisco Borés is represented in the most important museums around the world, including the Georges Pompidou Center in Paris, the Fine Arts Museums of Bilbao, Buenos Aires, Jerusalem, Gotemborg and Baltimore, the MOMA in New York, the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, the National Galleries of Athens, Brno and Edinburgh, the Museo Patio Herreriano in Valladolid, and the Modern Art Museums of Stockholm, Turin and Madrid.