José Frau

JOSÉ FRAU (Vigo, 1898 - Madrid, 1976).
"Night at the port".
Gouache on paper.
Signed in the lower margin.
Measurements: 50 x 72 cm; 80,5 x 103 cm (frame).

José Frau begins his formation with Antonio de la Torre and Eugenio Hermoso, to later enter the School of Fine Arts of San Fernando, where he had José Muñoz de Degrain as a teacher. From 1917 he became known through the National Exhibitions of Fine Arts, being awarded the third medal in 1924, second in 1932 and first in 1943. He held his first individual exhibition, in the Layetanas Galleries in Barcelona, and in 1925 he was one of the participants in the exhibition of the Society of Iberian Artists, with which he also exhibited at the Jeu de Paume in Paris in 1936. Previously, Frau had also shown his work in the exhibitions of Spanish artists organized by the Carnegie Institute of Pittsburg in 1933 and 1935. From the 1940s he lived in Buenos Aires, Montevideo and Mexico, before finally returning to Spain in 1946. He is currently represented in the Novacaixa Foundation of Galicia, the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid, the Museum of Huelva, the Castrelos of Vigo and other collections, both public and private. Stylistically, he began with figurative works, evolving from 1930 to a post-impressionist style to later focus on landscapes with figures, recreated in magical and fantastic environments. In his later works he used a Fauvist chromatism with a predominance of greens, blues, earths and blacks in great contrast, showing, at the same time, a progressive stylization, with the human figure ceasing to have the prominence he had given it in his previous paintings.