Alejo Vidal-Quadras

ALEJO VIDAL QUADRAS (Barcelona, 1919 - Paris, 1994).
"Female portrait".
Pencil on paper.
Signed in the lower margin.
Measurements: 47 x 37 cm; 67 x 56 cm (frame).
Alejo Vidal Quadras was a coveted painter of "celebrities". Known for being the last painter to portray Marilyn Monroe, and for his prolific gallery of celebrities, from Grace Kelly to Maria Callas. He developed a realistic but expressive language, as shown in the present portrait of this elegant woman with her waist enhanced by a ball gown. A precocious artist, he began his training with José María Vidal-Quadras, and in 1949 he held his first exhibition, which took place in Paris, to great critical acclaim. He soon made a name for himself as a portraitist of celebrities; he portrayed members of European royalty such as Juan Carlos I, Umberto of Italy, Rania of Jordan, Rainier of Monaco and others, as well as prominent figures of the time such as Audrey Hepburn, Maria Callas and Marilyn Monroe. In 1956 his reputation was consolidated when the Countess of Paris, in commemoration of her silver wedding anniversary, commissioned twelve portraits of her family. From the sixties onwards, Vidal-Quadras exhibited his work annually in the prestigious Wally Findlay galleries in New York, Paris and Palm Beach, and also in the Frank Partridge Gallery in London.