Rafael Canogar

RAFAEL CANOGAR GÓMEZ (Toledo, 1935).
"Big head", 1987.
Etching on paper. Copy 7/25.
Signed and numbered in pencil.
Measurements: 98 x 80 cm (print), 121 x 103 cm (paper), 133 x 115 cm (frame).
Disciple of Daniel Vázquez Díaz, Canogar was co-founder of the group "El Paso", and during the fifties he developed a fully informalist work, which derives during the sixties in a complex figuration more and more narrative. During his mature stage, from 1975 onwards, Canogar invented a new iconography, his own and personal, which he expresses through the mask, the head, the face, as a representation of the man who loses his individuality and becomes a plastic sign, as can be seen in the work we now present. His awards include the National Prize for Plastic Arts (1982), he is a member of the San Fernando Academy, and is represented in the most important modern art collections around the world, such as the Reina Sofia Museum, the MOMA in New York, the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburg, the Rufino Tamayo Museum in Mexico, and the Chicago Art Institute, among many others.
The Olympic Suite is composed of 50 lithographs and serigraphs chosen to represent various contemporary artistic trends. It was published to commemorate the first centennial of modern Olympism. The chosen artists are defined by diverse pictorial movements and trends.