Teodoro Andreu

TEODORO JUAN ANDREU SENTAMANS (Alcira, Valencia, 1870 - Valencia, 1934).
"Male portrait", 1905.
Oil on canvas.
Signed and dated in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 100 x 121 cm; 115 x 135 cm (frame).

Scene of interior in which a gentleman with formal attire prepares to write a letter in the table of his office. Of this one we observe the shelves full of books with leather binding. The psychological capture achieved by Teodoro Andreu, an author who excelled in the portrait genre, stands out.

Teodoro Andreu was a follower of the impressionist luminism of Joaquín Sorolla, whose first disciple he was, and he perfectly captured the light of Valencia in his work. His father died when he was one year old, which led the family to move to Madrid in 1875. In 1884 he began his studies of drawing and painting at the El Fomento de las Artes school in Madrid, and then went on to the Special School of Painting, Sculpture and Engraving of San Fernando. After this period, he continued his training in the studio of Joaquín Sorolla in Madrid, where he entered in 1889. Later he began to participate in the National Exhibitions of Fine Arts, and in 1897 he obtained the third medal for "La paella". In 1902 he left Madrid to move to Bilbao, where he opened his own studio and had among his disciples Bengoa, Medinaveitia, Carlos del Río, José Antonio Arechabala and Rodríguez de Lecea. During these years he traveled to the United Kingdom and France, where he became acquainted with the bohemian atmosphere of the Parisian district of Montmartre. In 1904 he obtained a teaching position at the Escuela Superior de Artes Industriales y Bellas Artes de Cádiz, and later settled in Barcelona. In 1908 he was awarded a silver medal at the Hispano-French Exhibition of Zaragoza, with the painting "La viudeta", and was awarded the decoration created for the Centenary of the Siege of Zaragoza. In 1909 he won a gold medal at the Valencian Regional Exhibition. In October of that year he returned to his homeland, with a place in the School of Arts and Crafts of Valencia. In 1910 he participated in the National Exhibition held in this city, and obtained a gold medal. Around this time he also took part in the International Painting Exhibition in Buenos Aires, winning a silver medal. However, in 1914 he had to leave Valencia again and moved to Santiago de Compostela, where he had been appointed professor at the School of Arts and Crafts. He finished this activity in 1920 and returned to Valencia, where he was appointed director of the School of Arts and Crafts in 1925. During the twenties he participated in several exhibitions in Valencia, Madrid and Barcelona, and in 1928 he was appointed member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Carlos, in Valencia. In 1932, for health reasons, he left his position as director of the School of Arts and Crafts, and the following year he held his last exhibition at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid. In the years following his death, exhibitions were held in Valencia, Salamanca, Murcia and Alcira. He is currently represented in the Prado Museum (work on deposit at the Economic Society of Friends of the Country of Murcia), the City Council of Alcira, the Museum of Magdeburg (Germany) and other public and private collections.