Manuel Viola

MANUEL VIOLA, (Zaragoza, 1916 - Madrid, 1987).
Untitled.
Acrylic on board.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Certificate can be issued, at the request and expense of the buyer.
Measurements: 25 x 20 cm; 39,50 x 35,50 cm (frame).
José Viola Gamón adopted the name by which he is known, Manuel Viola, after the Civil War. Belonging to the group El Paso, his painting is characterized by an informalist and colorist treatment, in the line of the avant-garde developed in Spain from the 50's. He begins studies of Philosophy and Letters in Barcelona, but he is forced to abandon them due to the war. His first drawings date from these years. After the war he went into exile in France, where he wrote for the surrealist poetry magazine "La main à plume". There he began to exhibit his works in the exhibitions of the so-called Spanish School of Paris. He returns to Spain in 1949, and in 1958 his truly personal style begins, at the same time that he joins the avant-garde pictorial group El Paso, to which belonged, among others, Antonio Saura, Rafael Canogar, Luis Feito and Manolo Millares. He begins to express himself through an abstract painting of great expressionist character and great care of color. He definitely leaves behind the figuration that prevailed until then in his work. Throughout his life he was awarded numerous prizes, such as the Condado de San Jorge Prize, the Lissones Prize (Milan), or the Gold Medal of the City of Zaragoza. He exhibited in the most important galleries in Spain and also abroad, in cities such as Oslo, New York, Venice, Sao Paulo and Houston. While he was still alive, important retrospective exhibitions of his work were held: in 1965 at the Dirección de Bellas Artes de Madrid, in 1971 at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Madrid, in 1972 at the Lonja de Zaragoza, in 1983 at the Armas Gallery in Miami, and in 1986 in Houston. After his death, anthological exhibitions of his work continued to be held in international galleries and museums. Manuel Viola's work can be seen in the Reina Sofia Museum, the Museum of Modern Art in Cologne, the Museum of Fine Arts in Bilbao, the Guggenheim in New York and Bilbao, and the Museum of Spanish Abstract Art in Cuenca, among many others.