José Palmeiro

JOSÉ PALMEIRO (Madrid, 1903 - Bergerac, France, 1984).
"Still life".
Oil on panel.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 45 x 36 cm; 65 x 56 cm (frame).
Scene that has as protagonist a vase with flowers where the fast brushstroke of great material load is conjugated with a masterful treatment of the light, very thought and studied, that models the volumes reinforcing the three-dimensional sensation. Everything in the composition is rational, balanced and symmetrical except for the flowers themselves, which are arranged randomly.
A painter strongly linked to the French post-impressionist tradition, Palmeiro's work is marked by his very personal and daring palette, which some have likened to Fauvist modes. In search of new artistic horizons, he settled in Paris in 1925, where he was influenced by the impressionist and post-impressionist masters. After a period of submission to drawing, his language evolved towards the preeminence of a coloring that he began to apply in large masses, abandoning tonal gradation in favor of the juxtaposition of planes. His universe becomes exuberant, resounding, of perfect harmony and accentuated physical presence. Fully integrated in the circles of the School of Paris, Palmeiro made his individual debut during the thirties, and between 1942 and 1946 he worked exclusively for the Eliseo Gallery in Paris, along with other artists such as Picasso, Bores, Clavé and Óscar Domínguez. It was in these years when he reflected in his painting a light that, instead of enhancing and modeling the objects, radiates from them. In 1948 he traveled to America, and after ten years he returned to Paris, already fully integrated in the international art circuits. He held frequent exhibitions in Paris and London, a city where his painting was especially in demand, as well as in Spain, where he reiterated his presence mainly from 1972 onwards, in Madrid, Barcelona and Vigo. José Palmeiro is represented in the Jaime Trigo Art Center in Pontevedra and in the Caixavigo collection, as well as in several Spanish and foreign private collections.