José Cruz Herrera

OSÉ CRUZ HERRERA (Cadiz, 1890- Morocco, 1972).
"Desdemona", 1942.
Oil on canvas.
Signed and dated in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 136 x 103 cm.
José Cruz Herrera began his training in 1907 in Seville, as a disciple of Gonzalo Bilbao, and three years later he went to Madrid, where he entered the Escuela Superior de Bellas Artes de San Fernando. In 1912 he participated for the first time in the National Exhibition of Fine Arts, and in 1914 he obtained a pension from the Circle of Fine Arts to further his studies in Rome and Paris. On his return to Spain, he continued to participate in the National Exhibitions, being awarded the third medal in 1915, decoration in 1920, second in 1924 and first in 1926. In 1921 he made his individual debut at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid. That same year he began an artistic tour of Latin American countries, which lasted until 1923. In 1927 he settled in Casablanca, and two years later he moved to Paris. In 1930 he received the Gold Medal of the Arts, Sciences and Letters of Paris, thus consolidating his international prestige. During the following years he held exhibitions in Paris, Madrid and Casablanca, a city to which he returned in 1939. He was a corresponding member of the Academies of Fine Arts of Seville and Madrid, honorary member of the Circle of Fine Arts, and was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of the Medhaouia, the Knight's Cross of Isabel the Catholic and the Commendations of Alfonso X the Wise and Civil Merit, as well as the Gold Medal of the Spanish Association of Painters and Sculptors. Cruz Herrera is currently represented in the Municipal Museum of La Línea, which bears his name, and in the Fine Arts Museums of Lugo and Cádiz, among others, as well as in several important private collections.