| |
AGUILAR ALCUAZ "THE BARCELONA YEARS"
RUNS SEPTEMBER IN MANILA
Twenty rare works from Federico Aguilar Alcuaz will be featured in a special show which runs from 21 September to 30 September at The Lounge, Second Floor, The PODIUM located at ADB Avenue, Ortigas Center, Pasig City, Metro Manila. For more information visit www.galeriejoaquin.com or call 6347954 or 7239253.
Titled "The Barcelona Years" the curators of the show have put together works from private collectors from Europe and the Philippines. Some of the most interesting works from Aguilar Alcuaz were painted from his studio at 295 Aragones St., Barcelona. Among the works included in this exhibit are: "Still Life with Lemons and Grapes", "The Artist and his Model", "Still Life with Yellow Flowers", "The Musician" and "Director’s Chair, Black Hat and Umbrella".
A product of the University of the Philippines School of Fine Arts, Aguilar Alcuaz moved to Barcelona in 1956 after receiving a grant from the Spanish government to pursue further studies in art. He first lived in Madrid but a year later, he moved to Barcelona. It was in Barcelona where he came together with a group artists who met regularly at La Punyalada such as Modest Cuixart, Morato Aragones, Jordi Alumna among others. The group came to be known as the La Punyalada group and together they became known as the exponents of "neo-figurativism" and among the forerunners of modern and contemporary art in Spain.
Aguilar Alcuaz kept a studio in Barcelona for forty years, that is until 1997. Although he would travel extensively to various places to paint and exhibit such as Bilbao, Santander, Lisbon, the Costa Brava, Paris, Hannover in Europe and to Czechoslovakia where he worked on his tapestries. He also traveled extensively to the United States particularly New York as well as well as to many Asian countries. However, he would always consider his Barcelona his sanctuary or base away from home.
Aguilar Alcuaz has since won awards for his works, such as winning first prize at the 1953 UP Art Competition, first prize at the 1954 Annual Shell Art Competition and second place at the UP Art Competition, also in 1954. In Spain, Alcuaz received several awards including winning first prize at the Premio Moncada in 1957, the 1958 Prix Francisco Goya in Bracelona, first prize at the Pintura Sant Pol del Mar in 1961 and second prize at the Premio Vancell at the Fourth Biennial of Tarrasa in Barcelona in 1964.
Recognition for his art extended beyond Spanish borders. In Paris, he was awarded the Diploma of Honor at the International Exhibition of Art Libre in 1961, the decoration of Arts, Letters and Sciences award from the French government 1964 and the Order of French Genius in 1964. In 2007, he was granted the Presidential Medal of Merit by the Republic of the Philippines for his outstanding accomplishments in the field of visual arts.
Aguilar Alcuaz’s works are included in the collection of some 20 museums and major cultural institutions in the world today including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Barcelona, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Madrid, the Gulvenkian Foundation Museum of London, the Museum of Modern Art of Warsaw, the Museum of Modern Art of Krakow, and the Philips Cultural Museum of the Netherlands. |
|
