Lopez Garcia, Antonio

Lopez Garcia was born shortly before the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War . He received his first painting lessons as a child, from his uncle Antonio Lopez Torres , a local landscape painter. In 1949 he came to Madrid ; In 1950-1955 he studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando , where he repeatedly won various art awards. Even at the Academy, Antonio met the artist Maria Moreno, who became his wife in 1961. During his studies, he also became close friends with the young painters Francisco Lopez Hernandez , Amalia Avia and Isabelle Quintanilla, forming with them a Madrid group of realist artists. In the post-war period, Spain was culturally isolated from the rest of Europe, A. Lopez Garcia and his colleagues could draw information about the development of modern art, about the work of such masters as Picasso, only from library literature.

After graduating from the Academy in 1955, A. Lopez Garcia and his friend Francisco Lopez Hernandez left for Italy, where he studied Renaissance art . Returning to his homeland, he spent a lot of time in the Prado Museum in Madrid; he was particularly interested in the work of Velazquez . In 1957-1964 he was fond of surrealism , his work often reflected cosmic landscapes and other fantastic scenes. In the mid-1960s, his work can be attributed to the flow of the so-called. magical realism . The most characteristic in this case are his canvases Autumn (1961) and the Sea (1961-1970) .

Since 1960, he painted panoramic paintings of the Spanish capital, and also created portraits, images of women, buildings and their interiors - studio rooms, bathrooms, etc. Having diverse talents, he created various works - oil paintings on canvas, pencil drawings, sculptures - made of wood and metal.

He participated in various exhibitions both in Spain and abroad. In 1986, he held a solo exhibition in the New York Gallery Marlboro, in 2008 - in the Museum of Fine Arts of Boston. He participated in the exhibition of contemporary art documenta 6 in Kassel , a personal exhibition of his works was organized at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum of Madrid. The work of Lopez Garcia was awarded various prizes and awards - including from the Spanish Ministry of Education, gold medals of the province of Castile-La Mancha and the city of Madrid. In 1986 he was awarded the Prince of Asturias Prize in the field of art , in 2006 he was awarded the Velazquez Prize, and since 2004 he has been an honorary member of the New York Academy of Art and Literature.

In 1992, the feature film directed by Victor Erice El Sol del Membrillo was released , the plot of which unfolds around one of the paintings by Antonio Lopez Garcia.

• Nieve, Francisco, Antonio López García , Rizzoli International, 1986
• Rizzoli, Antonio López García , Rizzoli International, 1990
• Brutvan, Cheryl, Antonio Lopez Garcia , MFA Publications, 2008
• Serraller, Francisco Calvo, Antonio López García: Drawings , DAP / Distributed Art Publishers, Inc., 2010. ISBN 9781935202257 .

• Selected works by Antonio Lopez Garcia .