José Guerrero (painter)

José Guerrero (born October 29, 1914 in Granada , † December 23, 1991 in Barcelona ) was a Spanish painter. In 1929 he began training as a wood carver and enrolled in the painting class of the Escuela de Artes y Oficios. From 1940 he attended the Escuela Superior de Bellas Artes in San Fernando. He also earned his living drawing posters for the cinema.

In 1945 Guerrero went to Paris , where he studied fresco painting at the École des Beaux-Arts with a grant from the French government . He lived in the Spanish pavilion in the university town, where Eduardo Chillida and Pablo Palazuelo , among others, were studying at the same time . So he got to know the works of the Spanish painters of the Paris School. Study visits to Bern, Rome, Brussels, Paris and London followed.

In 1948 Guerrero met his wife, Roxane Whittier Pollock, an American journalist. In 1950 they both move to New York. In the 1950s, Guerrero exhibited regularly in the USA, including in the gallery of Betty Parsons, which helped Jackson Pollock , Mark Rothko and Clyfford Still to achieve a breakthrough. Guerrero's work has become part of important private collections and, increasingly, international museums. In 1958 Guerrero received a grant from the Graham Foundation, which enabled him to work with Wifredo Lam , Eduardo Chillida and Mies van der Rohe .

While Guerrero made a name for himself in the USA in the 1950s, he made his breakthrough in Spain in the 1960s. His works are now part of the most important Spanish contemporary art collections.

In his native Granada, the Centro José Guerrero has been commemorating the artist since 2000 and showing works from various creative periods.

Web link

• Centro José Guerrero