Rafael Canogar (1935)
Toledo
Toledo
Picasso, Miró, the Vanguard . . . Rafael Canogar has drunk avidly from many artistic movements of the early twentieth century that broke with the past, although at barely 20, he opted for informalist Abstraction that he discovered in Paris, in 1955.
On his return to Spain, with complete cultural stagnation under the dictatorship, Canogar tried to provide a touch of modernity by forming the El Paso (The Step) group, that included artists of the stature of Manuel Millares, Antonio Saura, Luís Feito, Manuel Rivera, Pablo Serrano and Juana Francés.
Canogar abandoned Informalism during the 1960s. His artistic evolution then led him to depict a social reality that he disliked, and from then and until the 70s he would be a political Canogar, who was well respected by those who from the underground or from exile were trying to find an alternative to Franco’s regime. His inspiration came from mass media, and the coloring of his earlier work practically disappeared in creations that were basically gray and black. The figures he painted lacked personal traits, and masses became the real protagonists of his paintings. Canogar is convinced that Art “is not for decorating living rooms,” but rather it should serve Man in his evolution towards freedom.
If his different artistic periods have been varied, the same is also true for the techniques he has used. Oils were the basis of most of his early works, although little by little he began tending toward tempera, photographs, acrylic polyesters and cut-up pictures, as well as wood and fiberglass. He has also added objects from daily life to his collages, giving them a double nature of painting and sculpture.
Coinciding with the end of the Franco dictatorship, Canogar returned to the Abstraction had known in Paris. Since 1976 there has been a rebirth of color in his work, not unrelated to his hopes for democratic change. He has also added cubist elements that advance to the same measure as color is again reduced, culminating in almost monochrome paintings.
His work has earned important honors such as the Grand Prize of the Venice Bienal (1971) or the National Plastic Arts Prize of Spain (1982). The Queen Sofia Museum of Madrid devoted a large retrospective show to him in 2001.
On his return to Spain, with complete cultural stagnation under the dictatorship, Canogar tried to provide a touch of modernity by forming the El Paso (The Step) group, that included artists of the stature of Manuel Millares, Antonio Saura, Luís Feito, Manuel Rivera, Pablo Serrano and Juana Francés.
Canogar abandoned Informalism during the 1960s. His artistic evolution then led him to depict a social reality that he disliked, and from then and until the 70s he would be a political Canogar, who was well respected by those who from the underground or from exile were trying to find an alternative to Franco’s regime. His inspiration came from mass media, and the coloring of his earlier work practically disappeared in creations that were basically gray and black. The figures he painted lacked personal traits, and masses became the real protagonists of his paintings. Canogar is convinced that Art “is not for decorating living rooms,” but rather it should serve Man in his evolution towards freedom.
If his different artistic periods have been varied, the same is also true for the techniques he has used. Oils were the basis of most of his early works, although little by little he began tending toward tempera, photographs, acrylic polyesters and cut-up pictures, as well as wood and fiberglass. He has also added objects from daily life to his collages, giving them a double nature of painting and sculpture.
Coinciding with the end of the Franco dictatorship, Canogar returned to the Abstraction had known in Paris. Since 1976 there has been a rebirth of color in his work, not unrelated to his hopes for democratic change. He has also added cubist elements that advance to the same measure as color is again reduced, culminating in almost monochrome paintings.
His work has earned important honors such as the Grand Prize of the Venice Bienal (1971) or the National Plastic Arts Prize of Spain (1982). The Queen Sofia Museum of Madrid devoted a large retrospective show to him in 2001.