Ismael de la Serna (1898-1968)
Granada (Guadix)
Granada (Guadix)
Undoubtedly one of the most notorious personalities of the School of Paris. His work is characterized by the sensuality that emanates from his shapes, the sharp contrasts in color and the predominance of drawings based on sinuous lines.
De la Serna began his studies at the School of Fine Arts in Granada where he acquired technical training that would later be enhanced in Madrid. Classes at the Royal Academy of San Fernando and contact with the masterpieces in the Prado decisively influenced his concept of painting and the preference he always showed for the still life. It was also in Madrid where he established a close relationship with the group of writers of the Generation of 1927, with whom he collaborated in such memorable projects as the illustrations for Garcia Lorca’s book, Impressions and Landscapes, in 1918.
His style became eclectic, the fruit of his profound knowledge of the majority of forms of plastic expression of the era, although it wasn’t until he moved to Paris in 1921 that the doors to the infinite universe of possibilities, the Vanguards, opened for him. Picasso, Gargallo, Julio González, Soutine... De la Serna mixed with the majority of the celebrities of the time, and in 1927 he exhibited for the first time at the Paul Guillaume gallery, one of the most prestigious galleries in Paris. From that time on his international renown grew by leaps and bounds, and soon he also exhibited in Berlin.
In 1932 he participated in the legendary Iberian Artists Exhibition. At that time a dramatic style appeared in his painting that has always characterized it since. Subjecting himself to the dictates of the drawing, he experimented first with neoclassic forms and then with Cubism. In the 1950s he drifted away from commercial conventions to search for what he called “the essence and the ultimate goal of painting,” that would lead to superb creations that reduce the image to its bare essence, a mere outline, in which form approached the postulates of Abstraction.
Ismael González de la Serna’s artistic activity was interrupted in 1963 due a serious illness that finally led to his death. His influence is still felt today, and all of the artists who came after him recognize his mastery. A privilege granted only to the greatest creators of contemporary Art.
De la Serna began his studies at the School of Fine Arts in Granada where he acquired technical training that would later be enhanced in Madrid. Classes at the Royal Academy of San Fernando and contact with the masterpieces in the Prado decisively influenced his concept of painting and the preference he always showed for the still life. It was also in Madrid where he established a close relationship with the group of writers of the Generation of 1927, with whom he collaborated in such memorable projects as the illustrations for Garcia Lorca’s book, Impressions and Landscapes, in 1918.
His style became eclectic, the fruit of his profound knowledge of the majority of forms of plastic expression of the era, although it wasn’t until he moved to Paris in 1921 that the doors to the infinite universe of possibilities, the Vanguards, opened for him. Picasso, Gargallo, Julio González, Soutine... De la Serna mixed with the majority of the celebrities of the time, and in 1927 he exhibited for the first time at the Paul Guillaume gallery, one of the most prestigious galleries in Paris. From that time on his international renown grew by leaps and bounds, and soon he also exhibited in Berlin.
In 1932 he participated in the legendary Iberian Artists Exhibition. At that time a dramatic style appeared in his painting that has always characterized it since. Subjecting himself to the dictates of the drawing, he experimented first with neoclassic forms and then with Cubism. In the 1950s he drifted away from commercial conventions to search for what he called “the essence and the ultimate goal of painting,” that would lead to superb creations that reduce the image to its bare essence, a mere outline, in which form approached the postulates of Abstraction.
Ismael González de la Serna’s artistic activity was interrupted in 1963 due a serious illness that finally led to his death. His influence is still felt today, and all of the artists who came after him recognize his mastery. A privilege granted only to the greatest creators of contemporary Art.