2024
From his audacious Pop art paintings that challenged Spanish dictator Francisco Franco’s regime during the 1960s to his modern reinterpretation of works by masters such as Rembrandt van Rijn, Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, Valencia native Manolo Valdés has created an extraordinary range of work. He is internationally renowned as one of the most influential Spanish artists of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Born in 1942, Valdés studied art at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Carlos de Valencia. As his career began to take shape, in 1964, Valdés cofounded Equipo Crónica with fellow Spanish artists Rafael Solbes and Juan Antonio Toledo. Together, the collective produced politically charged graphic Pop works, which frequently merged imagery that referenced Spain’s history and culture, in order to expressly denounce Franco’s oppressive government. Toledo left Equipo Crónica after one year, and the group disbanded after Solbes’s death in 1981.
From 1981 onward, Valdés focused on his solo career. In his portraits, still-life prints and figurative sculptures, Valdés adopts familiar images from masterpieces by some of the world’s most recognizable artists, including Diego Velázquez, Peter Paul Rubens and Roy Lichtenstein, and recontextualizes them, minimalizing forms and the use of color, introducing collagist elements and more. Examples of Valdés’s methods can be seen in the textured lithograph print Claribel (1995) and his contemporary sculpture Butterflies (2010), which is inspired by Matisse’s Woman with a Hat (1905).
Valdés has exhibited his works around the world, including in New York City, Paris, London, Madrid, Berlin, Geneva and Mexico City. In 1999, he represented Spain at the Venice Biennale. His paintings and sculptures are also held in the collections of the Centre Pompidou in Paris, Moderna Museet in Malmö, the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid and the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
On 1stDibs, discover a range of original Manolo Valdés prints, sculptures and mixed media.
La Esperanza
By Manuel Mendive
Located in Miami, FL
Manuel Mendive Cuban Artist “La Esperanza (Hope)” 2020 Bronze Ed 3 of 7 20 x 12 x 15 in Certificate of authenticity by the artist. Acquired directly from the artist. We would be gla...
Bronze
Nude Edition 33 of 50
By Agustín Cárdenas
Located in Miami, FL
Cárdenas was a descendant of african slaves from Senegal and Congo. He was born in Matanzas, a major export port for the sugar industry. Cárdenas studied under Juan José Sicre, in Cu...
Glass
Untitled
By Agustín Cárdenas
Located in Miami, FL
Untitled, 1975 Bronze ED. 1 of 6 20 x 6 x 4 in Literature: Le Minotaure. Cardenas 1925-2001. May 15 - June 15, 2003. Illustrated on page 9 of the catalog.
Bronze
Trazos Levitantes
By Rafael Barrios
Located in Miami, FL
Rafael Barrios "Trazos Levitantes" 1990 cod# 267 Ed 2 of 3 Lacquered stainless steel 36 x 43 x 10 in Rafael Barrios is a Venezuelan born in 1947 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, US. Having studied Fine Arts in Canada, the United States, and Venezuela, his artistic trajectory dates back to a very early age. Barrios studied drawing and painting at the Museo de Bellas Artes in Caracas, Venezuela, which led him to achieve his first recognition with the award "National Youth Painting" in 1963. Upon completing his basic studies in Venezuela and Canada, he received a scholarship from J. Walter Thompson International to attend the Ontario College of Art in Toronto, Canada, graduating with honors in "Pure Art" and "Communication and Design". He received a scholarship from New York University (US) to attend its Graduate Program for "Fine Arts" and "Monumental Sculpture Techniques". He was granted several national and international awards: "The Sculpture Award", Ernesto Avellán Exhibition; the McLean Foundation Scholarship, the highest award offered by the Ontario College of Art, Canada; the "Excelentísima Diputado Provincial de la Frontera" Decoration, for his Monumental Sculpture titled "Tercer Horizonte", to commemorate 500 years of America's Discovery, in Palos de la Frontera, Huelva, Spain; "Second Prize" at the Sofia Imber Caracas Contemporary Museum's Biennial of Visual Arts, in Venezuela; the "Conferry Award", First Sculpture Biennial, Francisco Narváez...
Stainless Steel
Lola
By Agustín Cárdenas
Located in Miami, FL
Beautiful Sculpture in white marble by the artist Agustin Cardenas. Signed on the base of the sculpture. Cárdenas was a descendant of african slaves from Senegal and Congo. He was b...
Marble
Spatial Light
By Agustín Cárdenas
Located in Miami, FL
Agustin Cardenas Spatial Light, 1989 Bronce II of III 23 x 11 x 5 in Cárdenas was a descendant of african slaves from Senegal and Congo. He was born in Matanzas, a major export port for the sugar industry. Cárdenas studied under Juan José Sicre, in Cuba, and from 1943 to 1949 at la Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes “San Alejandro” in Havana. He was a member of the Asociación de Grabadores de Cuba (AGC) from 1951 to 1955. Also he was a member of the creative group Los Once from 1953 to 1955. Cárdenas' work was exhibited several times in 1952 "Pintura Ávila Escultura Cárdenas" at the Palacio de los Trabajadores in Havana, and in 1955 he exhibited a selection of his pieces in "Agustín Cárdenas...
Bronze
Raúl Valdivieso Bronze Abstract Sculpture, Latin America 1960s
By Raúl Valdivieso
Located in Washington, DC
Striking bronze organic sculpture by Latin American sculptor Raúl Valdivieso (Chilean, 1931-1993). Valdivieso is known for his reinterpretation of the ...
Bronze
Bellota 11
By María José de la Macorra
Located in Mexico City, CDMX
María José de la Macorra (México, D.F., 1964) realizó sus estudios en la Escuela de Cerámica y Porcelana de Toluca, Mokichi Okada Association,...
Iron
Latin American Sculpture by Raúl Valdivieso
By Raúl Valdivieso
Located in Washington, DC
Bronze sculpture by Latin American sculptor Raúl Valdivieso (Chilean, 1931-1993). Valdivieso is known for his reinterpretation of the classic organic forms and human figures. Raúl Valdiveso was born September 9, 1931 in Santiago, Chile. In 1952 he began his studies at the School of Fine Arts at the University of Chile. There he took to sculpture and studied under professors like Marta Colvin...
Bronze
French Contemporary Art by Frédérick Mazoir - Magmatisme 17
By Frédérick Mazoir
Located in Paris, IDF
Forged steel
Steel
Lider Maximo
By Thierry Job
Located in New Orleans, LA
Thierry Job was born in Marseille, France and currently lives in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. He studied art at the School of Beaux Arts in Paris. His wo...
Steel
French Contemporary Art by Frédérick Mazoir - Magmatisme 06
By Frédérick Mazoir
Located in Paris, IDF
Forged stainless steel
Stainless Steel
