Manolo Valdés
“We build upon that which art history has placed in our hands.”
Manolo Valdés (B. 1942) was born in Valencia, Spain and has devoted his life to sculpture and painting. In 1957, he entered the Escuela de Bellas Artes de San Carlos where he studied for two years. He is known for his unique process of drawing from art historical masters like Velázquez, Rembrandt, Rubens, Matisse, Picasso, to create his artwork. He rejuvenates familiar images by taking them out of their original context, inflating the size, abstracting shapes, and using atypical materials. Currently, he lives and works between New York City and Madrid. (Read More)
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In 1964, he established the artists’ group “Equipo Crónica” with Joan Toledo and Rafael Solbes in which he remained until Solbes’ death in 1981. This group was a spin off from the Pop Art movement, designed to create conversation of the political climate in Spain.
Valdés has large works in which the lighting and colors express a sensation of tactility. He has experimented with all mediums including paintings, monumental sculptures, etchings, and collages. Along with the works he exhibited as a part of Equipo Crónicas, Valdés had over seventy expositions between 1965 and 1981. His works can be found the major collections of the world including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Guggenheim Bilbao, and Museo Tamayo in Mexico City, among others.
He has received various awards, including the Lissone and Biella in Milan in 1965; the silver medal in the second International Prints Biennial in Tokyo, Japan; an award from the Bridgestone Art Museum in Lisbon, Portugal; the Alfons Roig Award in Valencia, Spain; the National Award for the Fine Arts in Spain; a medal from the biennial International Festival of the Plastic Arts in Baghdad, Iraq; and in 1993 the Medal of the Order of Andrés Bello in Venezuela.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
Awards & Honors
2007 Officier de l’Ordre National de Mérite, President of the French Republic, Paris, France
2005 Chevalier de l’Ordre de Mérite Culturel, Ordonnance Souveraine, Monte Carlo, Monaco
1998 La Medalla de Oro de Mérito en Bellas Artes, Ministerio de Cultura, Madrid, Spain
1986 Medal of the Biennal International Festival of the Plastic Arts, Baghdad, Iraq
1985 La Medalla Nacional de Bellas Artes, Madrid, Spain
1979 Silver Medal, 2nd International Biennial of Prints, Tokyo, Japan
Important Exhibitions
2023-2024 Sculptures by Manolo Valdés, The Katonah Museum of Art, New York, USA
2023 Manolo Valdés, Pera Museum, Istanbul, Turkey
2017 Manolo Valdés, Una Visión Personal, Centro Cultural Bancaja, Valencia, Spain
2012 Remixing History: Manolo Valdés, Georgia Museum of Art, The University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA
2011 Manolo Valdés, The Baker Museum, Naples, Florida, USA
2008 Manolo Valdés: Las Meninas, The State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia
2007 Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor, New York, USA
2005 Les Menines de Valdés, Jardins du Palais Royal, Paris, France
2002 Manolo Valdés: Pintura y Escultura, Museo Guggenheim, Bilbao, Spain
2000 Las Meninas, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, Venice, Italy
1999 Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
1998 Museo Nacional de Artes Visuales, Montevideo, Uruguay
1997 Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City, México
1993 Palacio Almudi, Murcia, Spain
1989 Museo de Bellas Artes de Asturias, Oviedo, Spain
1977 Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, Porto, Portugal
1974 Musée des Beaux-Arts de Pau, Pau, France
Permanent Collections
Museo de Arte Moderno, Medellín, Colombia
Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Kunstmuseum, Berlin, Germany
The Israel Museum, Jersusalem, Israel
Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City, México
Museo Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain
The Menil Collection, Houston, Texas, USA
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, USA
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusettes, USA
Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art, Vatican Museum, Vatican City